Silver Falls State Park

Lower South Falls

It has been about ten years since I have been to Silver Falls State Park and that is just wrong.  This is a fabulous place and no more so than on a rainy winter Friday with nobody around.  William and I had a day off and we took full advantage of it.  Really great hike - where else can you walk behind four different falls?  I won't wait quite so long to return next time.

Middle North Falls

North Falls

Thanksgiving Weekend

Spencer Butte Summit

I had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  We were visited in Eugene by friends from Utah who joined us for a festive DenOuden family Thanksgiving feast in the Mohawk Valley.  We then headed north to Bainbridge Island, Washington for the remainder of the weekend.  After an intensely wet week we enjoyed a relatively dry holiday, allowing for some good walks around town.

Gazing out over the southern Willamette Valley from Spencer Butte



Signs of Winter: Banana slug



Signs of Winter: Mushroom

Mt. Pisgah Hike

From Mt Pisgah looking up the Willamette

Ken and I celebrated our birthdays with a morning hike at Mt Pisgah.  After a very wet and blustery day Saturday we enjoyed a dry hike with dramatic skies.  Made it another year...

Rainy Monday Hike

Brice Creek

It was a rainy Veteran's Day Monday so William and I headed for the hills.  I was getting a mild case of cabin fever from all of the indoor time this weekend so a few hours outside on a trail was just what I needed.  This was a new trail for me (and William).  A nice, quiet, lonely four mile loop to a small waterfall and a stretch along Brice Creek.  It even stopped raining for much of the hike.  I feel much better now.

Trestle Falls

Looking up from behind the falls

Brice Creek swimming holes

A Portland Weekend

Willamette River from South Waterfront condo

Every now and then we need to get out of Eugene and see something urban.  Portland is a great break and only an hour and a half away.  We spent the night at the South Waterfront condo of a friend who was out of town.  Well served by streetcar, tramway up to OHSU hospital, and close to the light rail lines, South Waterfront is a good home base for exploring.  It will be interesting to see how it fills out in the future, development having largely stalled during the Great Recession.