G'day from Sydney, Australia

Introduce yourself to the group! We welcome novice and expert alike! We especially love hearing from those new to Portland and those new to hiking
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cyberphi
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Joined: June 7th, 2017, 9:17 pm

G'day from Sydney, Australia

Post by cyberphi » June 7th, 2017, 9:32 pm

G'day all, hello from Australia. I just joined the Oregon Hikers forum because I'll be doing a month of hiking in Oregon from August to mid Sept this year and I'm sooooooo excited :)

I'm planning to walk north, mostly on the PCT but also sometimes on adjacent trails like parts of the OST and Sky Lakes Trail. My plan involves going on and off trail here and there, but basically it's Ashland to Portland, via Mother Nature.

My hiking has mostly been in Australia, and I've done the Overland Track, the Thorsborne Track, Larapinta Trail, Six Foot Track, Three Capes Track, parts of the Heysen trail, and a bunch of day and overnight hikes near Adelaide and Sydney including some outback walks in the Flinders Ranges, SA. Outside of Australia, I've walked a week of the Lycian Way in Turkey and done some smaller hikes around the place e.g. in Colombia (e.g. Tayrona NP), China (e.g. Tai Shan), Morocco (e.g. Todra Gorge), Scotland (e.g. part of the West Highland Way) ... and most exotic of all -- even the Salmon River Trail in Oregon! (Though I still don't know what poison oak looks like and I've never seen a bear, mmm, will have to figure all that out!)

So yeah, just saying hello -- and hope to see some of you out on the trails in a couple of months time!

About me: woman, 44, mostly hiking alone. And hammock camping!

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retired jerry
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: G'day from Sydney, Australia

Post by retired jerry » June 8th, 2017, 4:26 am

That is a perfect time to be hiking august to sept - the snow has melted as much as it's going to, weather still good

North on PCT is the perfect place to go - lots of alpine areas

Aimless
Posts: 1922
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: Lake Oswego

Re: G'day from Sydney, Australia

Post by Aimless » June 8th, 2017, 12:13 pm

I've never seen a bear

That's ok. The chances you'll see one while you are here would fall somewhere below 5% and the bears here are best known for galloping away the moment they know you are near them. Just learn to recognize when you are walking in an area rich in ripe huckleberries, because at that time of year that is where the bears like to hang out.

squidvicious
Posts: 525
Joined: May 11th, 2015, 8:41 pm
Location: Troutdale

Re: G'day from Sydney, Australia

Post by squidvicious » June 13th, 2017, 5:56 pm

cyberphi wrote:Though I still don't know what poison oak looks like and I've never seen a bear
Hey, I've been here a couple decades or so now, and I still can't figure out poison oak! It's three leaves... unless it's five... or possibly seven... This color, or maybe this color, this big or way bigger, shaped like this, or not... Yeah. Fortunately so far it hasn't been able to find me either.

Oregon bears on the other hand are easy, should you have the fairly unlikely experience of encountering one. They'll be the big fuzzy black thing running away from you.

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adamschneider
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Location: SE Portland
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Re: G'day from Sydney, Australia

Post by adamschneider » June 13th, 2017, 7:16 pm

squidvicious wrote:Hey, I've been here a couple decades or so now, and I still can't figure out poison oak! It's three leaves... unless it's five... or possibly seven... This color, or maybe this color, this big or way bigger, shaped like this, or not...
Nope, it's always three leaflets; that's the one thing you can count on, even if some of the other attributes can vary a bit. Fortunately, you won't encounter much poison-oak on the PCT; it prefers lower elevations.

Compared to Australia, I think you'll find the wildlife in Oregon to be laughably benign. :) Like the others said, our bears are fraidy-cats. I still haven't even seen one outside California (where they're a much bigger nuisance for backpackers and other mountain-dwellers).

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