Category Archives: Oregon Adventures

Wallowa Mountains road trip

Z and I just enjoyed a six-day road trip to the northeastern corner of our state. We spent most of our time in and around one of its coolest mountain ranges, the Wallowas, or “Oregon’s Little Switzerland.” We took the West’s longest tramway to the top of Mt. Howard to walk the viewpoint trails. There we saw a lot of ground squirrels busy eating up for the coming colder weather.

We hiked along the West Fork of the Wallowa River, an entrance to the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Two other excellent events in the area were a 20-mile pedal-powered ride in little rail carts on a railway next to the river and a sighting of a black bear casually (and safely, happy to say) crossing Hwy 82 about 150 feet ahead of us.

Having taken the most direct route to the Wallowas, we decided to return home by way of back roads, small towns, and a few more adventures. We visited the ghost town of Richmond (less ghostly than some) and finished up with a visit to a place we last saw years ago: the Painted Hills, part of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The visit was a too-timely reminder of the need to protect our monuments and other public lands.

Surviving the Cabin in the Woods

If, like me, you have read many novels and seen many movies in the “cabin in the woods” genre–including the extremely meta 2011 film Cabin the Woods–you may think that two days and nights alone in a cabin in the woods infallibly leads to a terrifying clash with a Bigfoot, a psycho killer, or a clan of inbred cannibal hill people. I’m here to report that I recently spent two days and nights alone in a tiny cabin in the woods and wasn’t assailed by so much as a single spider.

I rented this adorable cabin at Smith Creek Village, in the backcountry of Silver Falls State Park, about 90 minutes south of Portland. I’d hiked the park’s best-known trail, the 7-mile Trail of 10 Waterfalls, before, but I wanted to do it again and to hike a couple of the backcountry trails as well. The cabin was the perfect base of operations. Not only was it less tiny and more plushy on the inside than I expected, and very quiet and comfortable for sleeping, but it was just steps from several trailheads and less than half a mile by a pleasant trail to the Village’s restaurant. In addition to hiking, I did some reading, writing, and relaxing. I’d like to go back–maybe in the winter, when I the cabin would be extremely cozy. Until the Yetis show up.