36^th Annual Portland Marathon » View Gallery

It was another succesful, albeit cold & windy, race day. We had a good turn out and the event was an overall success.

U.S. Bank Boat Cruise » View Gallery

US Bank sponsored a boat cruise along the Willamette River in downtown Portland. We boarded the Crystal Dolphin near OMSI and headed south until we turned around near Marylhurst University. There were approximately 60 people who went today, and everyone had a great time.

South Sister Summit » View Gallery

Tallest-Youngest-Highest-Largest. These are just a few of the words that describe South Sister and some of it's features.
It is the tallest of the Three Sisters, outdistancing both Middle Sister and North Sister. As well as being the third tallest mountain in the state of Oregon.
It is the youngest, geologically speaking having the most recent volcanic activity of the Three Sisters.
Highest describes the lake that sits right near the summit, Teardrop Pool, being the highest lake in Oregon.
Lastly, largest describes Prouty Glacier, holding the distinction for the largest glacier in Oregon.

To the North, awesome views of the neighboring Sisters await you at the summit. To the Southeast, Broken Top, Mount Bachelor, and Green Lakes are visible. Even Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount Thielsen may be visible on a clear day.

Waterfront Blues Festival » First Day » View Gallery

Unfortunately I only went to the Blues Fest one day this year. I have been so busy lately, I have not had much fun time :(

Mt. Adams » View Gallery

Bruce Trail, a friend from work, and I attempted to summit Mt. Adams. This was my first attempt to ever summit a mountain, and I knew this would be a challenge. Our trailhead was at 5,000 feet and the summit is at 12,276 feet elevation. We initially planned to setup basecamp at Lunch Counter, 9,000 feet, but were unable to make it that far due to the sun quickly setting. So, we setup camp just above 7,800 feet and would attempt to summit the next day. We never made it due to a fast moving storm that took us by surprise, but we did make it to just above 10,000 feet. I was very, very happy with that milestone in my life.

2^nd Annual Eastern Oregon Trip » View Gallery

We took off around noon on Friday and drove 7 hours east for our annual Eastern Oregon Trip. We spent the first night car camping near the Grande Ronde River. The next morning we woke up, packed up camp, jumped in my truck and went to start it, nothing... It turns out that I must have left something on and it slowly drained my battery. We ended up being stuck for about 4 hours, which turned out to be a nice relaxing time.

We eventually made it to our second destination, Buckhorn Springs. It was a pretty busy camping spot, as there was a lot of car traffic going by a road not too far from where we setup camp. The weather was very strange when we stayed here. The first day was fairly warm with clear skies, but as we woke up the next morning it was snowing and bitterly cold. We eventually made the easy hike up to Buckhorn Lookout and it had some amazing views of the Imnaha Canyonlands. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but every picture that I have seen of it looked very similar to this.

On Monday we drove about 2 hours down to the Imnaha River Trailhead in Hells Canyon. We backpacked in just over 5 miles and found one of the most amazing camp spots. It was a very remote area with a huge sandy beach right on the Imnaha River, near the Eureka Bar. We spent most the time just relaxing, swimming and catching a few rays. It was in the high 90's, so the river felt great. As we were hiking out the next day, I came across 2 baby rattlesnakes and a bull snake. The first rattler just scurried across the trail, but the second one did not like me being there. He was about 15 feet from me and rattled for about 45 seconds while I stood there motionless. I'm not a fan of snakes; in fact, I don't like them at all. But this is snake country, so you just have to be careful and deal with it the best you can :)

Clackamas River Trail #715 » View Gallery

Rob, Willow, Allie & Cayce (Willow's mom) decided to take me out for a nice day hike along the Clackamas River. It was a really nice and easy hike, but took us forever since a member of our group kept stopping about every 15 minutes for a "break" :)

Dog Mountain » View Gallery

Tabor & I jumped in the truck and took a quick trip up Dog Mountain.

Novara Big Buzz 2007 » View Gallery

After riding my mountain bike to work for 3 months, I was able to save enough money to get a nice road bike. I chose this one because it had all the things that I was looking for in a roadie; disc brakes for quick stops in the rain, 700cc tires for much needed speed, and flatbar handlebars for comfort. I feel like a kid in a candy store when I take this out on the road :-)

Snow Days! » View Gallery

We had a freak snowstorm that dropped about 4 inches of snow on the ground. The dogs had a great time running and playing in it.