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Hooray for the Tillamook County Water Trail!

Okay, so this isn’t a hiking post (more on that later), but I do want to say congrats and yay for the Tillamook County Water Trail, which this week got recognition as a National Recreation Trail — the only one designated this year in Oregon.

From the official announcement:

“The Tillamook County Water Trail is a countywide, non-motorized recreational water trail system encompassing the area’s abundant rivers, sloughs, and bays. Five unique estuaries and their associated watersheds have a combined total of 1,820 square miles of water, over 250 of them navigable. A diversity of locales, scenery and experiences offers superior water-based recreational opportunities with paddling opportunities for every skill level from novice to advanced whitewater.”

I was introduced to this whole thing by a guy named Marc Hinz, of Kayak Tillamook County, which just created a Treasure Map of six kayak tours. I interviewed him once and wrote an article for the Daily Astorian about kayaking in the area.

Props also go to Julie Chick of the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, who have scheduled a celebration for August 17. From their press release:

You are invited to join the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, in celebration of this designation, at the PC County Boat Launch next to Bob Straub State Park on Friday, August 17th at 11 am. Details will include a short ceremony, chocolate cake and a kayak paddle at noon. So bring your friends, boats, neighbors and partners, and please join us. (more information to follow)

So, about hiking. Check out the Oregonian’s story on all this. It’s a story about kayaking in Tillamook County, right? Now, look at those photos. One is of a hiker — author Doug Lorain, no less — in the Gorge. The other is of people hiking up Neahkhanie Mountain, which is at least in Tillamook County.

Are you telling the Oregonian couldn’t find a single picture of a person in a kayak! What an impossibly lame website they have!

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What am I Supposed to Be Doing?

The Universe tends to sling the same message at me, over and over, from every possible angle, until I get it. Lately, the message has come in a professional context, about how to earn a living from meaningful and satisfying work, from folks like Chris Guillebeau:

The key is that you can’t be passionate about just anything; instead you need to be passionate about something that other people are willing to spend money on.

That makes perfect sense to me. But it only poses a question, really: What am I passionate about that people would be willing to spend money on?

I’ve heard this message so many times that it begins to piss me off. This is how my relationship with the Universe goes: it sends messages, I tell it yes but don’t do anything, so it sends them again, and I ignore them or put them off, so it re-sends with some pain or something, and I complain, then more pain, more complaining, and then the distraction with projects and various forms of “busy-ness.” Then the Universe makes all of those things fall apart because they are Wrong.

Or I medicate the pain, until that doesn’t work anymore. (Once I figure that out, the recovery process begins.)

Sooner or later, we hope, I ask myself, “What is it I need to figure out here, so this pain can stop?”
Right now, with my personal and professional lives — exhausted, broke, discouraged — I am at this “What do I need to do” phase. It sucks getting here, but I’m ready to do something different. And I know that “something” is, once again, figure out what’s my purpose in life (aka God’s will, if you like) and then f—-ing go for it. Identify my gift and start giving it. Let the guy out of the cage.

I just don’t know what the first step is. So I am going to ask you. Whoever you are. I’m asking everybody, starting now.

What do you think “my gift” is? What do I do, or care about, or know about, that you would be willing to spend money on?

I do have some ideas:

Who knows what else might be out there?

What do you think? I’m kind of torn up here.

 

Thanks,

Paul

 

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New Hiking Trails, Campgrounds at Mount Saint Helens?

The Vancouver Columbian has an interesting story about Mount Saint Helens. Apparently the Forest Service is looking into …

the possibility of adding one or two campgrounds and two trails at Mount St. Helens, including a new climbing route on the north side of the volcano.

Read the rest here. The trail wouldn’t go to the summit, but would reach 6,500 feet on the rim and give a view into the crater. That sounds cool!

I’ve been thinking more and more about hiking up at Saint Helens. The trails on the south side are well known to me and in my book — Lava Canyon and Ape Canyon being the coolest ones — but the north side is less known to me, since it’s beyond the range of my book.

But when I see pictures like this, I ask myself, “Self, why aren’t we hiking at Mount Saint Helens?”

So, who’s got suggestions for up there? Where should I take myself hiking? Anybody want to go?

Both photos via the Washington Trails Association.

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Portland Outdoorsy News: Larch Mountain Road open, Sandy River Delta closed.

Just a couple of news items from the Oregonian I thought I’d share.

One is that the road to Larch Mountain, one of the great  viewpoints in the Columbia River Gorge, is now open. The view of the Gorge and Mount Hood  from up there is pretty stupendous, and it’s  a great place to go see the city lights on a clear, moonless night. I think we get one or two of those each year.

Lewis and Clark Recreation Area in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

The other piece of news is that the Sandy River Delta, aka Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area, is closing June 11-15 so they can build a new trailhead. It’s a pretty cool place to go for a walk, and if you have a dog, I am  sure you already know this.

The Sandy River delta, by the way, will be featured in my new book this fall, Peaceful Places in Portland.

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The “Lost Trail” Crowd

A while back, I wrote a piece for The Oregonian about people who like to hike lost trails around Oregon — or who just wander off-trail looking for adventure or old stuff that was left out there.

You can read that piece here.

Well, since it ran, I’ve gotten a couple of requests along the lines of “How do I find these people and keep up with what they’re doing?”

The best way to get in touch with that whole crowd is to register (for free) at PortlandHikers.org and then look for them in the forums, especially the “Off-trail trip reports and lost trails” forum. You’re looking for Don Nelsen, Raven, and Splintercat. Those are the main guys in the story.

But they’re all entertaining, and their adventures are really something.

Happy hiking!

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Dog Mountain Flower Report

Every year about this time, one of the most popular hikes around is to the top of Dog Mountain. That’s because the whole top of the mountain is a big meadow covered in wildflowers, the most conspicuous being balsamroot:

Now, imagine about a million of those blooming all at one, 3,000 feet above the Columbia River. That’s Dog Mountain at peak wildflower bloom.

In fact, you don’t have to imagine it at all. Here’s a shot from a few years back:

And that wasn’t even at peak bloom!

Well, it’s getting time for Dog Mountain in 2012. According to this report on PortlandHikers.org (thanks, TrailMom!), the summit meadows are about two weeks away, but the action is going strong on the way up.

So get your legs ready; it’s getting to be time for the wildflower show on Dog Mountain.