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New to this forum but not the PNW

Posted: January 6th, 2022, 10:47 pm
by gingerbrains
Hi! I’m Hadley. I’m from Eugene, but have lived in Portland since 07. Im a seasonal trail worker of 6 years (most recently for NPS at Mt Rainier NP), and love day hiking, backpacking, & thru-hiking.

In recent years during my off-seasons in Portland, as PDX & the surrounding natural areas have become more densely populated/exploited/developed/closed/trashed/burned, I’ve been finding myself looking for routes farther off the beaten path and away from …ya know, the new people, or the party people, or the rich-tech-job-Patagonia-enthusiast people, or even the fresh-from-LA-or-Seattle-or-Denver-lifestyle-blogger people. I’ve found myself increasingly preferring this site to other online trail resources because of it’s breadth of off-the-beaten-path information from a huge community of thoughtful & actually local enthusiasts. So just wanted to say hello, and say that I appreciate all y’all folks that have kept this community going for years, especially the folks thatve lived in Oregon for a long time. Also appreciate the Trailkeepers - as I transition away from my seasonal professional trail work life, I’ll be looking for opportunities in the trail work world locally. Nice to meet y’all!

-Hadley

PS my weird special project lately has been trying to figure out non-salmonberry hiking routes from PDX to the coast - lmk if any of y’all are interested in such an endeavor!

Re: New to this forum but not the PNW

Posted: January 7th, 2022, 8:21 pm
by bobcat
Welcome, Hadley, and thank you for your work on trails!

If you don't know them already, check out James D. Thayer's books for Portland to the Coast connections! (although Weyerhaeuser has forbidden entry to its lands so some of what Thayer describes is no longer relevant)

Re: New to this forum but not the PNW

Posted: January 7th, 2022, 8:23 pm
by pinecone
Welcome! It's been almost a decade since I left the life of a seasonal trail worker in Alaska, and I miss those years of living and working in the mountains. Nothing is ever quite as amazing. (although my knees much prefer this lifestyle) Now I seek most of my mountain fixes around Mount Hood. If you're looking for expansive routes with minimal people, that aren't excessively far from PDX, I highly recommend the far eastern reaches of Mt Hood National Forest and the area all around Badger Creek Wilderness. It's a wild and lonely place, with lots of hidden treasures. On one of my explorations there this spring I covered 26 miles and only saw one other person, who was out clearing some brush with his pup. East of 35 the population of hikers drops precipitously.

Re: New to this forum but not the PNW

Posted: January 25th, 2022, 2:40 pm
by vacagol
Hi! Nice to meet you in this forum, I'm also new here. Although I no longer live in Oregon, I still interested in hiking, and in hiking in this area. I plan to develop my skills in trailkeeping and discover good places to go hiking using this forum. And I believe that one day I'll bring my dream to life.