ScenicBoys

Mid-Summer Solstice: Scatter Creek

We’re just blazing through this Summer.  Michael asked us the other day, “Don’t you guys ever burn out on all this camping?”  With a chuckle we replied, “No Way!”

Just thinking about all those long, cold Winter months is enough inspiration to set us off on another adventure.  This is our #1 favorite thing to do – there’s simply nowhere else we’d rather be. :)

ScenicBoys: Scatter Creek from scenicboys on Vimeo.

Around the 21^st of June we usually celebrate the Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year!  Michael took the lead on planning this trip, though our initial (and very well thought out) plans were foiled by rain showers.  I swear the harder we plan for these adventures, the easier time the Universe has of setting us on a completely different course.  The North Cascades had been our original destination, but we eventually ended up in the Okanagan National Forest near the town of Twisp, WA.

The first night we picked a random forest road well after dark and drove long into the night in search of a suitable camping spot.  There wasn’t much available and we ultimately spent the night in a wide-spot barely large enough for the SUV and our two tents.  Nothing beats a good attitude and an open mind when things don’t work out as planned.  Once the tents were up and everything was situated, we cracked open some beers and gazed up at the beautiful night’s sky.  There were so many stars that it was difficult to pick out even the easiest constellations!

The following morning we drove on to Twisp for some breakfast and last minute supplies.  The Twisp River Road led us further back into the Okanagans.  Relying heavily on the Trusty Road Atlas, I spotted a seemingly easy 4-mile hike along Scatter Creek to Abernathy Peak.  The map showed a nice mountain lake at the end of the trail: what a great place to celebrate the Solstice!

It became clear shortly after leaving the car that we were headed down a different trail that what we’d seen on the map.  This trail wasn’t even on the map!  Thinking something promising would be just around the next turn we pressed on, but after a couple miles we cut our losses and made our way back to car.  Let’s try this again!

Upon further scrutiny we discovered the right trail and once again commenced our hike.  The trail became instantly steep and continued to climb.  For future reference, 4000 feet of elevation gain in about 4 miles is a TOUGH hike!  Like, black diamond difficulty.  Probably not the best choice for the three rookies (John, Brandon, and Kevin), but they toughed through it and a few hours later we collapsed onto our campsite.  At this point we were well above the snowline, but still a mile or more from the lake we’d been hoping to find.  What was that about keeping a positive attitude?  Haha…

That night we celebrated the Summer Solstice with loin cloths and all the beer we’d lugged up the mountain.  I’ve heard there’s good magic during the mid-Summer sunrise, and we honestly tried to stay up late enough to watch it.  We held out as long as we could, but one-by-one we drifted to sleep.  Oh well, let’s try again next year!

We should have our next Adventure posted in about a week.  Our hike up the East face of Mount St. Helens made the Scatter Creek Trail look EASY!  So check back soon…

Dusty's Central Oregon Road Trip

Geology and fossils have recently sparked and interest in me, so for my birthday weekend I choose a road trip through central Oregon to the John Day Fossil Beds National Park. I knew it would be a long drive so we also invited our buddy KevyKev to keep things exciting.

ScenicBoys: Central Oregon Road Tip from scenicboys on Vimeo.

Friday night after work, the three of us drove 225 miles to an off the highway State Park. Not our kind of camping, but showing up after dark and leaving just after sunrise made the stay easier. Saturday we continued to the Painted Hills unit of the Park where we explored, discovered and took pictures.

The Hills are 33 million year old volcanic and floodplain deposits of ash, dried mud, and silt. Some have been excavated by the Park where they found fossils of saber-toothed kitties, horned turtles, fanged deer mice, among other odd Eocene creatures.

The second half of the journey was to the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness were we had an awesome hike picked out that would take us up to a forest lake. We set up camp next to the trail head and enjoyed a night of stories and a salmon dinner. But the next morning brought rain and thick coulds that didn't look like they were going anywhere. So as a group we decided to skip the hike and continue on the road trip. 

The High Desert Museum in Bend Oregon combines a zoo and a historical center, two activities where I could spend hours. We spent our time admiring the animals of the desert and the exhibit of Native American tribes of the area, and met an awesome Lynx named Snowshoe and his buddy Ochoco the Bobcat.

The rain really set in as we found our final camp spot. We found some back country roads on the rim of a large canyon where we eventually decided to ride out the storm. After we got the tent set up we were thoroughly soaked, so we spent the night in our undies, playing Uno and drinking rum out of the bottle. It turned out to be a fun night.

Thanks to KevyKev for joining us on this adventure. It's always nice to have another buddy to travel with. We hope to have him along on more trips this summer.

Gemini Camping Adventure

Hey Adventure People!!!  Sorry we've been missing for a while; we've been taking FULL advantage of the ridiculously nice weather lately.  With non-stop camping trips every weekend and a number of other new projects in the works, there's hardly a spare moment to work on posts!  But here's another installment of our friends and their craziness - the result of letting 6 Geminis plan a camping adventure.

ScenicBoys: Gemini Adventure, White River Falls from scenicboys on Vimeo.

So many of our friends are Geminis (including Dusty) we thought it would only be fair to give them their own birthday camping trip.  One of the few places we've gone back to year-after-year, White River Falls was the perfect destination for this group.  We had a nice large fire pit and two large tents a short distance away.  The river was raging with all the Spring run-off and the weather was beautiful (well... except for the nasty microburst that hit just as we were packing up).

On Saturday we took off on the Mount David trail which starts at the falls.  With such a large group we got separated a few times, but everyone eventually made it to a scenic spot on the trail to rest and recoup.  We probably only made it half-way up the mountain, but it gave everyone a taste for trail blazing and convinced a few to buy backpacking gear of their own.  What a great birthday gift idea!

I'm impressed with how quickly our friends have warmed up to the idea of taking ScenicBoy shots.  We're lucky to have such a good looking group of buddies.  Your encouragement keeps them coming back for more. :)

Getting a bunch of crazy/cool Geminis together always leads to trouble.  The best kind, of course.  We had such a great time on this trip.  

We'll keep posting as often as we can.  Don't worry if we don't post as often as we should.  It just means we're out enjoying every minute of this incredible Summer season.  We're booked solid through the next few months.  I can't wait to show you what adventures come next!!!