Exploring the backcountry and wilderness of the Western USA.
On March 6 Linda and I visited the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. It is remarkable how powerful jet engines are to push such planes supersonic. Among the very many planes on display were four of the type my father flew many years ago.
The T-33 Shooting Star was the first jet my father trained in during the mid 1950s. Coincidentally, he was based in Southern Arizona during that time.
[Read more…] about Pima Air and Space Museum, Arizona, March 2015In early October I spent three days hiking and climbing Southern Wallowa peaks in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of Northeast Oregon. After some unsettled weather the first day the skies were clear for the rest of my trip. The scenery was beautiful – it seems we have a piece of the Colorado Rockies in NE Oregon. I saw no other person on the trails or peaks, and I had time to pause and absorb the feeling of the mountain wilderness during my long hikes.
On September 30 I drove the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Road #77 to the West Eagle Trailhead and Campground. I claimed my campsite and settled in. I would be camping there the next three nights. As it turned out, I had the entire campground to myself each evening and night.
[Read more…] about Southern Wallowa Peaks, Oregon, October 2014In mid September I hiked and scrambled up Red Mountain and Crown Point in the Elkhorn Mountains of NE Oregon. I accessed these Elkhorn Range Peaks from the east and west side of the Range. I felt renewed by the experience. We are blessed with many diverse and scenic destinations to explore in Oregon.
On September 16 I drove from Bend to Baker City. I checked in with the Forest Service there about road conditions along the North Powder River. This is a popular 4WD route, though reportedly quite rocky.
The people I spoke to at the Forest Service were 4-wheelers, themselves. They described driving through the flooded road with water up to the windows. They cautioned that there might still be some flooding on the road. I left expecting an adventure.
[Read more…] about Elkhorn Range Peaks, September 2014Linda and I spent several weeks in March of 2014 visiting Arizona for bicycling and hiking. This was our third Spring visiting Arizona and we were curious to see locations we had not previously visited. I enjoyed hiking several Arizona “prominence peaks”: Mount Ord, Pinal Peak, Mount Graham, and Chiricahua Peak. The only significant snow I encountered was on Mount Graham, and it was manageable. The weather was ideal for hiking and enjoying the scenery.
On March 10 we camped near the city of Sedona. The next day we moved camp to Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Cottonwood. We explored around Cottonwood on our bikes. On on March 13 we relocated to Payson Campground and RV Resort which was our base for four days.
On March 14 we drove south from Payson on AZ Hwy 87, turned east off the highway, and followed a gravel road to a locked gate. From the gate we hiked to the summit of Mount Ord, a 2000 foot prominence peak in the Mazatzal Mountains. The weather on the summit was light and intermittent hail turning to drizzle with thunder in the distance. But the hike was pleasant with good views of the mountains and valleys south of Payson. After returning to the highway we visited Fountain Hills, near Mesa.
[Read more…] about Arizona Bicycling and Hiking, March 2014