Nice weather! 1/23/11

We've been having some warm weather lately that has left the ski conditions in the crapper, so Mel and I decided to take the cycle over to the coast for a day to pretend it was summer. The roads over and back from the coast are twisty enough to make for some interesting/exciting riding, and along this stretch of coast it's almost hard to focus on what you are doing due to the rather exceptional nature of the views. Unfortunately the forecast didn't pan out to be quite as warm as it looked, which made the conditions, well, I guess kinda just like the coast always is during the summer (cold). Overall it was a neat way to spend the day doing something we normally don't get a chance to do in the middle of January. The total trip length was only about 200 miles, but we were feeling pretty exhausted by the time we got back home.


This was actually from our warm-up ride on saturday down at Finley NWR.


Another shot from the woodpecker trail at Finley (which is just south of Corvallis)


Mel finds something interesting, which apparently brings out the blue heron in her


Okay, on to Sunday. This is the bridge in Waldport, where we'd start our trip south.


Thunderhole thingy down on Cape Perpetua. This place has to be one of the raddest on the OR coast.


Yes, that was too close Nate. Now you are soaked.


A little further down the coast we stopped to hike the hobbit trail


I think Shore Pine is one of my favorite trees. Looks like a Dr. Seuss book. :)


Ah, delightful gametophytes were amass in the mosses.


Mel winding through one of the hobbity-er sections of the hobbit trail


Heceta Head from Hobbit Beach


The stretch of coast along Heceta Head is amazing.


The Heceta Head lighthouse


Enjoying the view from one of the overlooks.


Looking down from one of the overlooks.


There are so many good overlooks on the coast you kinda get sick of taking your helmet off to enjoy them.


View looking South towards Florence. This is the part of the coast where the "Dunes" become prevalent.


Last shot before we grabbed an afternoon dinner in Florence and headed back inland.

New Years in the Desert

Had a great trip out to the high desert over new year's weekend. It turned out a little different that we had anticipated due to a late night detour over to Mt. Bachelor to help search for a lost skier, but I think we salvaged it nicely with a campout/freezefest instead. I think it's safe to say that if you want solitude, the John Day region when it's below zero is a pretty safe bet! We tooled around the painted hills district north the the town of Fossil, rarely seeing signs of life. A fresh dusting of snow added amazing contrast to the painted hills, and pretty much everywhere else we went we couldn't put the camera down. Enjoy!
























































(leaf fossils)