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
Mud is us!
Mud is us! If you spend much time squelching through Oregon’s soggy landscapes you might get the feeling that we have only recently squeezed from the primordial mud. And that might not be too far off, if you permit me … Continue reading
Contagion – could it happen here? It did!
The recent movie “Contagion” depicts a world beset by a terrifying disease that threatens to unravel the world as we know it. The New Yorker review sums it up, “As panic engulfs the country, civil society dissolves. Crowds assault banks … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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You may never appreciate a clear-cut, but…
You may never appreciate a clear-cut, but there is more to this practice than merely wanton violence perpetrated upon nature. For many people the sight of denuded hillsides is both depressing and incomprehensible. I won’t disagree, though I take a … Continue reading
Posted in Indian lore, Logging history, Uncategorized
3 Comments
Rediscovering David Thompson: he mapped the transcontinental canoe route down the Columbia River!
The shadowy fog wreathed London in that gloomy winter of 1783. Its chill dank air permeated into the austere schoolroom and gripped at the hearts of the two boys that stood stiffly before the visiting Secretary of the renowned Hudson … Continue reading
Posted in Pioneer Lore, Uncategorized
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Hurting the earth as little as possible – in memory of Randy Hodges
In the 1998 edition of The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker’s Handbook, Ray Jardine admonishes us that trail building should, “try to hurt the earth as little as possible”. The overriding objective should be to keep the wilderness experience as natural … Continue reading
Rock Creek – one of the prettiest streams in the North Coast!
If you drive to the very back of McGregor Road (off of US 26) there a small clearing just before the road splits into the Eastside Grade and the Pit Road. The McGregor Road climbs the ridge from its access … Continue reading
Wishing for a mattress sandwich on a hot August day…
In pre-contact days our nature was stable, clean and nurturing… Finally, it’s getting decently hot in Oregon! This is the time of the year when our landscape begins to burn up around us. So far this year we’ve been blessed … Continue reading
Posted in Indian lore, Logging history
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Gyppo logging
In the summer I often get out into the woods during the work-week which occasionally finds me having to contend with the loggers that make their living in these same forests. As you have probably realized by now, this writer … Continue reading
Posted in Logging history
8 Comments
Spring is here; the Trilliums have arrived!
This iconic flower is frequently all that heralds our Pacific Northwest spring, since the common characteristics of this vernal season, like warming weather and diminishing rain are so often missing in our chilly jungle. March 8th dawned clear and sunny … Continue reading
Posted in Indian lore, Plant lore, Saddle Mountain Trails
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In some places March may “go out like a lamb”, but not here.
The canoe trip was lovely – paddling through the quite of a blustery March afternoon, arousing the occasional Mallards and Canada Geese, but otherwise gliding unobtrusively through the dark brackish waters of this tidewater pond. The woods around this area are full of wildlife including a large population of black bears. Continue reading
Posted in Coastal Trails, Misc Trails & Trips, Pioneer Lore
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