Visting Oregon Soon

[MattC]

Hi all,

My name is Matt and I live in New Paltz, NY. I have been a "serious" hiker for about 4 years and have hiked extensively year-round in the Catskills, Shawangunks and other places in the Hudson Valley, and also have hiked a fair amount in the Adirondacks, Whites, and other mountains of the Northeast US.

I will be visiting Oregon for 2 weeks in August, from 8/16-31. I will fly to Portland and stay with a friend. I have no definite plans yet, but hope to do a lot of hiking. My rough outline of a plan is this:

-Spend 2 or 3 days just seeing Portland at first, maybe do a couple shorter hikes within a days drive, and plan for some other stuff.

-Head out and explore the Cascades and maybe some other areas, probably just car camping and day hiking, but maybe some backpacking. Not sure how much gear I want to bring.

-I may also rent a bike at some point for some cycling. I hear Portland is somewhat bike-friendly. (Understatement)

Anyway, suffice to say I am very excited about the trip. So far my research has involved 2 William Sullivan guides, a road map and Delorme Atlas, and online resources (like this site!). I will buy trail maps when I get out there. You Oregon folks appear to have quite a remarkable and diverse home there. I know that in 2 weeks I can only see a fraction of it, but I'm trying to formulate a plan that allows me to experience at least a few of your states salient features.

Best,

Matt

[Grannyhiker]

Welcome, Matt, and enjoy your stay here! I would suggest visiting the beach (maybe the short hike to Hug Point south of Cannon Beach, or Neahkahnie Mountain?), the Columbia River Gorge (everyone recommends Eagle Creek, but there is also the Horsetail-Oneonta-Triple Falls loop or the Multnomah-Wahkeena Loop) and the Mt. Hood area. There have been lots of problems this year with the extraordinarily late snowmelt, but hopefully that won't be so much of an issue by the time you get here. The wildflower peak (usually late July-early August) will be delayed, which is good for you. Unfortunately the peak mosquito season (which generally corresponds with the wildflowers) will also be delayed. Plan on wearing long sleeves, long pants and a mosquito headnet in the mountains. A few squirts of permethrin spray on the above clothing items will help.

Check out the Field Guide section on this site for hike ideas.

[MattC]

Thanks for reply and advisement, especially about the bugs. Here in the Northeast, we hikers are well acquainted with black flies, deer flies, mosquitos, etc. I use a headnet and occasionally DEET if it's really bad.

Matt

[MattC]

So, my trip went very well and I have been back home for a few days. I have been slow to start going through my pictures. I will be posting some trip reports with picture links soon. I'm not a great photographer and many of my pics are not so great, but there are a few good ones and many okay ones.

Anyway, it was an amazing visit. Looking back at my outlined plan, that's pretty much how it went. I checked out Portland and many of it's amazing parks. I hiked in the Gorge and the higher Cascades. I saw some of the high desert and also did a quick visit to the coast. And I did rent a bike from Veloce Bicycles on Hawthorne-that was a fun way to tour Portland.

And Granny Hiker, I did not remember your suggestions, but I actually did end up hiking Neahkahnie Mountain and Horsetail-Oneonta-Triple Falls anyway! Nice hikes, although no views from Neahkahnie due to rain and clouds.

Matt