Week 25 - Oregon City and Alder Flat - June 19 to June 25, 2023.

This was a great week in several ways - We FINISHED cutting splitting and stacking firewood.  Even Abby helped us, on one day, to do several front loader loads of firewood.

I took Logan on his birthday Backpacking Trip to Alder Flat.  There are lots of burned trees, but the campground itself looks pretty much like it used to.

I pitched the tent right where the trail comes into the campground.

The view from the tent

Jessica had given me a foldable camp table ...which was wonderful!  We ate on it and played games...

And rested my feet

Logan used the table to play with his crawdad pincers

We had a main goal - catch fish and cook them!  The fishing wasn't very good...nothing was biting.  But he did get two.

We built a fire and prepped the fish.

Yes - it was  bit charred, but tasty nevertheless.

There were a lot of new plants/flowers.  Most disturbing were many (gobs and gobs) of Big Leaf Maple, growing right in the middle of the camping areas.  I pulled them out.

 Red Elderberry

Indian Pink - Silene Hookeri - fields of them along the river.

Mock Orange - Philadelphia Lewisii

Logan was enamored by the Indian Burial Ground rock.

We played games - Exploding Kittens and Cover Your Assets, threw a frisbee, talked about movies (such as Meglaon #1).  The river bank is so clogged with Willows - I wish it was easier and more fun to walt alongside the water's edge.  I wish there were more "day" things to do...maybe we should have hiked up to the beaver dam/meadow

We left Wednesday night, rather that spend the night and leave first thing in the morning.  Drove to Estacada and tried to eat at the taco wagon - closed.  So tried another and ate chicken and rice.  Before we finished, the proprietor of the wagon had closed up and gone home.

Logan was a great companion!

On Saturday, Jane and Holland dropped by on their way to somewhere on the road.  I gave them an ATV ride.  They also wanted to go in the hot tub, but Holland was covered with cat tattoos, and I said, no.  Jane then said, "Let's go into the woods".  And off they went, hand in hand.

I think next week we'll get our two new kittens.  So far we have the litter and food--waiting for the litter box and the kittens.  We're getting a tabby named Jack Smith (Jack) and a Siamese wannabe, named Volodymyr Zelensky (Zee)

 Week 24 - Oregon City - June 12-June 18, 2023

This was a great week.  Two hikes, lots of wood splitting and firewood stacking, Ruby's baptism, Last day of school,  and Father's Day....and skunk trapping.

I wanted to hike part of the Santiam River Wagon Road to see if it was a possible backpacking destination for a birthday present.   This wagon word looked interesting on paper.  It's a 19 mile section of an old wagon road used in the late 1800's as a way to get Willamette River cattle to eastern Oregon.  The road functioned in this manner until the government bought it and built Highway 22 as a replacement.   I took Abby and Clara and we did the first two miles.  

 

On Thursday we drove up the Clackamas to visit riverside campground and Top Lake.   Took Logan with us.  The last time we were at Riverside was on Labor Day 2020-the day the big fires engulphed the Clackamas River watershed.  Sniff....the sign is still posted on the reader board near the entrance.

All of the campgrounds along the river are closed - by gates across the road.  We parked at the ae and walked in.  The fire did not destroy all of the area - in fact most of the trees were untouched.  We noticed what seemed to be flooding - lots of debris on the ground and up under picnic tables.

This was our favorite spot - Site #1.  

The bridge on the trail

Look at all of the debris under the picnic table.

Water pump still works.

This was Travis' favorite spot....#14

The trailhead to Rainbow Campground

After feeling remorseful about Riverside, we continued up the mountain to Olallie Lake.  All the area there was affected by the Lionshead Fire.  It was very crispy.

We stopped near the cabins - which, miraculously, were untouched by the fire...and had lunch.

We walked to the trailhead because - - the road was closed

The trail was very easy to follow - but everything was burned.  Found this elk

And here is Top Lake with Double Peaks in the background.  The campsite is right in the middle of the photo, but we didn't even walk over there.  It was too sad.

And closer - I'm almost tearing up.

Firewood and preparedness!

Ruby's baptism was on Saturday.  The entire audience was just our family - it made me feel really good.  Only missing Ivan and fam, Evan, Natalie, and Clay

Bev planned a really nice evening after the baptism....all you could eat strawberry shortcake and all the smores you could eat...using our Solo Stove.  Weather was perfect.  Kids were perfect.  Family was perfect.

Last day of school was on Thursday - sad, of course, but good.

Exciting skunk trapping.  We'd already caught one, but knew by the skunk aroma that there was still another one wandering around - and we saw it on the trail camera.  Before we got the skunk, however, we caught a possum and a racoon.  Here are the hunters!

Father's Day on Sunday.  Jessica invited us over for breakfast which was yummy.  Had a really nice dinner of currywurst sausages from Mt Angel.  I gave Dad a U-Line catalog which he loved! 

Primary children sang in Sacrament meeting.

I also got him a new pair of "running shoes", and he bought himself an air compressor...after being very frustrated that his crummy air compressor didn't have enough umph to put the lug nuts back on the tires of the car.

I got rid of old plywood from greenhouse construction days by posting on Facebook Marketplace.

It was a great week.  Next week I start the summer birthday backpacking trips.  I'll be taking Logan to Alder Flat.  Been there before...many times....but all the other good places have been burned.