Oregon Trip 2013- Melanie's Wedding

Well my daughter finally decided to get married.  I am so very proud of her.  Since all the family was going we decided to spend a week in Oregon after the wedding to do some site seeing.

We all gathered in Salem Oregon for the wedding.  We had rehearsal on Friday night and the wedding took place Saturday evening at the Cubanisimo Winery.

Friday morning we headed to Silver Falls State Park where we did a five and a half mile hike and took in:   177' South Falls, 93' Lower south Fall, 30' Lower North Fall, 178' Double Fall, 27' Drake Fall, 106' Middle North Falls, and 134' Winter Fall.  A very beautiful park just Southeast of Salem.

We had the rehearsal that night followed by a dinner and social at Jagon's Dad's house.  The next morning we did the river walk along the Williamette River.  From there we headed off for pictures and then the wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding.

Sunday after church, we did a big family brunch and then we headed out to Pacific City, home of Haystack or "Chief Kiawanda" Rock, to spend a few days on the coast.  There are three Haystack Rocks off the coast of Oregon. The most famous is the one in Cannon Beach, a 235-foot high beauty that you can reach by foot at low tide. The least celebrated, but no less attractive, is one of numerous sea stacks that dot the coastline near Bandon.  In between lies Haystack Rock, the icon of Pacific City and Cape Kiwanda. At around 340 feet, it’s 100 feet taller than its celebrity cousin to the north, but it’s much further from shore. You cannot walk there, even during minus tides, so close inspection must be achieved by kayak or surfboard. Like most of the monoliths, it’s leftover lava. 

We rented a house just off the beach and spent the first full day driving down the coast to see sea lions, lighthouses, and different parks along the way.  That night we met Melanie and Jagon at their place in Sand Lake where we had a campfire and Jagon put on a serious show of fire works.

The next day we went back to Sand Lake and did some four wheeler riding on the dunes.

Wednesday we headed up the coast hitting some good sights in Cape Mears, Tillamook, and Ecola.  Then headed to Mt. Hood where we rented another house for three nights. Mt. Hood stands at 11,249 feet which is the highest point in Oregon and the fourth highest in the Cascade Range. After we got settled in we drove up to the Timberline Lodge on the top of Mt. Hood to check it out.

We got up in the morning and half of us hiked the 8.5 Miles of Sandy river to Ramona Falls while the other half hiked to Zig Zag Falls.  We checked out Trillium lake afterwards and decided to meet here again the next day.

The next day we hiked the Pacific Coast Trail to the Twin Lakes.  Did a loop around the lower lake and then took the Palmeteer Trail with a few overlooks on the way back.  We hiked around 9.5 miles and then met the other half of our crew at Trillium Lake where they had a picnic and rented a Stand Up Kayak for everyone to try.  The water was actually warm enough for swimming.

The next morning we had to head out.  It was a wonderful time for all.

Pictures:

Sale Creek on Sunday

Even with the scattered showers and storms we headed to the lake after church.  This time we put in at the boat ramp off Lee Pike across from the Sale Creek Marina.

We headed down the West side and went West up stream to where we left off yesterday and then circled to the North side and followed the shoreline East towards the river.  We found a nesting pair of Osprey which they let us know they were guarding young ones.  We stopped at the inlet next to Oakdale road for lunch and listened to quite a commotion going on up in the trees.  After a short swim we headed around the corner and found the noise was coming from three Cranes in a tree that held three different nests.  They were still arguing.  We didn't know what about, but we knew who was wrong.  That would be the male bird.

From there we headed into the river and went North to the first inlet.  We did a little swimming there and then headed South past Sale Creek to view a few homes on the shore.  We then turned back North and entered back up Sale Creek.  We followed the shoreline around back to the boat ramp.  We did go under the bridge on Lee Pike, but not very far as the creek was blocked by trees.

Just before we got to the ramp we saw an Otter swimming back towards us and then went down the shoreline.

Our trip calculated out at 4.6 miles.

Pictures:

Sale Creek Canoe Trip Saturday

Lora and I headed back to Sale Creek for some more exploring.  We put in at Patterson Road Cemetery boat ramp again and this time headed East towards the river.  Just past the rock bluff wall on the North side of the river we found a natural arch on the side of the creek.  Just before we got to the first lake we got to watch a family of three raccoon and the mother come down for a drink.  When we got to the lake we circled it clockwise.  Here on the North side we found a sunk house boat just off shore and then we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we headed towards the bridge on May Road.  We had a Crane fly out right above us from a tree which got the old pacemaker working.  Right before we went under the bridge we saw another raccoon walking along the side of the lake and road.  Just on the other side of the bridge is another sunk house boat.  We stopped by Sale Creek Recreation Area and did some swimming in their swimming area.  From there we continued around this lake in a clockwise fashion before heading back to the ramp circling the opposite sides of the lakes.  We got to see lots of turtles, Trumpet vines, and all sorts of birds including Hawks, Osprey, Green Herons, Cranes, and Blue Herons.  Our trip calculated out at 7.3 miles.

Pictures:

Rainy Day Paddle

We decided that while there was a break in the rain, we would do some canoeing. We were not the only crazy ones out there as we saw six other kayaks and three fishing boats. It sprinkled on us on and off with two good rains, but we got 6.7 miles in on Sale Creek.

We put in at Patterson Cemetery boat ramp and went upstream.  Our last trip here we turned around at Hwy 27.  This time we got about 0.8 mile further on.  The water current was getting stronger and the rain getting heavier.  We need to see if there is a place upstream to put in at.