Cape Perpetua Camping

This Memorial Day weekend, Janel and I took a trip out to the Oregon Coast. We went camping down between Newport and Florence in an area called Cape Perpetua with a bunch of our friends.


We bailed from work early on Friday, and headed out for the coast with Allen, Nitya (a guy from India who is visiting our group at work), Michelle, and the Horihan family. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Mo's in Lincoln City. This is a good chain of seafood restaurants along the coast, with a family atmosphere (which is good when you have a 2-year-old with you). Meals go for $10-$15, and the locations are generally great (right along the ocean). I would definitely go back for a quick meal.


We arrived at the Cape Perpetua campground at ~8:30 Friday evening an setup camp. We got really lucky and got a great couple of spots. The whole campground is along a little stream, but our sites happened to be relatively secluded. We were in sites 14 and 15. Site 13 is also really nice (and has a short path that connects it to 14), so that would have been the best situation. 15 was the most secluded, but is a bit close to the bathrooms, so there was a small amount of light. However, they were really both great sites. Below is a picture of site 14.





We had a nice campfire and a few beers on Friday night, and then hit the sack.


Saturday we got up and had a quick breakfast and hiked down to the ocean to do some hiking. We first scoped out Devil's Churn ... which was okay. Below is a picture of some wildflowers growing along the coast.





We were there maybe an hour after high tide (which is the best time to go) ... so I might try to go back some other time when the tide was higher. We then headed on over to some tidepools. Below is a picture of some tadpolls and their egg sack that we saw sitting near a small stream and the tide pools.





After scoping out the tidepools, we went on a little hike along the coast and then up a stream into an old growth forest that had some gigantic spruce trees. It was an okay hike ... nothing that exciting. There were some more wildflowers along the coast. Here is one of the pictures I took.





We then headed on back to the campground and then drove up to the top of a nearby overlook where I took the picture below.





We then headed back to camp and were eventually joined by Chrissy and our new intern Melvin. Meanwhile, Allen and Jason were out collecting over 100 mussels along the coast. After they got back, I started up a fire and we chilled out while they spent an hour or so cleaning their catch. We cooked up some brats over the fire and Allen and Jason proceeded to cook (and eat) all 100 of their mussels. We were all taking bets on who would get sick first ... but they all turned out to be fine.


Later our friend Anna, her sister Maria, and their friend Sarah showed up (somewhat unexpectedly) and joined us for a nice evening around the campfire. This was eventually cut short when the rain started to come down pretty hard. The single-folk hung out in the back of Chrissy's SUV for a while, while the domesticated folks hit the sack.


Sunday we got up and had a nice breakfast and then headed home. Good times. I give the campground an 8 and the hiking in the area a 5. Definitely somewhere worth spending a few hours or a day at ... but I don't think I would want to spend much longer than that in the area :).


You can see all the photos here.

Help Downloading Photos

So I have gotten some feedback that people would like an easy way to download all (or many) photos in an album at full resolution easily. I put together a little howto on this ... see the link "Help Downloading Photos" on the right.

Cape Perpetua Camping

This Memorial Day weekend, Janel and I took a trip out to the Oregon Coast. We went camping down between Newport and Florence in an area called Cape Perpetua with a bunch of our friends.


We bailed from work early on Friday, and headed out for the coast with Allen, Nitya (a guy from India who is visiting our group at work), Michelle, and the Horihan family. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Mo's in Lincoln City. This is a good chain of seafood restaurants along the coast, with a family atmosphere (which is good when you have a 2-year-old with you). Meals go for $10-$15, and the locations are generally great (right along the ocean). I would definitely go back for a quick meal.


We arrived at the Cape Perpetua campground at ~8:30 Friday evening an setup camp. We got really lucky and got a great couple of spots. The whole campground is along a little stream, but our sites happened to be relatively secluded. We were in sites 14 and 15. Site 13 is also really nice (and has a short path that connects it to 14), so that would have been the best situation. 15 was the most secluded, but is a bit close to the bathrooms, so there was a small amount of light. However, they were really both great sites. Below is a picture of site 14.





