If your car can handle getting to the trailhead, Ed’s Trail is an easy approach to Silver Star Mountain that offers tremendous views, great variety, and — this time of year — some amazing fall colors.
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A Walk on England’s Cotswold Way
I took a break from my most recent English soccer tour to fulfill a longtime goal of taking a walk on the Cotswold Way in southwest England.
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Best Fall Colors Hikes Near Portland
Looking for the best fall colors hikes near Portland, Oregon? Here are some favorites from Paul Gerald, author of “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland.”
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September Breakfast Bulletin: Amidst Tragedy, Hope
The September issue of my monthly(ish) newsletter, the Breakfast Bulletin, is out. Normally, this would involve a summary of activity from my blog here, probably a report from my English soccer project, and perhaps a plug to buy one of my books. This month, instead, it’s my response to this: You can subscribe to the Bulletin here or by clicking below:
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Lookout Mountain Hike: One of the Best Views Anywhere Near Mount Hood
I try not to throw around phrases like “perfect hike,” but Lookout Mountain, just east of Mount Hood, gets about as close as anything can to that standard. Why? Because it is a mix of effort, payoff, cool forest, sunny meadows, relative solitude, flowers, springs, and a big-time view that includes volcanoes, forests, a lake, the Columbia River, […]
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Whetstone Mountain: Easy Hike, Great Views, Hot Springs After
If you’re looking for a pretty easy hike with great views of the Oregon Cascades, Whetstone Mountain is a good place to start. It’s kind of a long drive, but I recommend it if you’re spending a night camping in the area, like along the Clackamas River. The hike is less than five miles roundtrip […]
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Old Vista Ridge Trail: Former Trail Brought Back for an Amazing “New” View of Mount Hood
For many years, one of my favorite Mount Hood hikes has been Vista Ridge — even after much of it burned up in the 2011 Dollar Lake Fire. It’s a great walk along a mountain ridge to a loop that includes several alpine meadows, front-row views of Hood, babbling brooks, smiling wildflowers … and now […]
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August 2017 Breakfast Bulletin: Hiking the Columbia River Gorge
The August, 2017 issue of my monthly(ish) newsletter, the Breakfast Bulletin, is out. This month, we have: a wrap-up of the many hikes I’ve been on lately, while updating my book 6o Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland — almost all of them of them in the Columbia River Gorge. An update from the soccer project, about the crazy […]
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Saddle Mountain Hike is a Flower and Forest Show in the Oregon Coast Range
Every year in early summer, the Portland-area hiking cycle takes one to Saddle Mountain, just off US 26 on the way to the Oregon Coast. It is typically in late June — when the Gorge flower show is done and the higher trails haven’t melted out yet — that the open peaks of this Coast Range […]
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Larch Mountain Trail in the Columbia River Gorge: Multnomah Falls, Ancient Forest, Mountaintop View
Update: As of January 2018, this trail is closed because of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. Check the National Forest website for the latest info. There are, of course, many epic hikes in the Columbia River Gorge. They lead to waterfalls, forests, flowers, and viewpoints. But perhaps none takes in all of these as the uber-epic […]
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