deliverance II

 rolling upstream

Canoe, check. Homemade baby banjo, check. Greg and I set out for man-made reservoir, Foster Lake, to paddle the calmed waters of the South Santiam River.  Equipped with homemade potato-leek soup for lunch and pickin's from Greg's banjo, we had the makings for a swell time. Shortly after lunch, the rain started on pretty heavy and quickly turned to snow! That's when we called it a day-- heading back to the car and hot chocolate. 

stretching the legs

the ride

(insert sarcasm font) this looks like a great place to put a dam 

the canoe in the safe harbor

me in the front

 me and greg cruising the waters

tree graveyard...ugh

roots

potato leek soup and song

wet snow!

think snow!

looking up from the start of the hike

This morning my friend, Heather, and I headed up to Mary's Peak for a quick hike and were pleasantly surprised to find loads of fresh snow dumped from the night before! For most of the hike we were in about 8-10 inches of snow, but at the top we were nearly wading up to our waists!  Winter is upon us and I am happy.

 

the trail

snow swept trees

view above the clouds

along the trail

snow covered trees!

love this guy

getting deeper!

more trees

almost to the top...

me and heather in the snow and sunshine!

clouds rolling in 

 

from the looks of these trees, the night before wasn't pleasant...

 one last look up at the trees

beazell memorial forest

old barn on the property

Grad school has kept me from any big adventures recently so I've decided to spend my spare time beer brewing, trying out my new crock pot and exploring the local trails in the area. Last weekend I drove out to Beazell Memorial Forest (located near Kings Valley) for a quick hike.

As usual, there was a heavy fog that hung around for most of the morning/afternoon and the day was very damp. Morning fog puffs my hair, but warms my heart.

slow moving newt

glimpse of an oregon rainforest

along the trail

mushrooming attempt #1

beginning of the trails

Despite the fact that it's a little late to start learning the art of mushrooming, I headed out into the woods this weekend in search of chanterelles.  Fog capped coastal ranges and intermittent rain showers added an element of Oregon autumn to the day! As much as I hate to see the leaves gone for the winter, I welcome the sight of bright lichens giving the deciduous their coats for the approaching winter.

Even if we (Casey and I) were capable of correctly identifying mushrooms, we still faced the challenge of even finding them in the first place.  Mushroomers are territorial creatures and apparently often visit their hot spots because despite the fact that we were far from the trails, it was obvious that others had recently beaten us to the location (footprints, uprooted mushrooms, etc.).   

Although, we didn't come back with a bountiful supply, I'm not too concerned. Realizing the risk of eating a mushroom spotted by an inexperienced eye, the first round of picked "chanterelles" are going to be brought in to be identified by someone with a little more fungi under their belt. ;-)   

 more trees

getting off the beaten path to look for some mushrooms

lichen

lichen

amongst the ferns

no shortage of these guys