This page is always growing and contains descriptions of hikes and different destinations, travel tips, writing about conservation and political topics, and more. Most of the hiking pieces have been published in the Eugene Weekly or elsewhere and are written to appeal to that audience. Email me if you want the down-home version.
Many of the hikes are rated as to scenery, difficulty, etc. Before going on any hike, read my disclaimers and explanations at the bottom.
Central Oregon Cascades
Black Creek (very large trees at the Goddard Trail, a nice waterfall along Lillian Falls trail to Waldo Lake)
Brice Creek (beautiful stream, lush old growth, mushrooms and spring flowers)
Cone Peak (spring wildflowers, meadows, forests and volcanic features)
Fall Creek (nice flat hike through very lush old-growth)
Fuji Mountain (great views of Waldo Lake and the Cascades from rocky outcroppings)
Fuji Shelter (ski or snowshoe trip for the winter)
Goodman Creek (popular mountain biking through a nice forest close to Eugene)
Horsepasture Mountain (short hike to nice views of McKenzie Valley and Sisters)
Little Fall Creek (tall timbers trail takes you to some of the tallest Doug firs in the world)
Lookout Creek (beautiful old-growth trail that doesn't get much use)
McKenzie River (great old-growth forest and an incredble blue pool)
McKenzie River float (raft trip down the McKenzie River)
Middle Fork Willamette (very nice forest and springs at the headwaters of the Willamette River)
North Umpqua River (beautiful forests and the North Umpqua River on the way to hot springs)
Olallie Mountain (nice forest, meadows and views in the Three Sisters Wilderness)
Proxy Falls (spectacular falls, recent lava flows, great fall colors)
South Sister (incredible views from the top of a famous volcano)
Three Sisters Traverse (classic backpack across the Three Sisters Wilderness along the historic Pacific Crest Trail)
Tire Mountain (meadows, old growth and views)
Trestle Creek Falls (nice falls east of Cottage Grove)
Waldo Lake (two separate pieces of writing about biking and sailing Waldo Lake)
Yapoah Crater (great mountain views, crazy volcanic features)
Oregon Coast Range
Mary's Peak (old growth forest and meadows on the Coast Range's highest peak)
North Fork Siuslaw River (lush coast range old growth along the headwaters of the Siuslaw River)
Oregon Dunes (Sahara Desert-like features next to the Pacific Ocean)
Eastern Oregon
"High up and far out." (the famous Steens Mountain backpack loop through Big Indian and Little Blitzen Gorges)
John Day Fossil Beds (unique geologic features in the center of the state)
Other Destinations
"A Damplander in the Desert." (friends and I travel to Death Valley for the phenomenal 2005 wildflower bloom)
"The Golden Heart of the Rockies." (extreme scenery at Lake O'Hara in the Canadian Rockies)
North Cascades (several hikes in Washington State's North Cascades Greater Ecosystem)
W. Finley National Wildlife Refuge (the Willamette Valley hosts huge numbers of watefowl in the winter)
Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (the "Everglades of the West" has the highest concentration of waterfowl in the Lower 48)
Range of Fire (college field trip to investigate changes to forest structure and management responses in Yosemite Park)
Writing about natural resources, politics and more
"Vexation of the Spirit: Politics and Precipitation in the Coast Range," Eugene Weekly, August 30, 2007. I revisit the Oregon Coast Range with Bush administration logging plans on my mind.
"Leave It! How to Train a 'Greenill,'" Eugene Weekly, August 23, 2007. Ruminations on people and their dogs; training tips. (The lack of regard for euphony apparent in phrases like "more non-discriminating" is not mine. There seems to be a new copy-editor at work at the Weekly.)
"Blight on the Land," Forest Magazine, Fall 2007. My investigation of oil and gas development on the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania.
"Ancient Forest and Fire," Forest Magazine, Summer, 2006. My take on why fighting fires is bad, why logging after a fire is bad, and why logging might actually help create healthy forests.
"A Good Forest for Dying," Forest Magazine, Summer 2004. My review of a fairly boring book about the death of a young environmental activist in northern California.
"ISO Hiking Partner," Eugene Weekly, April 29, 2004. All of this is made up, swear.
"Huddling with Cheeseheads in a NASCAR world," Counterpunch, February 16, 2004. This article has appeared in several on-line publications. I don't remember ever giving anyone permission to use it. It was originally just an email to some friends. John Kerry should have taken my advice.
"Fire Season," Eugene Weekly, August 28, 2003. More about the fire industrial complex.
A few articles I'm quoted in
"Two Great Groups that Work Great Together?" Bellingham Business Journal, November 2005. I've never been interviewed by a business journal.
"Forest Rift Widens at Environmental Conference," Register Guard, March 2, 2005. This is precious. Tim Hermach compares me to a Nazi collaborator.
"DeFazio: Cut trees, save forests and jobs," Register Guard, July 30, 2004. Also notable for the commentary by Hermach.
