Heatwave in the NW

The recent heatwave in Portland has kept me indoors and off the trails since the backpack a couple weeks ago to the Santiam Lakes. Enough time to let the latest round of mosquito bites fade away. The upside of that has been more time to process thru images and work on my site. I've posted new reports for the Ape Canyon and Strawberry Wilderness trails. There is also a new gallery for the Santiam Lakes; the galleries for Strawberry and Slide lakes will be coming next. GPS tracks of all of these will also soon be available on Backpacker.com.

It's going to be a busy month of August. First off, I'll be headed to the Oregon Coast for some hiking and exploring, and hopefully some gorgeous ocean sunsets. Following that will be extended trips to North Cascades NP for dayhiking and Olympic NP for backpacking in the Sol Duc area. I'm also going to try squeezing in a day trip up to Mt. Hood for a hike I wanted to do last year, but was unable due to fire closures.

For anyone that visits my site, I have a question. I've been adding quite alot of new imagery from many different locations. Is it easier to have more galleries with fewer, more location-specific images? Or, fewer general galleries, with more images from various areas grouped together? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Hope everyone is having a nice summer.

Lots New Coming...

Spent last weekend backpacking near the Santiam Pass and Three-Fingered Jack in Oregon's Central Cascades. Beautiful area, and captured some lovely sunset images over Santiam Lake that will be uploaded soon. Lots of mosquitos though; spent most of the week itching.

Lots of new images and galleries have been getting added to my site...

• Ape Canyon on Mount St. Helens

• Multnomah Falls Loop

• Larch Mountain Crater

And coming soon...

• John Day Fossil Beds

• Strawberry Wilderness

• Wildcat Mountain

• Santiam Lakes

• More from RMNP

Many of these will also be getting GPS tracks posted on Backpacker.com. Check back regularly to see what's new!

Certified in WFA

Took a break from the trails this last weekend to take a certification course in wilderness first aid with Wilderness Medical Int'l of Seattle, WA. I spend enough time on the trails to think that I should probably know what to do in the event of an emergency, or non-emergency that just needs some attention. The course was a 16-hour cram full of information on how to treat airway issues, bleeding, various types of wounds, hypothermia, etc. It was alot to absorb, but was taught enthusiastically by mountain guide and Everest summiter Melissa Arnot. I would highly recommend for anyone who spends alot of time in the backcountry.

The site's getting lots of updates. I'll be adding new images from several recent trips to Mt. St. Helens, the John Day Fossil Beds, and Strawberry Wilderness. I'll also be adding new trail reports from each of these areas to my Trail Log page. Eventually, they'll all also have GPS tracks on Backpacker.com.

This weekend, it's back on the trail, this time down to Oregon's Central Cascades. We'll be backpacking into the Santiam Lakes area near Three-Fingered Jack; then later in the month will be the 24-mile Eagle Creek loop, an assignment from Backpacker magazine. Next month has hiking and backpacking in Washington's North Cascades NP, and the north side of Oregon's Mt. Hood. Keep checking back for the latest...

Latest Update

Spent a fantastic four days hiking around eastern Oregon; two days hiking the Strawberry and Slide Lakes in the Strawberry Mtn Wilderness; then two days hiking in the John Day Fossil Beds, Painted Hills and Blue Basin. Spectacular scenery - from alpine lakes and glaciated peaks, to sculpted mountains amid volcanic desert plains. And, of course, lots of photos! Many of these will be turned into GPS tracks for Backpacker.com, so will be processed and uploaded soon.

A few other things of note...

Backpacker magazine will be featuring one of my photos of Washington's Klickitat Rail Trail in the upcoming Sept. issue. And I've recently been contacted again by the nice folks at Experience Washington to renew a license for one of my Ape Cave photos. It didn't make the final cut last time around, but may have another chance with an upcoming piece. Still working thru changes and updates to the website, so check back often for the most recent additions.