Joseph Family

August 2nd - 5th
Summit South Sister - Central Oregon

This weekend we plan to summit our first Oregon Cascade - South Sister.  We will make Moraine Lake our base camp and attempt the summit from there.  Drew, Loree, Willow, Alie and I are all confident that we can make it... check back here next week for pictures

July 27th - 30th
Shellrock Creek  - South Side of Mt Hood - Oregon

The weekend started out a little nervous... we found a little lake on the map, called hideaway lake, where we anticipated to set up camp.  We assumed, because of it's remote location, that we would be the only ones there.  That assumption was met with disappointment when we arrived.  It was one of those horrific Wal Mart parking lot type campgrounds full of mini vans and RV's .  The lake was beautiful... the parking lot was not.  It was about 8:00pm on Friday when we arrived at the lake.  We were now faced with finding a place in the next hour or searching in the dark for some place to camp - been there... not fun.  First we headed up the mountain... nothing.  We turned around and headed down the mountain closer to the Clackamas River..  We found a little side road... that looked promising.  Viola!  A near perfect camping spot right on Shellrock Creek.  There wasn't a single soul anywhere near us.  There was a rediculously large and deep fire ring.. we are pretty sure somebody brought excavation equipment to build it.  Big space...sound of the creek flowing by... really nice.  No pictures this tim... Drew didn't bring his camera... and my camera is, unfortunately, on the fritz.

July 21st - 22nd
White River Falls / White River - East Side of Mt Hood - Oregon

Wow!  So Drew, Doug, Willow and I drank a little much at my house on Friday night.. I woke up at about 10:30am and decided it was time to go to the woods.  Alie and I found a spot on the map called White River Falls and decided it was as good a place to go as any.  So we packed up, called Drew about 1000 times, finally woke his ass up around noon and we all hit the road at about 2pm.  White River Falls is on the other side of the Deschutes River on highway 126.  It's amazing how quickly the lush forests of Mt Hood give way to the dry grasslands of eastern Oregon.  As we approached the falls, we weren't too excited... no trees, just flat grasslands.  We parked the car around 4:30pm at White River Falls State Park.  We meandered a short distance to the fence and were astonished by what we saw.  It was an amazing two-tier waterfall.  The first tier was a u-shaped cliff with 5-8 different waterfalls falling 60-80 feet.  The water from these falls collected in a pool only to fall another 70-80 feet in single horsetail fall into another pool and then rush down a steep canyon with walls at least 150 feet high.  Wow!  We headed down a short trail to the water.  The water was warm and inviting.  I hiked up to the second waterfall and it's pool.  What aview! I swam around in 4-5 feet of water and nothing but sand on the bottom.  The waterfall created such strong waves that I couldn't get any closer than 10 feet to it - even though I could touch the bottom.  We hung out there for a couple of hours... and again racing the setting sun to find a place to call home for the night we took off.  We headed back towards the comfort of mountain trees and streams on Hood.  As the trees started to return - we passed a little inconspicuous sign stating simply "White River - 4 miles".  We headed down that road nervously hoping to find a place to camp soon.  Setting up camp at night is never fun.  As we often do, we found a great spot right on the river.  There were some Shania Twain / Coors lovin folks on the other side of the river but we decided we could throw on some Buddy Guy and overpower the noise from our neighbors.  We set up all of our tents, chairs, tables, brought the cooler out, had a beer.  After about an hour I decided to go for a little walk.  Just down the river on a trail maybe 50 yards I found heaven.  The coveted sandy beach with nice fire ring, away from anybody else.  I brought everybody over to look at it... we voted and decided to move all of our stuff.  It was way worth it.  We were all alone sleeping in the sand that led straight to the beautiful White River.  Again no picture... Drew didn't bring his camera... and mine, well it aint workin so much.  Another weekend in heaven!!

July 12th - 15th
Panther Creek / Mt Adams - South Western Washington

To celebrate my birthday we (what else) headed to the woods.  This time we were going alone for the first couple of days.  Drew and Loree would meet us on Friday night.  We seem to forget that, in the summer, the closer we are to Portland the more like a mall the forest is.  We headed out to Panther Creek on Thursday afternoon... The whole area was packed. We drove up and down and all around.  After a couple of hours of searching, we finally found a spot... it was right on the main road but at leastit had easy access to Panther Creek... and it was big enough for all of us.  Not ideal... but better than nothing and still in the woods... somewhere Drew and Loree could find us.  We camped Thursday through Saturday night... swam, drank, ate great food,  enjoyed great music and great friends.  The road sucked. but the rest was awesome... probably won't go back to that area though.