"A New Model of Forestry: Restoration Forestry is Goal of New Coalition in Siuslaw National Forest," Tidepool, October 5, 2001. About the Siuslaw National Forest.
The Obsidians debate my May 2007 Eugene Weekly article "Seven Wonders of Lane County" in their Summer '07 newsletter—you can download the pdf here (go to p. 7).
Disclaimers and explanations
I am not offering a hiking guide on this web page. You should not rely on in this web page like you would a guide book where an author, editor and publisher, etc. are getting paid to be accurate and look out for your safety and convenience. I make absolutely no warranties as to the accuracy of the information contained herein or the suitability of these areas for for your recreation.
Some of these hikes have ratings. My scale is one through five, one being the least (scenic, difficult, lonely), five being the most (scenic, difficult, lonely).
I estimate all distances. I am good at estimating distances, but you should know that I am not referring to a guidebook or GPS unit, and I don't gurantee the accuracy of the distances offered.
The other ratings are both subjective and relative. I try and guage things like scenery and difficulty relative to the other hikes in that section. If I rank a hike high for scenery, this means I think it's scenic compared to lower ranked hikes in the section. I consider everything on this web page to be more than scenic enough to be worth the drive, but at the end of the day, it's just my opinion.
The difficulty of a hike is how difficult it is for me, relative to the other hikes in that section. So, a "2" doesn't mean that it's going to be easy for you. It means that it is approximately 20% less difficult for me than a "3" hike. Note: If a one-way hike is very long, but flat and level with no obstacles, I rate it as easy, because I assume you will turn around without coming to the end if you get tired. If a one-way hike is short, but very rough going, it is rated difficult, even though it may not tire you out. My rating of loops trails is rated based on the assumption you will complete the loop. People frequently complain, occasionally with some justification, that my hike descriptions and directions are harder to find, harder to hike, harder to (you name it). People have complained that my directions are wrong, and they may be right, and I may or may not have made the necesary corrections.
Below are some important tips for hiking the trails in this guide. These tips are also not a guide. They are not comprehensive. Please do not rely on anything I say on this web page to guarantee your safety or comfort.
First, and most importantly, buy a map that shows the roads and trails of the area you're going to be hiking in. The local Forest Service office is usually the best place to go. DO NOT get in your car and drive to these locations without a map, relying only on my descriptions. I might have written it years ago and not visited the trail since. Roads could have blown out, the trail could have grown over. Carry the map and a compass (and know how to use it) when you hike. This will dramatically improve your chances of getting back to civilization if you get turned around.
Pay attention to your footwear. The number cause of accident and discomfort in the outdoors is having the wrong shoes. Get stout hiking shoes or boots and make sure they're broke in.
Carrry lots of water and a snack, even if you don't anticipate being hungry. You might get lost or be longer than you think and need a powerbar.
Carry clothes appropriate for the worst weather that is possible for the destination in mind, plus an emergency blanket and a rain shelter (tarp or rain jacket).
On hot days on a steep trail you might need more than a gallon of water over the course of a long day. Being without water is far worse than being without food.
DO NOT EVER DRINK WATER FROM A LAKE, STREAM, RIVER, PUDDLE OR ANYTHING ELSE without knowing how to filter water properly and filtering it. ALL water sources in the areas I describe have been polluted by livestock and will make you VERY ill.
Carry a flashlight (with lots of extra batteries), first aid kit and a knife.
(Why a knife? A knife always comes up when talk turns to essential equipment. I most recently used my knife in an attempt to extricate myself from a jammed ski binding after a bad fall in the Stawberry Mountains but only managed to cut myself. The only beneficial use I've had for a knife in an emergency situation is cutting down fir boughs for use as a crude sleeping pad/blanket/rain tarp. The knife is really handy for this. A lot of fir boughs, especially the true firs, can be quite difficult to pull off the tree by hand, so there you go.)
Tell someone where you're going and when you'll return.
Stay on the trail. Do not throw rocks, rip up shrubbery, pick flowers, etc. Hike on the trail, rest on the trail, do everything on the trail. If you lose the trail, go back to where you last saw the trail and do not proceed any further.
Don't do stuff you don't want to do. If the trail's steep and you're tired, go home. If your friends want to scramble up a steep slope off-trail, but you feel nervous about it, don't do it.
STAY ON THE TRAIL.
Don't bring your dog with you unless your dog is trained to stay on the trail and is under your control at all times (I am a dog person and love meeting dogs—on the trail).
Pack out all your garbage, even food scraps and fruit peels. Human food is bad for critters (hell, most of it's bad for humans) and other hikers don't want to have to look at your banana peal lying next to the side of the trail. It's biodegradble, but the woods are not your personal compostor. Pack it all out.
Do not leave anything in the woods. Nothing. Not a cigarette butt, not a tiny piece of tissue, not an apple core, not a scrap of anything. You may occasionally, accidentally, drop something. It's not the end of the world. Simply make it a practice on every hike to pack out something that someone else dropped to get the karma straight.
Do not leave any of these places as you found them, leave them better
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