Oregon City, Oregon - Week 26 - June 29-July 5, 2020

In preparation for The Enchantments, a bunch of us hiked the trail to Paradise Park.  Jessica and Jenn went with us too...even though they aren't doing the Enchantments.  It rained and misted the whole time, and the mountainside was socked in with clouds.  But,  it was six miles of uphill and at high elevation, so it was good training.
Jessica, Whitney, Melissa, Jenn, me, Bev



Crossing the Zig Zag River (on a car bridge) and heading up the trail.







Filling out the required wilderness permit.



The trail is very well groomed, but a bit boring because there are no scenic vistas, and at the one place where there might have been a view, we could only see clouds.







Nice flowers on the way.









We almost got to the junction with the PCT which had been our goal.  But the trail had become rough with s lots of fallen trees, and it was cold, and I was hungry......and at the 5 1/2 mile mark I said, "guys, I'm tired and want to eat.  You can go ahead, and I'll wait here for you."  They all decided to stop too.  Going back down the trail was brutal on our knees.  I was sore the next day - but all in all - was in pretty good shape.

The downed trees on the trail were the death knell to my favorite hiking pants which went on the Camino (2016) with me and to Kazakhstan plus numerous previous hikes.  Scooting over one of the logs caused an irreparable rip - even for duct tape.

 





Did more work in the woods clearing more ivy off trees (Jude helped me on one) and built a bridge from Sector 1 to Sector 4 using three 4x4s of treated wood.





On July third we celebrated Bjorn's 18th birthday even though is birthday is on July 18th.  Waren made him a cake decorated as a motherboard.









Ivan and Renee arrived on Friday night.  They were with us only for Saturday July 4 when we had a great picnic dinner and a homegrown fireworks display.  Unfortunately I have no photos from July 4th.

Ivan helped Dad and me burn filbert branches that I had drug up from the woods.



Sunday we photographed a grave for Find a Grave. 



It was especially quiet and sad after the Utha Boys had returned to their home.