Cottonwood Canyon

Name: Pinnacles Trail
Elevation Change: AllTrails says 173 feet for an 9.6 mile out and back, RunKeeper logged my elevation change 526 feet in 6.28 miles.  I don't remember it being ANY elevation change, it's very flat, believe AllTrails on this one.
Distance: We ventured in over 3 miles then turned around but it goes on a lot further
Difficulty rating: SUPER EASY.  It's like you're just out for a walk

Because it looks like this outside and has for several weeks, I've got cabin fever and I'm not-so-patiently waiting for sunshine and better weather so I can get outside!  This was the first post-winter hike we did that year.



Cottonwood Canyon State Park is Oregon's newest (one of it's newest?) State Parks.  It's out in the middle of nowhere--just how I like it.  The park is located off of Highway 206 between Condon and Wasco. It used to be a private ranch so in many parts the "trail" is really an old road. It follows the John Day River and is beautiful in its simplicity.

To me, it is just quintessential  Eastern Oregon with the grassy hills, jagged cliffs, the untamed river, and the sagebrush along the route. The John Day River is the 3rd longest undammed river in the contiguous United States.  I don't fish but I know it's a prime area for fishing.  Horses are allowed on the trails as well.  Watch out for rattlesnakes and ticks.  Personally, I wouldn't go in July or August because there's no shade and it gets pretty toasty that time of year.






This is about where we turned around because it was starting to rain a bit.








Near the trailhead, the trail follows the river

It has been two years ago since I've been there and I know they've since added some rustic cabins at the campground.  But the rest is still pretty primitive.  Vault toilets, no showers or anything. All park info recommends you bring all your own water, there's only potable water at the day use area. There is no cell service.

I'm hoping to get back to this park and this trail this year.  It's such an easy hike!  I'd like to try one of the other trails that are out there too, there's several from the main campground and at least one from the day use area.

For more info on the park, here's the official page.

Blue Basin (a.k.a. William Sullivan is a lying liar who lies)

Name: Blue Basin Overlook Trail
Elevation Change: 898 feet
Distance: 3.2 mile loop, 4 miles if you also do the Island In Time which goes into the basin
Difficulty: "Get me off this f***king mountain!"

Apologies to William Sullivan. He's not really a lying liar. We just have VERY different definitions of what constitutes an "easy" hike. It's not just him either, All Trails rates this trail "easy" too.

Who is William Sullivan? He's a superhiker. He is "the author of eighteen books about Oregon hiking history, adventure, and mystery." This is the book of his that I own:




It's a fantastic resource for more advanced hikers. It's probably a good resource for less advanced hikers, it just so happens we have a lot of steep mountains around here. There are so many hikes I'd love to do up in the Wallowa's but know they aren't going to be possible for me given my brace and balance issues.  It's a bummer.

Anyways, he ranks Blue Basin as an easy hike. This hike was the most challenging hike I've ever done. Going up it was steep which is physically challenging but I just took A LOT of breathing and scenery breaks.  I mean, the scenery is amazing out there.  It makes me feel like what another planet might look like. Going down the hill was awful. The trail is loose gravel and sand/dirt so I slipped a lot. As I've said before, my biggest trouble is going downhill because of a gimpy foot that doesn't always land right where I need it too, the angle of my foot is hindered by my brace, and my balance/depth perception is awful.  After about the 8th time slipping and falling, my legs were just shaking, I was so angry, frustrated, and just ready to be done. At one point I know there were tears. It was bad.

But please, try it. It really is an amazing trail, the scenery is like nothing else, it's phenomenal. It's been almost 2 years since I've done this hike and I don't regret doing it, it was worth the frustration and anger to say I "conquered" it. It definitely tested my abilities.

Sullivan says, "If you're pressed for time, head to the right (after the trailhead) to the Island in Time Trail, which ambles up 0.6 miles up a green creekbed to trail's end in an eerie badlands canyon of volcanic ash."





