Trail guides now available!
Portland Forest Hikes and Hiking from Portland to the Coast now available at Powell's, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and other major book retailers.
Author readings scheduled at Powell's (SE Hawthorne) on March 9th at 7:30 PM. Also at Annie Bloom Books in Hillsdale on March 17th at 7 PM.-
Recent Posts
- It takes a Forest. Part 2
- It takes a forest. Part 1
- What’s in a name?
- The chaos at the end of Belding Road.
- North Fork of the Salmonberry – alternative access to the Salmonberry River
- Excerpt from coming book on NW Oregon: What was Illahee?
- The river that connects us; the river that divides us.
- Tales from the Salmonberry River
- Moonshining along the Lower Columbia River.
- Kerfuffle in the St. Helens Schoolyard.
- Be careful what you ask for.
- The Grange movement – the Internet of its day.
- “Animals to Avoid”
- The Wreck of the 104
- 32 Indian and Pioneer Trails in the North Coast range – compiled by R. L. Benson
- Shoot-out at the Sophie Mozee homestead!
- How to avoid becoming a statistic in the Oregon Forests
- Hindu gems hidden in the hills above Scappoose.
- What the Indians really smoked in their peace pipes.
- My “deliverance” hike on Cronin Creek
- Close encounters with an Alder
- Kamaiakin and the Klickitat Wars of 1855-56
- Following the Golden Rule
- Timber Legacies 4: The Timber Wars
- The first big environmental battle in Oregon’s brewing timber wars.
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Setting up and maintaining the information behind this site is a huge undertaking, and any contribution that you can make to cover expenses would be most gratefully accepted. Happy Trails, Jim Thayer
Author Archives: Jim
Be careful what you ask for.
In the mid- 1800’s when the settlements on the lower Columbia River and in the Nehalem Valley were just beginning to proliferate, it was the practice to bring in a preacher to officiate at local marriages – and thus the … Continue reading
Posted in Lower Columbia Trails, Pioneer Lore, Uncategorized
1 Comment
The Grange movement – the Internet of its day.
The national Grange Movement was founded in 1867, immediately after the conclusion of the Civil War, when the country’s agriculture was in dire shape. Six years later the Oregon State Grange organization was established to help rural communities work more … Continue reading
“Animals to Avoid”
I recently was given a treatise on “Logging Road Layout and Related Subjects” hand typed by “Bull” Durham in 1997. Here was a candidate for the New York Times best-seller list, I thought, as I began to sort through the … Continue reading
Posted in Animal lore, Logging history, Uncategorized
1 Comment
The Wreck of the 104
About 46.5 miles out of Portland on the Sunset Highway (US 26) we reach an important junction on the way to the coast. Most people go flying by the rest area located there, unless the kiddies in the backseat are … Continue reading
32 Indian and Pioneer Trails in the North Coast range – compiled by R. L. Benson
Although I have been collecting materials about early Oregon coastal trails and paths for many years, I was pleasantly surprised to find some original historical research compiled by Robert Benson in 1981. It included this unusual map and this uniquely … Continue reading
Shoot-out at the Sophie Mozee homestead!
Here is is an excerpt from a piece I just completed and added to the roster of trails listed under the geographic tab for the West Hills. In this “historic trail” description I try to use nuggets of contemporary opinion … Continue reading
Posted in Indian lore, Lower Columbia Trails, Pioneer Lore, Trails
1 Comment
How to avoid becoming a statistic in the Oregon Forests
Three pieces of practical advice for the Oregon Hiker While Oregon is undoubtedly one of the most scenic states in the nation, it is also one of the most deadly when it comes to getting lost in the woods. Since … Continue reading
Posted in Misc Trails & Trips, Trails, Uncategorized
5 Comments
Hindu gems hidden in the hills above Scappoose.
It is unknown, but to a few, that in 1936 the Vedanta Society of Portland purchased 120 acres of newly harvested hillside in the Tualatin range to house their future spiritual retreat. This acquisition is all the more surprising … Continue reading
Posted in Lower Columbia Trails, Pioneer Lore, Trails, Uncategorized
37 Comments
What the Indians really smoked in their peace pipes.
In the pioneer days tobacco was sold in pretzel-like twists weighing about an ounce, and referred to as a “carrot”. They were ubiquitous throughout the west, part of every story and included in every important meeting. At the time, everyone … Continue reading
Posted in Indian lore, Pioneer Lore, Plant lore
14 Comments
My “deliverance” hike on Cronin Creek
For weeks I had had been itching to explore an old logging road down the promontory that one can see from Four Seven Ridge – the narrow and slopping shoulder that squeezes itself down into the ravine on the southern … Continue reading