Mt June Hike

Today we headed out for a quick hike in the Willamette foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range. It was a perfect day in the 70’s and we just wanted to get out and about. The drive was a bit longer than we anticipated so we got on the trail pretty late in the afternoon. When we were pulling up the last hill to the trailhead we encountered a hiker coming out from the hike we were embarking on. We inquired about the trail and he said “No problem”. Then we said “Well we have kids….” and after he had glanced in the back he said “Don’t expect to summit but the first half of the trail is great, after that the next part is pretty steep” “It’ll be worth it hiking through the forest even if you don’t make it to the summit.”

So we started out without a lot of confidence that we would make it all the way and set a time limit for when we would assess where we were and then decide to either go on or turn back.

Mt June is the site of a former lookout tower that has wonderful views to the north & east and tantalizing glimpses of the valleys to the south and west. The hike has a modest elevation gain of 900 feet in a little over a mile. Round trip is 2.4 miles in beautiful Douglas fir forest. The first .07 miles gains elevation gradually but the final .05 is a steep climb. The rock outcrop of Mount June’s summit is the highest in the area at 4618 feet.

When we reached the junction to the steeper climb we decided that we would continue on for another fifteen minutes then decide if we could summit safely without putting us in danger of being in the woods after dark. We had a pair of headlamps but still didn’t want to be caught after dark with the kids and the dog on a steep back trail. The Bean Himself kept pushing ahead. He really wanted to make the top so we had to ask several times for him to wait. By this time Mr. & Mrs. Bean were switching off packing The Sprout and feeling the effects of the climb. By the time our fifteen minutes were up we had made good time and had reached an overlook to the west that still had a small snow field below it. We rested and then decided to forge ahead and we were glad we did. There is something special about stepping out onto a peak with a spectacular vista spreading out before you. Mt June offers this same wonder with views of Diamond Peak and on clear days many other Cascade peaks. The only one visible today was Diamond Peak in the east and portions of the Calapooya Mountains to the south. Every thing else trailed off into “purple mountains majesty”. We spent time at the summit resting, enjoying the view, taking photos and keeping a tight reign on the kids because of the drop off. We even were able to "find" a benchmark that was located at the peak

About a third of the way down we realized we had left our water bottle at the summit. This really distressed The Sprout who couldn’t fathom leaving something behind that belonged to us, “someone might take it”. Of course if someone makes it up there before us they are welcome to it. The aluminum water bottle left on one of the remaining lookout tower supports is a gift from us to them. We made it down the mountain just after sunset and in the twilight I swung in to grab a photograph of the Dexter Lake Club.

The Dexter Lake Club was made famous as a location featured in the movie Animal House and I wanted to waymark it in a few waymarking categories.

Skinners Butte

Eugene has many great resources for families. One is a great parks system. Tonight we met friends at Skinners Butte Park for dinner and a hike up the butte. Skinners Butte Park was originally a Civilian Conservation Corp (3C's) camp that performed work in Lane County back in the late 1930's. The members of the Corp created most of the infrastructure of the park by planting trees, building rock walls,  picnic benches and this out of place rock chimney. We hiked up to the butte overlook to take in the view of Eugene.
We spent some time enjoying the butte, its views and history then took a different route back down going past the Skinner's Butte Columns. The columns were swarming with climbers today and we took a few extra minutes to watch the climbers make their ascents. Then we headed back over to Riverplay for dinner and a chance for the kids to exert some more energy in the playground.

Geocaching: May 8th

We were in the park for a friends birthday get together and I threw on my canoe just in case we could get out on the water. After the singing and gift giving I offered rides in my canoe. One of our friends kids wanted a ride. It would have been her first canoe ride so we get all set to head out and I make about 5 strokes out into the little bay area there on the east side of the park when off in the distance I see lightning hit the hillside. Well I don't want to have my son and another persons kid out on the water in a lightning storm so I turn around and head back in with thunder rolling across the water from the distance pushing us along. Our friends little girl is apparently afraid.....very afraid of lightning and thunder and was begging me to hurry back to land. Her total canoe ride lasted less than a minute.

I got our kids in the car and waited out the rain story while many of the other kids and parents played Frisbee in the downpour. After some time all of our friends got cold and started packing up and soon we were the only ones left sitting in the parking lot. We were listing to a story on the radio so the kids were fine but finally we put a time limit on our stay. Amazingly it cleared off and in less than ten minutes after our last friend pulled out the rain stopped and glorious sunshine broke through the clouds. It was still a little choppy but The Bean Himself and I headed out to test the water. By the time we got around the point to the little bay where the marina is it was calm again. We paddled around a bit and then Mrs Bean and The Sprout walked over and brought my GPSr along. I knew about the cache around so took the opportunity to go looking for it.

Well we honed in on the basic area and The Bean Himself got out and walked over to where I thought the hide might be. First he picked up a yellow Pennzoil oil bottle. He asked "Could this be the cache"?, Uhm..nope. Then he found it right away. This is where it got interesting. I pulled the canoe up to rocks and he passed me the cache "Swimmer". I put my oar down and opened the container to find it half full of water. Paper and trinkets floating in lake water. So I can't leave it that way and put my hand over one side of the mouth then dump it out over the edge of the canoe using my hand as a strainer of sorts to keep the contents in.

This was only partially effective since a piece of paper and a trinket spilled into the water. "Dad you dropped a frog". Yes, a little frog of the stretchy plastic red variety had slipped past my fingers. So I reached over and grabbed the little guy and in so doing the canoe shifted. "Dad don't sink the canoe, Don't sink the canoe!" It wasn't my intention to sink the canoe but it seemed very likely that this is exactly what was going to happen. The canoe as it tipped within a fingers breadth (really a very small finger) of water pouring over the side had shifted onto some rocks. It was stuck there at an angle with me trying to get it righted with little luck. The canoe seemed determined to go wrong instead of right and I had a few moments of grave concern. Well I finally got my oar and pushed it back. Oh yeah I did get the frog too. Anyhow I made an attempt at signing the log. You'll have to trust me on this one as the marks on the paper don't look much like TheBeanTeam.

I handed the container back to The Bean Himself and he got back in and we headed out across the bay. Three quarters of the way across I asked. "Did you put anything on it to hold it down?" "No." came the reply.....so we turned around and found it again to make sure it was secure. Paddled back to the opposite shore and picked up The Sprout for the return trip around the little point.

We canoed well over a mile and a half. Not bad for a stormy day I guess. Left nothing.....took a weathered yellow Pennzoil bottle.

May Day Hike

The weather was perfect for an afternoon stroll so we headed to Mt Pisgah to get out of the house.

We decided since we were there we might as well do some Geocaching so headed out to We Love You Lane County Parks, a cache by Rain or Shine.

The hike out was wonderful. An abundance of wildflowers in bloom made every turn a wonder to see. The sprout saw a slug that she thought was "very cool" and both kids wanted to take it home to show at school. Uhmm...No.

The Bean Himself and Mr Bean headed up into the old quarry to make the find. The terrain was a bit much for The Sprout. We found the cache after a bit of searching with The Bean Himself actually making the find. While Mrs Bean and The Sprout were below still in the quarry they searched around for another way up and discovered instead an abandoned vehicle in the woods to the NW of the quarry.

A very old delivery truck from the 30's or 40's. Very cool to see it there. The Bean Himself was extremely interested in checking it out. After we hiked back out Mrs Bean found another cache by herself while we waited in the van. She had solved the puzzle for BeavTeam Sudoku 7 earlier and decided to try and locate it even though the kids were done in.