This Island in Time trail is SUPER user friendly, you can see the bridges and it's a nice wide trail. We didn't go all the way in, you can see the storm that was approaching.

Sullivan continues, "If you have more time, start by keeping left on the Blue Basin Overlook Trail. This 3.2 mile loop path climbs, steeply at times, around the scenic canyon's rim. Then it descends in 21 switchbacks."

Going up:


starting out

Looking back, maybe halfway to the top. You can see that it's not a super wide path.


Also looking back. This super steep part had this "bridge". It definitely helped with footing on the gravel-y path.


At the top!  I wish the true, vivid colors of the landscape could be picked up by camera.


Overlooking the basin


One of the few pics I got on the harrowing way down, it's looking down at the Island in Time trail that goes into the basin.

Directions:
Blue Basin Overlook Trail is out in the middle of nowhere--which is awesome.  Go on Highway 26 83 miles east of Prineville or 38 miles west of John Day to Picture Gorge canyon (super cool!) and turn north on Highway 19. A couple miles up there's the John Day Fossil Beds Visitor Center, highly recommended.  A couple more miles north of the visitor center, turn right on the Blue Basin trailhead.

Strawberry Lake (aka My Happy Place)

Name: Strawberry Lake (technically Strawberry Basin Trail #375 according to the Forest Service)
Elevation Change: 500-ish feet, more if you continue up to the falls
Distance: 1.4 miles from campground to the lake
My rating: Just right. Steep, but not too steep.

This is my FAVORITE hike. Because this is the reward:

I've done this hike 3 times, I never get tired of it. It's *just* strenuous enough to put in some work, but it's short.  It's only 1.4 miles from the campground to the lake. It's steep enough that I need to stop often for breathing breaks. But it's easy enough that this past summer I took one of my non-hiker friends and she made it and plans to do it again. When we reached the lake we just sat out there for a couple hours, wandering around the shoreline and some of the side trails.

It's a well-populated trail so it's in good shape.  Many parts are wide and smooth, some other areas of the trail are a bit rocky, but not too bad.  I evidently only took photos on the smooth parts!

There are trails that go around the lake and one of the trails extends further into the wilderness. I've never gone all the way around the lake.  If you stick to the left, the trail goes up towards the falls and you can continue up to Lower Strawberry Lake. To get around the lake to the right, it's very slanted--too slanted (not steep, slanted) for me to comfortably strain my leg brace that way so I've never made it around.

We did venture up to the falls one year. I don't remember how much further it is to the falls, another mile or so? I just remember there were a couple of log foot bridges with no railing. Since I don't have balance, I had to throw my pack across to the other side and crawl on hands and knees. It hurt and thankfully no one else was around because it was humiliating. It is what it is and I made it, but don't plan to do it again.

From the USFS:

The Strawberry Basin Trail allows hikers to connect to other trails and create a wonderful multiday hiking experience.  Starting at the Strawberry Basin Trail hikers can choose to hike into beautiful Strawberry Lake and then continue on to Strawberry Falls, and connect to Little Strawberry Trail #5003 to beautiful Little Strawberry Lake. 

The Strawberry Basin Trail is a great starting point for hikers looking for a wide variety of trail options.  From a short 1.4 mile hike up to Strawberry Lake to going further to Strawberry Falls and Little Strawberry Lake this trail travels through beautiful ponderosa pine trees past amazing geological features. 

Directions (also from USFS):

From the town of Prairie City, OR., turn onto South Main Street.  Follow South Main Street to the junction with Bridge Street.  Turn left onto Bridge Street, the second turn to the right after turning onto Bridge Street is also known as Bridge Street.  Turn right and follow Bridge Street to city limits.  At city limits the road becomes County Road 60.  Continue on County Road 60 for approximately 7 miles, the road then becomes Forest Road #6001.  Follow Forest Road #6001 for approximatley 2 miles to Strawberry Campground and Strawberry Basin Trailhead. This is an OPEN County road to the Forest boundary, then an open Forest Service road to the trailhead. Please respect private property to the Forest boundary.

