Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

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

Posted in Coastal Trails, Misc Trails & Trips, Salmonberry Trails, Trails, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Kamaiakin and the Klickitat Wars of 1855-56

(excerpt from draft of The Last 100 Miles) Kamaiakin and the Klickitat Wars of 1855-56 One of the more interesting characters from this era was the Klickitat leader, Kamaiakun who resided with his bands in the proximity of Mt. Rainier. … Continue reading

Posted in Indian lore, Pioneer Lore, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Timber Legacies 4: The Timber Wars

In 1938, Oregon became the largest supplier of timber in the country. By that time demand for timber was once again on the rise, fueled by the wartime demand for construction materials.  In the boom and bust cycles that so … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The first big environmental battle in Oregon’s brewing timber wars.

If you rummage around the Internet like so many of us do, you might stumble across the website for the Alsea Clinic, a modest community health care provider for a remote logging community deep in the Oregon Coastal Forests. Listed … Continue reading

Posted in Logging history, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Two Spirit Woman: the Kootenai Doomsday Prophetess

Two-spirit Woman: the Kootenai Doomsday Prophetess  The arrival of fur traders into the remote western valleys of the Canadian Rockies was the catalyst for the transformation of a big boned gangly Kootenai Indian girl, Ququnok Patke (One-Standing-Lodge-Pole-Woman), into the most famous and influential … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Chinook Canoe

The Chinook Canoe was a craft of extraordinary beauty and was as much their home as it was the outward expression of their graceful relationship with the life-force that sustained them, the Columbia River.  These canoes came in all sizes … Continue reading

Posted in Indian lore, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Of dogs, children and economy

The Indians of the Lower Columbia had little use for horses, as the forests were far too dense to traverse with the cumbersome horse, and besides their highways were the rivers and streams of the coastal range where narrow footpaths … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What the mushrooms think about “being late”.

The Indians claim that time flows differently on the reservation, for me it’s  true when I’m off the reservation. So this is a short piece on what the mushrooms think about “being late”: And I’m stamping through the Douglas fir … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment