Karen and Tom Wanderings

After a quiet, no-visitor holiday, we headed to the Oregon Coast (again) for a few days with Karen's sister and niece (again) ... to satisfy our need for some variety, while avoiding human interaction.  This time, we opted for the southern portion of the coast near Gold Beach.  It was new territory for us, and very impressive.  Incredibly beautiful, rugged coastline, massive surf, and almost no people.  The weather was decent (for winter), with a couple of very nice days, and a couple of wet/windy ones.  Lots of walks on different beaches and headlands.  And on our return trip we took a short hike into the sand dunes, which abut the coast for about 40 miles.  We consider ourselves very fortunate to be within striking distance of places like this!! Secret Beach Kissing Rock and Beach Golden Rays, China Beach Trail Thunder Rock Cove Viewpoint Coquille River Lighthouse Arizona Beach Shades of Grey, Meyers Beach Sand and Water, Ophir Beach Sunrise, Nesi...

With the approach of winter and a likely Covid resurgence, we slipped out of town for a short, pre-Thanksgiving visit to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast with Karen's sister and niece.  We'd usually be inclined to avoid Cannon Beach, since it's very popular and therefore quite crowded.  But, with it being off-season, it looked like a good opportunity to check it out. The weather report looked pretty stormy, and delivered as promised.  Very high winds (60-70 mph gusts) and lots of rain.  A combo of the short daylight hours and the timing of the very-high (King) tides restricted our beach-walk schedule, but we managed.  And good rain gear allowed us to go for walks on the beach and along the headlands without getting soaked.  It was incredibly beautiful both along the beach and in the wooded, fern-filled headlands.  Uncrowded and very quiet (except for the wind).  A very relaxing trip, and much needed break from home. Cannon Beach and Haystack Roc...

Ah!  One final fling in the mountains before the winter snows shut them down.  As the hiking season wore on, it seemed that additional mountain adventures this year were simply not meant to be.  Plans were cancelled left and right.  Canadian Rockies:  border closed.  California's Sierra Nevada:  massive wildfires.  Mt Rainier's Wonderland Trail:  uncooperative knees, then cold blustery weather.  Cutthroat Pass:  illness, then bad smoke (turned around after driving most of the way there!).  But it all finally came together for Tom (Karen was out of town and missed out).  Good health, perfect weather, and the larch trees at their peak!  Magical! Cutthroat Pass, which lies in the North Cascades, has become a favorite of ours over the last few years.  The Pacific Crest Trail provides a well-maintained and easy-on-the-knees approach that, in the fall, switchbacks up through an eye-popping zone of golden larches and re...

With a surprising downturn in the nice weather eliminating a planned 3-day backpack, we instead headed off for a single night to an favorite old haunt - Rampart and Lila Lakes.  Even then, the outlook for the first day was iffy, but supposed to clear and be nice by later in the afternoon.  We did our usual himming and hawing, but decided to just go for it.   We well knew that the trail is relatively benign for the first few miles, then turns sharply up a hillside, with a rocky, rooty tread.  What we didn't realize (or perhaps admit), is that since we were last there, our bodies (knees in particular) had decayed quite a bit, so it was much more of an uncomfortable grunt than we expected.  We persevered, however, and found a lovely campsite above Lila Lake.  Then spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Lila Lake and wandering to a gap in the Alta Mountain ridge line, where we had pretty sweet views of surrounding peaks and valleys.  We always enjo...