The Forest Service road is steep and rocky.  You don't *need* 4-wheel or all-wheel drive, I've done it in a Honda Civic, but scraped the bottom of the car on some rocks. That said, the Civic has also been over way worse Forest Service roads. I've upgraded to a Honda HR-V. It has all-wheel drive and a higher clearance than the Civic. I digress.  The USFS notes that in spring when there's lots of runoff, the road can get rutty.

I love this whole area of Eastern Oregon. Prairie City is tiny and charming. I would love to retire in John Day but it's just too far from medical care!  But I love the area. the Strawberry Mountains are gorgeous and then the rest of the area is a mix of forest and high desert and prairies. It's a unique landscape and I'm drawn to it. 

Clyde Holladay State Park is a nice park with camping areas. We stayed there one summer, in one of their teepees that you can rent. It's right next to a creek so the mosquitoes were excessive and hungry. While we were there a huge thunderstorm rolled through and lightning started several fires in the area. 

Balloon Tree Trail

Name: Balloon Tree Trail (my name for it, not sure if that's the official name or not)
Elevation change: 400+ (RunKeeper ranges from 403-460 because it's stupidly inaccurate)
Distance: about 4 miles (see above about RunKeeper)
My rating: Just right.  I guess my ratings will be like Goldilocks. Easy, just right, and challenging.  This trail is just right.

The first hike I'm going to post about is the one I do most often because it's local-ish and just the right level for my abilities.

It's a loop trail (as long as you follow my instructions below) that is about 4 miles long. I use RunKeeper as my tracker and sometimes it has a mind of it's own when it comes to the GPS.  The trail is around 400 feet of elevation change. For me, it's just the right amount of physical challenge. I have to stop to take breather breaks along the way. Because of my non-balance, when I hike I have to really concentrate on the ground in front of me so I also use my breather breaks to just look around at the nature. The path isn't a super wide trail, some parts wider than others, but it seems to be used enough to be maintained. I often see horseshoe prints, I'll bet it's a great riding trail.

This trail is just off of Tollgate (Highway 204) between Elgin and Weston here in Eastern Oregon. From the Weston side, start looking after you pass Spout Springs, Balloon Tree Road is on the left just past milepost 24. From the Elgin side, be on the lookout before milepost 24.

Drive up Balloon Tree Road probably half a mile (I didn’t look/measure) and there will be a turnout with a gate to the left—don’t turn here, but this gate is where the end of the loop is pretty much.  Just ahead on the right there’s a turnout, DO turn in there and pull off somewhere to park. You’ll see this sign (well, you'll have to look, it's not a very big or obvious sign):

That’s the trailhead there to the left. You’ll take it maybe 50+ feet and you’ll have to cross Balloon Tree road. It’s at a diagonal, but the trail does pick up on the other side of the road.

After about 1.5 miles (depending on where you remember to start your tracker and how accurate it is) you’ll come to a split:

Go left. If you go right it’s another trail, I did it once and didn’t like it, but it does loop back to Balloon Tree. I disliked it so much I will not even do a later blog post about it, I don't remember much except that I fell a couple times and just didn't like it.

At about 2-mile point, another split, stay left again:

I don’t even know if the right-side path goes anywhere.

At about the 2.4-ish? mile point you’ll scramble up a very short but steep (compared to the rest of the hike) spot on the trail but at the top it opens up to the meadow. The viewpoint that makes this hike so awesome is to the right, I’m not sure why the trail stays so far away from the view, but what do I know. To get the best view you will wander off the trail like 50 feet or so? But it's easy to find it again.

This is the view. It's awesome. I love this spot because it's very quintessentially Eastern Oregon. If there was any shade up there at the top, I could easily sit out there for a long time.

Once you find your way back to the trail in the meadow, you'll find the trail opens up to what I'm assuming are old logging roads.

I forgot to look at the distance when I got to these spots, but there’s two more spots where you have to choose your direction, just always stay to the left.

You can sort of see in the photo below the mountains in the back. When you get to this part of the trail you'll be facing east. The mountains are the Wallowas and Elkhorns. If you're familiar with the landscape out of LaGrande, you'll probably recognize the backside of Mt. Emily as you're nearing the end. The best time for the best view east is in the spring before forest fire smoke gets bad. Course, fire season is earlier and earlier.  Spring is also a great time to see a huge variety of wildflowers.  If you get up there at the perfect time, you'll see Indian Paintbrush all over. Early August and you will be able to pick huckleberries--yum!

The last mile or so of the trail is these old logging roads and are very rocky in some spots. My brace has it's work cut out for it holding up my ankle on the last part. There's also considerably less shade after the viewpoint. You can see here how exposed it is. Wear lots of sunscreen and a good hat.

Introduction

Hi there! Allow me to introduce myself and explain the name of this blog.

I am Jennifer Hammer.  I am 40+ years old, I live in Eastern Oregon, and I teach high school. I've decided to start a hiking blog but I am not a "super" hiker. I love a bit of a physical challenge and I love being outdoors.

There are a couple of reasons I'm not a "super" hiker.  By this I mean I don't do hikes with elevation gains of over 800 feet.  I don't do long hikes, usually average around 5 miles or so.  The first reason I don't consider myself a "super" hiker (I should come up with another term because I'm pretty super) is that I'm overweight. It's been a lifelong struggle with my weight and I'm glad to have found hiking as a physical activity.  But it's difficult sometimes.

The second reason I am not a "super" hiker--and why I chose this name for the blog--is because of a genetic disorder I have called Neurofibromatosis Type 2. NF2 causes bilateral acoustic neuromas. In layman's terms, I had two brain tumors, one on each side. They sat right on the auditory nerve. When the biggie on the left was surgically removed in 2003, the surgery damaged the nerve. I lost all hearing in my left ear and I lost my sense of balance that working ears provide. Therefore, I struggle with steep hikes, especially the downhill parts, because I just can't sense when I'm losing my balance, oftentimes until it's too late. There's also a bit of loss of depth perception. So yes, going down steep hikes is terribly difficult.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my hiking poles--they've saved me on many occasion!

Here's the MRI of the tumor that is still in my brain on the right side.  It was much smaller.  I believe the one on the left was 6+ centimeters. It was pushing on my brain stem. Because this one was so much smaller, they could do gamma knife radiation on it, kill it, and I retained my hearing on the right side. It's still in there, dead. The radiation, and the fact that the tumor is still on the auditory nerve, has led to some hearing damage on the right side too. I wear hearing aids on a day-to-day basis, but not when I hike because they're only water resistant and I sweat a lot.

Because that wasn't enough, I also have other damaged nerves. My left hand doesn't work right and I have a condition called "drop foot". I am unable to lift my toes or fully rotate my ankle on my left side. To cope, I wear what is called an AFO--an Ankle Foot Orthosis--brace. It is incredibly stiff to hold the foot in place. Therefore, steep hikes (either going uphill or downhill) puts immense strain on the AFO and also makes it difficult to place my foot in the right position. I have no ankle strength of my own without the brace so really rocky hikes are hard as well.

Here's a generic picture off the internet of what my brace looks like. It extends clear to the toes up to a bit below the knee.

So I've got some limitations. But I still get out there and am always looking for new hikes that aren't too tough but still a bit of a physical challenge. They're hard to find, especially out here in Eastern Oregon where we're surrounded by Blue Mountains, Wallowa Mountains, and countless others. I know there are tons of hikes I physically cannot do, but gosh I really wish I could!

My intention for starting this blog is to share the hikes I've done so that other non-"super" hikers can get outside and enjoy the activity.  I'm also open to new hikes I haven't tried, keeping with rough parameters of elevation change and distance.  My other intention was to inspire myself to keep looking for more hikes and keep challenging myself.