Horsepasture Mountain

 Still trying to figure out the new country that was surrounding me, I rode in Carl's truck up into the mountains again. We took a forest service road that seemed to climb for a long time. As we took a turn around the corner, we were rewarded with a view of the Sisters that was shrouded by the smoke that seemed to permeate up through the forest. It had been a hot, dry summer in Oregon and now the area was paying for it with wildfires. The area we were going to did not have any issues, though, and soon we were at the trailhead ready for the hike. Carl decided to sit this one out and he spent his time eating some berries and wandering around a bit on the Olallie trail that connected with the trail that I was going to take up to Horsepasture Mountain.
The hike started out pretty gradual, but I made sure I really put a lot into it because I did not want Carl to have to wait for too long. There were a few other folks on the trail and it was nice to chat with them as they went by. The trail spent most of the time in the forest, but toward the end it popped out into some nice meadows with many switchbacks. I zigzagged up until it ended with the one last switchback where you could see the top right at the end of a long semi steep meadow. I could see why it was called Horsepasture Mountain given the large meadow that would have been right near the top. The horses of the old timer Forest Service workers could have grazed while someone went up to the fire lookout.
 The fire lookout, though, was no more as it was one of the many casualties of the helicopter. In the 1950's, it would have been efficient to man these hundreds of lookouts across Washington and Oregon, but now we have the ability to watch the fires from the air so much easier. It was a good view from up on top, but once again the smoke really hid the majestic mountains which beckoned me to come climb them.
On this day, though, it was just a minor peak with a short trail, but I sure was enjoying the area. I quickly made my way back down and looked forward to all the opportunities that Oregon had to offer me.

Carpenter Mountain

We had been continuing to unpack our stuff and get used to living in Oregon, but it still was summer vacation, so we had to take the time to get out and enjoy it a little bit. We had a bit of time in the afternoon, so I went with Carl and the kids up to Carpenter Mountain. It took us a long time to drive the miles and miles of dirt roads to get to the trailhead. Some were better than others, but eventually we got to the trailhead. The view from the trailhead was good enough to be worth the drive as we could see the Three Sisters from there.
The trail was not very steep, but was covered in huckleberries. This was Zyla's first introduction to huckleberries and she was all over it. Conrad and Zyla had been enjoying the blackberries growing right near our new rental. This was a bountiful harvest that Oregon had to offer. There were multiple kinds of huckleberries on this hike to enjoy and the harder part was just keeping Zyla moving enough to keep our momentum going. I would hand every other huckleberry back to Conrad so that he could enjoy it also. I think Carl was happy with the pace of the four year old because his knees could not take a long walk. The trail wound through the woods with expansive views along the way of vast expanses of forest. The region we were living in just had an immense amount of trees. I think we were really digging the green even though it was rather hot and dry during the summer.
We eventually made it to the lookout. The last hundred feet were pretty steep and I was glad Jacqueline wasn't there because I had to carry the kids up to the lookout with a pretty significant drop off on the side. It all went fine. There was a forest service worker there manning the lookout. We talked to him for a while and he showed us how he used certain things to report fires. There was a fire going on currently and we were able to see it pretty well from Carpenter Mountain. In fact you could really see quite a bit of forest from up top. We enjoyed the view, but did not stay too long as I was a bit nervous having the kids up on top.
Down we went eating more huckleberries as we went. The pace was just perfect and Zyla did great. It took a bit of plodding to get her to keep moving all the time, but all and all she was turning into a pretty good hiker. She was starting to enjoy it too as she got to reap the rewards of a fruit harvest along the way.

The Waterfalls

Well we pulled the trigger and made the move. Our dads came out to help us and we drove from Springdale, UT to Blue River, OR. It went fairly smoothly with a stop over in Idaho and in Burns, OR. We had a really enjoyable time as far as moves go. We moved into our new rental house and had most of our stuff unpacked within a few days. We were enjoying our big yard with our sweeping views. It was pretty hot and dry in Oregon at this point and we lacked any air conditioning. After a bunch of days of unloading furniture and boxes, we decided to take Tom out to check out the waterfalls. I could tell that this was now going to be the default place to take visitors when they came to visit us. Koosah Falls and Sahalie Falls towered down from the cliffs above and while there was a drought that were causing fires very close to our area, these waterfalls still packed a powerful punch.

 This was a good place because everyone in the family could enjoy it. We walked in between the two making sure to keep a good hold of Zyla's hand as one quick swim in the river meant she was going over the falls. It was a short hike but in the next couple of weeks, there would be time for a few more journeys before school was set to start.