Angie Windheim

We took a small detour on our road trip to Bend this year and stopped to hike at Smith Rock State Park. What an amazingly, beautiful piece of nature.

Years ago we took an easy, flat hike along the bottom of the canyon, but somehow Brian convinced us to head up Misery Ridge for the grand tour of Smith Rock. Geez, that’s a brutal climb. I mean, who voluntarily climbs “Misery” Ridge. But, after some minor cursing and huffing and puffing, we were rewarded with gorgeous views. And seeing the crazy climbers from the top was priceless.

The hike took us about 3 hours with 3 kids (ages 13, 11 and 8), 1 mini-Schnauzer, frequent water breaks and some wading in the river. Bring lots of water, a camera and good shoes with traction. The trail is steep and going down takes some skill to keep from slipping. That said, we saw several people running the trail with those slip on glove/shoes. We followed their lead and found that a quick gallop down worked best and was way more fun. We all managed the well, though the Schnauzer kept diving under boulders for shade and was obviously sore the next day 🙂

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Not everyone can be a slave to the Oregon campground reservation system and plan 9 months ahead. Some of us find a rare, free weekend, and spontaneously decide to head to the hills. We foolishly thought that by leaving on a Thursday evening, we could find a campsite for the weekend on Mt. Hood. But, no. We tried Lost Lake, Trillium Lake , Frog Lake, Joe Graham Horse Camp, Little Crater Lake, and Clackamas Lake. Lost Lake (a no reservations campground with 110 spots) filled up an hour before we got there. In all of the others, we found practically empty campgrounds with reservation tags for the weekend. So frustrating. We found one site at the Horse Camp (definitely a next-to-last resort) but were told to move along, because we didn’t have a horse. Serious? Guess hitching up my Schnauzer doesn’t count.

So, as the sun fades and we get desperate, we decide to brave the rough road to Bonney Meadows Campground. This was not the plan. This is not a road you take a canoe and utility trailer on. 45 very tense minutes later, we arrive to a small, lovely and completely deserted campground!!! Some of the eggs cracked and multiple soda cans exploded on the journey, but we made it and IT WAS WONDERFUL. Total privacy. Real camping, but with the benefit of a vault toilet, toilet paper, fire pits and picnic tables. We only saw a few folks passing through with horses, and one couple stayed a few nights on the other end. Couldn’t even tell you what they looked like. We played in the creek, caught lots of frogs, mountain biked the rough trails, used the slingshots, played drums on tree stumps, let the dog go wherever the heck he wanted to, hiked to the gorgeous Bonney Butte and hiked to another great view point above Boulder Lake. And the wildflowers? So, so, so pretty.

I know we’ll go back again. The kids LOVED it. We will pack a lot lighter next time. That road is wicked rough. No trailer and no canoe…but maybe bikes. We’ll also pack a lot of bug repellant. The high octane stuff. Serious squitos there.

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“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

If you didn’t have an excuse before, then this month’s Earth Day and Arbor Day should get you motivated to plant some trees!

The Stella Olsen tree planting was very fun. Lots of volunteers, doing lots of good work. This was my first time volunteering for a collective tree/shrub planting. It was great fun. Everyone is happy to be there, ready to work and getting some exercise. I will definitely seek out more opportunities to dig in 🙂

If you are looking for some ideas on what to plant and where to buy some trees or shrubs, I have a few suggestions. The Sherwood Rotary tree sale is underway in the Albertson’s parking lot. $10 per bareroot tree.  I bought myself two peach trees to fill out my orchard and one Golden Chain. I’ve always wanted one and they had a great specimen. They also have just about any kind of fruit tree you can imagine, lots of willows, maples, oaks, alders, etc. Just make sure that when  you go that you are ready to plant right away. Bareroot trees dry out very quickly and you really want to get them in the ground before the completely leaf out.  The trees are small, but they’ll grow. I bought some birch 3 years ago and am really happy with their progress. And, hey, I mean $10! Awesome!!

Another good source of trees and bareroot fruit bushes right now is Loens Nursery on Hwy 99. The trees are 40% off. I bought a beautiful Dogwood for just $50…a steal for sure. They have great deals on bareroot grapes, blueberries, currants, raspberries, etc. At the Stella Olsen planting I discovered I had to have some currants. I bought both black and yellow shrubs. Can’t wait to taste them this summer.  They have great flowers and a really interesting smell, too.

We’ve been going to White River on Mt. Hood for years. It’s a great place to take our sleds and get some really good rides. There’s plenty of room to spread out and many choices of hills for the brave and not-so-brave. You do have to watch out for the occasional goof ball with an inner tube that flies down the hill, out of control and at crazy speeds. Luckily, those people usually wipe out gloriously and leave early in the day!

The boys had a blast on this most recent trip with their new sleds. We also tried out our new snow shoes. Boy, those make the hike up to the slopes so much easier. Brian and I can’t wait to use them again on a more scenic day hike. We’ll probably try Trillium Lake next or maybe a bigger adventure near Bachelor.

As usual, White River made for amazing pictures. Enjoy!

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I’ve been having a good time gathering the birds to my yard this winter. This week I added some homemade bird seed ornaments to my trees and the Oregon Juncos found them today! I was so happy that I could’ve watched them all day. But, that would be silly, so I took pictures instead.

To celebrate our Memorial Day weekend we headed out for a hike to Ramona Falls (near Welches in the Mt Hood Forest).  We’ve done this hike numerous times, but it had been probably 5 years. We needed Sam to be able to make it on his own two feet rather than on Brian’s back. The hike is pretty long…maybe 6 miles, but it’s beautiful from start to finish.  The falls are amazing. This time around we had lots of extra challenges. First, the bridge was out.  But determined hikers find a way (see the log crossing photos).  And, we ran into some major snow drifts along the trail. Those of us in sneakers had to slip and slide with cold toes quite a bit.  Windheims are tough though. At the end of the journey, all three kids gave it a thumbs up. I think Joe was the most enthusiastic and really seemed to love being out in the forest.

Click here to view some great shots of our hike to Ramona Falls

I’ve be messing around with digital photo sharing and have decided to go with the Shutterfly photo website. Fun, fun, fun. Go give it a look! 

http://photomomentsbyangie.shutterfly.com/

I looked out my office window to the awesomeness of Spring. A very fat hummingbird was feasting on my flowering cherry tree. He actually sat down to rest a few times because he’s so full!  And, then a pair of finches decided to make out in the tree next to it 🙂  I was lucky enough to have some windows on the addition without screens and got a few pictures without disturbing the scene.

View Album at Shutterfly

The neighbor’s ewe had twin lambs just before Christmas and I was lucky enough to be the first human to see them – I could even see the umbilical cord.  So very nice of the mommy to pose, don’t you think?  The lambs (one white, one black) have already doubled in size and seem to be doing great.