O'Leary

Labor Day Weekend! I started my new job at McKenzie High School and boy was it going to be challenging. There were a lot of issues to address. I had my warnings initially from other staff members, but it was going to be an uphill slog. Speaking of uphill slogs, I chose the O'Leary trail to go explore with Conrad. This was really just seeing a place on a map and thinking that I wanted to see that place.
Conrad was a good sport as usual, but the trail was steep from the very get go. I drove up a dirt road to get there, hit the trail and just started climbing. Almost immediately it was just switchback after switchback of steep inclines. This seemed to be a theme on my Oregon hikes. I was sweating like crazy, but Conrad was having a good ol' time.

 Eventually I had to take a break. There was never really a good spot, so I found a place where Conrad could sit on a rock and have some food. I was even a sucker and let him take the bag of goldfish into the back of the pack. He was such a good sport to come with me on these trips. The view opened up a bit after a while and I could see Cougar Reservoir below, but mostly it was just going up switchback after switchback. Finally, the trail started crossing roads and eventually came upon where the trail continued to climb up to MacDuff Mountain. I figured this was a good spot to turn around.
The downhill was a lot more enjoyable. I am not saying I would not hike this trail again, but going down seemed like a good alternative compared to what I was just doing. The forest could get a bit repetitive, but I was still enjoying it.