4-16-09 Hal Hambone & Barry Memorial Birthday Campout

[ruckman101]

So that's what that wet spot on your jeans was all about.


neal

[Gypsie]

uh....no.

[ruckman101]

Ahhh.


neal

[hambone]

Well guess what, the Big Bottom spot is still snow covered. Unusual winter.
So plan B is actually MUCH closer, just past Ripplebrook. I'll post directions later.
It's a good spot - old growth forest, 1/8 mile from the Clackamas River, nice fire ring, plenty of room for multiple buses. All paved roads too.
Be there!

[deschutestrout]

Well guess what, the Big Bottom spot is still snow covered. Unusual winter.
So plan B is actually MUCH closer, just past Ripplebrook. I'll post directions later.
It's a good spot - old growth forest, 1/8 mile from the Clackamas River, nice fire ring, plenty of room for multiple buses. All paved roads too.
Be there!

You guys have a blast and drink a few for me. I'm officially grounded next weekend. Cafe opening and meeting on Saturday...just can't do it. Oh well, RendezVW, some summer camps, maybe just maybe a late May campout, then fall already...jeepers does time fly.

[Oregon72]

Well guess what, the Big Bottom spot is still snow covered. Unusual winter.
So plan B is actually MUCH closer, just past Ripplebrook. I'll post directions later.
It's a good spot - old growth forest, 1/8 mile from the Clackamas River, nice fire ring, plenty of room for multiple buses. All paved roads too.
Be there!

Oh my - that sounds really nice Bob. Wish I could go. worked a little over 60 hours in the past 5 days - somebody please shoot me now. Guess I should be glad I have a job but man a little R&R would be nice right about now. Happy birthday to all the old farts and their enlarged prostates up in here.

[hambone]

Well if you can sneak out last minute you'll know where we'll be.
Eventually.

Forecast for 1500' @ Ripplebrook (guaranteed to change):

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 52.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.
Friday Night: A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32.

Saturday: A slight chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 51.



http://www.trailadvocate.org/trails/723

[tristessa]

I can has directions?

Got the rig running right, fuel pump was going south on me. Swapped in one of the spares and everything's back like it outta be. Now I'm off to clean up the inside, rebuild & reinstall the headbanger cabinet, and otherwise generally make ready to GO CAMPING!!!1!!!eleventy!!!!

[vistacruzer]

hambone how about a better map? please

[hambone]

Have one scanned but unable to access Photobucket at work. Tonite.
Very easy tho, just past Ripplebrook on 46. You'll see.

Glad to hear you got things running Hal.

[hambone]

[tristessa]

So .. right around here? Farther down than Rainbow Campground but not as far as the road ticking off to the right side of the image?


http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T ... 9&Z=10&W=1

[hambone]

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 52.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33.

Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 55.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 38.

[vistacruzer]

Hal are you going down Thurs. back on friday?

[hambone]

Yeah he has to work on Saturday.
So far looks like me and family, Gyspie and family, Barry (with luck!), 71, and Tristessa. Am I missing anyone, or any last minute additions?
Looks like we're gonna have sunshine, can you believe it? And it's close to Portland with all paved roads. Make it if you can. BTW I'm approved for Sunday off so that's cool. I need 141 weeks of vacation tho......

Riverside Trail: A jewel on the Clackamas River
Trail 28 miles south of Estacada on Forest Road 46
By abby lietz

The Estacada News, Aug 27, 2008

If the number of spider’s webs brushed from my arms and face on a recent hike of Riverside Trail #723 is any indication of how frequently it is utilized, I’d say it’s been a while since Riverside has seen heavy foot traffic from end to end.

Maybe I make this assumption too hastily; there are plenty of hiker-made paths leading off the main trail between Riverside’s endpoints, Rainbow and Riverside campgrounds, which suggest that there have been many boots in the area over time.

Regardless of its popularity, Riverside Trail is a special trail on Mt. Hood National Forest — it’s one of three to be designated a National Recreation Trail.

In my mind, it’s an honor for a trail to be designated a “national” anything, and I want others to share that sense of ownership and responsibility for Riverside Trail. It’s ours to enjoy, ours to share, ours to tend. So I set out on a hot and muggy August afternoon to see what lies in store for hikers on our own National Recreation Trail here on the Clackamas River Ranger District.

A collaboration known as the National Recreation Trails Program has been in place since 1968 between the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and American Trails as a means to promote trail usage and maintenance in the United States. More than 1,000 trails in all 50 states have been designated as National Recreation Trails, meaning that these trails have local or regional significance for their varied users.

According to the National Recreation Trail Web site, Riverside Trail was designated as such on Feb. 7, 1979 by the Secretary of Agriculture. It features gorgeous views of the Clackamas, rolling terrain that captures the essence of the forest and amazing old growth Douglas-fir and Western red cedar.

The trailhead is located mid-trail on Forest Road 46, about 28 miles south of Estacada. Riverside is rated as a ‘more difficult’ hike due to occasional changes in grade, but it offers two similar yet different experiences during its roughly four-mile, one-way course.

From the trailhead south toward Riverside Campground, the more noisy of the two sections includes a rocky beach perfect for picnicking that draws visitors but , unfortunately, attract garbage — a good reminder for all of us to practice Leave No Trace. But not all the sights or sounds are unwanted: the rushing waters of the Clackamas River are heard before they’re ever seen, while a variety of birds issue their calls from the tree tops and chipmunks scurry across the trail ahead of oncoming hiking boots.

Perhaps the most impressive sights on Riverside are the old growth Doug-fir and Western redceder. Some of these forest pillars stretch to several feet in diameter, and stand growing toward one another as if the one depended on the other for its very life. As I stopped and leaned my shoulder, ear and cheek against one such Douglas-fir — one that I’m sure was the picture of what Tolkien imagined when he wrote about his fictional walking, talking tree-people called Ents — I wondered what it would be like to be 200 or 300 years old, sharing the same air, the same soil and nutrients, the same natural experiences all those years with another tree, and one of another species.

Patches of light fall on thankful rhododendrons, and, toward Rainbow Campground, switchbacks share glimpses of the trail ahead. The quietness of this section of trail as one passes by the banks of the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas is punctuated by the roaring Clackamas itself and underscored by various terrain that winds up, down and into what feels like the heart of the forest — even though the highway is never far away.

Riverside Trail may not be on your ‘Top 10 Trails of Mt. Hood List’ yet, but it’s worth a few hours spent appreciating our national heritage of trails and the beauty, strength and peace they inspire.

We hope you’re having a great summer on Mt. Hood National Forest so far! Visit us soon, and reach me at 503-630-8717 or alietz@fs.fed.us if you’re interested in volunteering on the forest.

AND an interesting history of the Clackamas Indians:
http://www.oregon.com/history/oregon_tr ... people.cfm