We had a nice campfire and a few beers on Friday night, and then hit the sack.


Saturday we got up and had a quick breakfast and hiked down to the ocean to do some hiking. We first scoped out Devil's Churn ... which was okay. Below is a picture of some wildflowers growing along the coast.





We were there maybe an hour after high tide (which is the best time to go) ... so I might try to go back some other time when the tide was higher. We then headed on over to some tidepools. Below is a picture of some tadpolls and their egg sack that we saw sitting near a small stream and the tide pools.





After scoping out the tidepools, we went on a little hike along the coast and then up a stream into an old growth forest that had some gigantic spruce trees. It was an okay hike ... nothing that exciting. There were some more wildflowers along the coast. Here is one of the pictures I took.





We then headed on back to the campground and then drove up to the top of a nearby overlook where I took the picture below.





We then headed back to camp and were eventually joined by Chrissy and our new intern Melvin. Meanwhile, Allen and Jason were out collecting over 100 mussels along the coast. After they got back, I started up a fire and we chilled out while they spent an hour or so cleaning their catch. We cooked up some brats over the fire and Allen and Jason proceeded to cook (and eat) all 100 of their mussels. We were all taking bets on who would get sick first ... but they all turned out to be fine.


Later our friend Anna, her sister Maria, and their friend Sarah showed up (somewhat unexpectedly) and joined us for a nice evening around the campfire. This was eventually cut short when the rain started to come down pretty hard. The single-folk hung out in the back of Chrissy's SUV for a while, while the domesticated folks hit the sack.


Sunday we got up and had a nice breakfast and then headed home. Good times. I give the campground an 8 and the hiking in the area a 5. Definitely somewhere worth spending a few hours or a day at ... but I don't think I would want to spend much longer than that in the area :).


You can see all the photos here.

Help Downloading Photos

So I have gotten some feedback that people would like an easy way to download all (or many) photos in an album at full resolution easily. I put together a little howto on this ... see the link "Help Downloading Photos" on the right.

Ruckle Creek / Benson Plateau / Eagle Creek

This weekend I want on my first backpacking trip of 2007. I headed out to the Gorge on Saturday morning with Steve, Chrissy, and Steve's dog Dante. Janel did not join us ... which turned out to be a very good thing :).


We decided to do a loop trail starting at the Eagle Creek parking lot. Instead of heading in at Eagle Creek, we headed on up to the Ruckle Creek trail. This is a bit more hardcore than the Eagle Creek trail though :). It ascends 4000ft in 5 miles (with one of the miles being pretty much completely flat) to get up to the Benson Plateau. We started at about 12:30 and it took us until probably 4:30 to make it all the way to the top. Luckily I decided to try out bringing a relatively small pack (a recent purchase) and only the bare minimum. This helped a lot.


Another good choice was taking the Ruckle Creek trail instead of the Ruckle Ridge trail. The ridge trail is an old trail that is no longer maintained and is supposed to a bit more challenging. Now I am still a bit afraid of heights ... and after talking to some people on the trail we found out that "more challenging" can also mean "climbing along a 4 foot wide ledge with hundred foot drops on either side". Yikes. If you are in to that sort of thing ... the Ruckle Ridge/Ruckle Creek loop is supposed to be great (we talked to some people along the way that were doing the loop for the second time that day training).


Anyway ... here is a picture of Mt. Adams that was taken when we were about half way up (elevation of 1900').





There were some wildflowers out ... but not as many as we were hoping. Here is a picture of Dante from a field of wildflowers.





When we finally made it to the top, we discovered that the top of the plateau still had a bit of snow on top. Luckily we did not come a few weeks earlier (like we originally planned) because it would have been a lot less pleasant. We found a spot with some water and setup camp. Here is a picture of the stream that we camped next to.





The plateau was a great place to camp. It is mostly covered with forest ... but has a good amount of water (from Ruckle Creek). Careful about how early in the year you go ... because the snow stays down at that elevation a bit longer than you might expect. The campground at the South side of the plateau was definitely covered with a few feet of snow.


