The Face of a Monkey

Today we got to go out and play at Smith Rock State Park-this place has over 1000 climibng routes and truly is a climbing mecca. We decided to take a hike around the place to scope out all the climbing and catch some great views. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, nice breeze...a waterfall along the way...

Monkeys face in the distance...

We saw otters! Our first ones in the wild! Three of them swimming and snacking in the Crooked River along the trail! If we had a better camera we would defintely have pictures! Oh well. We heard there were snakes on the trail but we never saw any... we walked around the south side of Smith Rock along the river instead of taking the shortcut over Asterisk Pass. Little did we know what lied on the other side...Misery Ridge. They call it this for a reason!

At least there are rewards for the journey... a great close up of Monkey's Face, it really is quite amazing, especially watching people climb it. The view was unbelievable, everything from Mt. Hood to Mt. Bachelor ...if we had a better camera we would surely have pictures of the snow capped beauties...oh well...we got Monkey's Face...

A good afternoon in the high desert!

Black Butte

Happy Easter everyone! We spent our day hitting a trail for the first time this year. We decided to do an old volcano called Black Butte which is just out past a town called Sisters like 30-40 minutes away. J has actually been working out at Black Butte Ranch now for months doing jobs at several "summer" homes. Anyway, we invited my friend Amy and her dog Jack to join us and off we went.
Now mind you this was only a two mile hike to the summit- but with a steep gain to just over 6300 feet.

Our timing was fabulous becasue the rain came in shortly after we finished and by the next day the whole Butte was covered with the white stuff!
The next day not only brought snow but also aching muscles- whoa, did we feel the burn! I think we are starting to realize what happens to your bodies as you get older!

Anyway the view from the top wasn't as fantabulous as it is supposed to be- 360 degrees of Cascade Mountain beauty and beyond...but instead it was kinda cloudy so only a handful of mountains and buttes were out. As a result we do not have the pictures that we hoped to have from the top...but here we are anyway...





Now we need to hit the trails hard so we can go back on a clear sunny day- conquer her- and also get some radical pictures! (I am saving for a new camera so we can actually take good pictures, finally!)

Anyway I can't reiterate how much we really love where we live, such a short drive in any direction to experience nature at its best!