Big Huckleberry Mountain Hike

Angie, Kurt, Cami and I hiked the Grassy Knoll Trail to Big Huckleberry Mountain in June. Big Huckleberry Mountain is located in the Indian Heaven Wilderness in southwest Washington. The hike was 11 miles round trip and started at the Grassy Knoll Trailhead at 2850 feet and ended at Big Huckleberry Mountain at 4202 feet. The wildflowers were amazing on this hike. Enjoy the pictures.

Mount Adams from the cliffside overlook.
Wildflowers on the summit of Big Huckleberry Mountain.

Cami with the wildflowers.

More wildflowers.

Angie and Scott on the summit of big huckleberry mountain. Mt Hood is on the left.

Mount hood on the right.

Wildflowers along the trail.

Angel's Rest Hike

Angie, Cami and I hiked to Angel's Rest in the Columbia River Gorge in June. The hike is 4.6 miles round trip and gains ~1600 feet. The wildflower bloom was pretty close to being at the peak. We started early and beat most of the crowds. This is a very popular hike due to the proximity to Portland.

Wildflowers

Scott and Angie

Small waterfall near the Angels Rest trail. This is my favorite photo so far this season.

Ramona Falls Hike

Ryan, Julie, Angie and I hiked to Ramona Falls in the Mt Hood Wilderness in June. Cami led the way and herded any straglers who fell behind. The hike was 7 miles round trip and gained ~1000 feet. Ramona is most scenic waterfall we have seen in the Pacific Northwest. Near the falls the temperature dropped almost 20 degrees and it got downright cold! We planned on eating lunch near the falls, but instead went a few hundred yards down the trail where it was much warmer.

The log bridge near the falls.Cami, Scott, Angie, Julie, Ryan

This was an interesting view of the falls.

The upper Sandy River

Wine Country

Ryan, Julie, Angie and I went on a wine tour with Eco-Wine Tours in June. This was a great way to see several different wineries and was lots of fun. Our tour focused on wineries near the towns Gaston and Yamhill. We visited Montinore Estates, Patton Valley Vineyard, Plum Hill Vineyard and Willakenzie Estate Winery.

Montinore Estates.

Patton Valley Vineyards

Willakenzie VineyardsThe wine bus!

Rose Garden - June 2009

During Ryan and Julie's trip to Oregon we went to the Portland Rose Garden. The roses were amazing as usual.

Ryan and Julie

Scott and Angie

Julie, Ryan, Scott, Angie.

Buckhorn Pass Backpack

Angie, Matt, Jaclyn and I backpacked the Tubal Cain Trail to Buckhorn pass in the Olympic National Forest at the end of May. The trailhead is located ~20 miles from Sequim, Washington on the northeast portion of the Olympic Peninsula. The backpack was ~16 miles round trip. The starting elevation was ~3200 feet at the trailhead and ~5900 feet at Buckhorn Pass.

Here are some pictures from along the way.

Buckhorn Lake. The ice was quickly melting off the lake.

Wildflowers. We were a few weeks early for the main wildflower bloom, but there were some samll areas of wildflowers on the way up to Buckhorn Pass. Weathered log on Buckhorn Pass

Scott and Angie at Buckhorn Pass


Campsite at Buckhorn Pass


Halo around the sun near sunset


Night exposure of the moon. (263 second exposure)


Night exposure of Buckhorn Mountain. The lights from Seattle are glowing on the horizon. (95 second exposure)


Night exposure of the north star. (27 minute exposure)


Buckhorn Pass.


Our campsite at Buckhorn Pass