We slept in a bit and got started late on day 2. We broke camp at about 9:30 and headed on out. The trail was not really there :P ... so we broke out the compass and followed it for a while. Luckily a group of people with some dogs headed out before us and Dante picked up the trail and lead us along. We finally made out way to the PCT and followed it for a ways before shooting of down another un-maintained spur down to Eagle Creek.


This trail was a mess. It was supposed to drop a good 3000' in about 2 miles. That in itself would be brutal. However ... there was some recent massive wind damage that turned the trek down into an obstacle course. Here is a picture of the chaos ...





Trails can be a lot more difficult than their topos make them appear to be :).


We finally made our way down to the major Eagle Creek trail at about 3:00 ... and halled down the 5 miles to the car by about 5:00. The trip was a lot of fun ... I would definitely try it again sometime ... just not a good trip for the faint of heart. You can see all the pictures here.

Ruckle Creek / Benson Plateau / Eagle Creek

This weekend I want on my first backpacking trip of 2007. I headed out to the Gorge on Saturday morning with Steve, Chrissy, and Steve's dog Dante. Janel did not join us ... which turned out to be a very good thing :).


We decided to do a loop trail starting at the Eagle Creek parking lot. Instead of heading in at Eagle Creek, we headed on up to the Ruckle Creek trail. This is a bit more hardcore than the Eagle Creek trail though :). It ascends 4000ft in 5 miles (with one of the miles being pretty much completely flat) to get up to the Benson Plateau. We started at about 12:30 and it took us until probably 4:30 to make it all the way to the top. Luckily I decided to try out bringing a relatively small pack (a recent purchase) and only the bare minimum. This helped a lot.


Another good choice was taking the Ruckle Creek trail instead of the Ruckle Ridge trail. The ridge trail is an old trail that is no longer maintained and is supposed to a bit more challenging. Now I am still a bit afraid of heights ... and after talking to some people on the trail we found out that "more challenging" can also mean "climbing along a 4 foot wide ledge with hundred foot drops on either side". Yikes. If you are in to that sort of thing ... the Ruckle Ridge/Ruckle Creek loop is supposed to be great (we talked to some people along the way that were doing the loop for the second time that day training).


Anyway ... here is a picture of Mt. Adams that was taken when we were about half way up (elevation of 1900').





There were some wildflowers out ... but not as many as we were hoping. Here is a picture of Dante from a field of wildflowers.





When we finally made it to the top, we discovered that the top of the plateau still had a bit of snow on top. Luckily we did not come a few weeks earlier (like we originally planned) because it would have been a lot less pleasant. We found a spot with some water and setup camp. Here is a picture of the stream that we camped next to.





The plateau was a great place to camp. It is mostly covered with forest ... but has a good amount of water (from Ruckle Creek). Careful about how early in the year you go ... because the snow stays down at that elevation a bit longer than you might expect. The campground at the South side of the plateau was definitely covered with a few feet of snow.


We slept in a bit and got started late on day 2. We broke camp at about 9:30 and headed on out. The trail was not really there :P ... so we broke out the compass and followed it for a while. Luckily a group of people with some dogs headed out before us and Dante picked up the trail and lead us along. We finally made out way to the PCT and followed it for a ways before shooting of down another un-maintained spur down to Eagle Creek.


This trail was a mess. It was supposed to drop a good 3000' in about 2 miles. That in itself would be brutal. However ... there was some recent massive wind damage that turned the trek down into an obstacle course. Here is a picture of the chaos ...





Trails can be a lot more difficult than their topos make them appear to be :).


We finally made our way down to the major Eagle Creek trail at about 3:00 ... and halled down the 5 miles to the car by about 5:00. The trip was a lot of fun ... I would definitely try it again sometime ... just not a good trip for the faint of heart. You can see all the pictures here.

Conan Obrien Visits Intel

Conan Obrien Visits Intel