When in Rome...: Falling & Wintering in Oregon!

Hello! Happy New Year! Happy winter!

I'm hoping everyone is happy & well, staying snug & cozy during these winter months. I am doing great in Oregon! I've been meaning to update the old blog for some time, for my own picto-journal sake as well as for those of you friends who may be following my "adventures". Granted it's nothing as stunning & exotic as my Euro exploits but, still some nice nature shots, etc.

I am gearing up to do some travel in Argentina & Patagonia so, get ready, there are bound to be some stunning blog posts in the next couple of months! I am prepping to head south to stay with my friend Lisa & help her out with her PhD research in Buenos Aires. This is something I've been hoping to do for a few years, since she started her project down there. It is super fortunate that I have a few months free & she is needing some supplies from the US & my assistance, YAY! I get cold in the winter & am always looking forward to escaping the winter for sunnier climes. Even more, I absolutely LOVE having an international trip to plan to a new place, especially a sweet spot like Argi and "the Gonia"!

Other than this news, I've been having an excellent past several months! I continue to enjoy Ashland OR & the lovely little community that I have here. Here are a load of photos I hope you'll enjoy starting with a trip down to the eastern Sierra to visit my best pal Elysia.

the great Mono Lake

hiking up above Mammoth Lakes

Crystal Crag

I went on a 3 day solo bpack mission up to the Humphrey's Basin. I was worried about being bored going solo but, I guess other people have to work sometimes... It turns out I had a nice & peaceful time out there. I was dying to get up to that granite of the high sierra!!!

my little campsite at Desolation Lake, this was near 10,000 ft & WINDY!! By the time it is getting dark it is frigid & time to spend many hours reading in the tent that is being blasted by gale force winds!

the elusive pika! this is the best photo I've ever taken of this cutie.

Mt. Humphrey's & Glacier Divide

there's the Humphrey's peak, the goal of my mission was actually to ping this mountain, 13,993 ft!

alpenglow

Day 2 out was meant to be the Humphrey's summit push BUT, it was helllla windy so I did an alternate hike.

here I am atop Puppet Pass. I descended down into Puppet Park & then ascended the Pilot Knob.

atop Pilot Knob, 12,300 ft.

my last morning was calm & sunny, perfect to sit out & read my enthralling book about mormon fundamentalists.

this was as close as I came to the old Humphrey's

Elysia & I decided to hike to Tenaya Canyon, in Yosemite, one of our favorite summer swim/sun spots. This was a bit late season so the traditional swimming hole was pretty stagnant, a "crow hole". It did not stop us from taking a dip. :)

hamming it up as we will do

staging some scenes as i will do...

here we camped out by the crow hole, which we actually had to drink from due to water shortage. the crow water was ok, we survived.

Now we will return to Crater Lake, home of my summer work exploits. It really is a gorgeous spot! On our last day we all went down to the lake to take the boat trip. It was awesome, killer views & a great vantage after viewing the lake from the rim all summer. A nice closure to a fun summer.

there's my work posse, good times!

wizard island

Then I had some time off in Ashland before I scored another job doing some forestry/biology stuff up near & around Grants Pass Oregon. It was funny because the work was actually very similar to something I had done in Southern Oregon back when I was probably 23. (funny sad not funny haha) It's good to have some skills & experience to fall back on when you are in a transitional phase. The work was hard, the hiking was hellish & I didn't always enjoy it but, overall, a decent experience.

hiking near Ashland, Wagner Butte

the fall colors were absolutely sublime along the Rogue River

sweet little lookout hut on little Grayback Mtn.

pretty!

here is manzanita, the hardy shrub that I spent a lot of time "hiking" through. bashing up my legs, sometimes chest high, sometimes making me cry. the stuff is nasty.

this is the arctic suit that I would sport while working in 20 degree temps.

but, despite the cold we would have a lot of pretty views like this

outstanding oak tree in the backyard

Elysia came up to visit for my bday, we went to the cute, old timey town of Jacksonville & then wine tasting in the Applegate Valley

our favorite winery was this one that made wines out of local fruits & flowers. here is raspberry, it smelled delicious! i got elderflower wine, rosehip & dandelion. i am finding it hard to find the proper occasion to drink these odd wines.

view from a champagnery, yummy!

all fall I was in pursuit of the elusive chanterelle mushroom, shouldn't have been so hard to find considering I was out in the forest all the time. I finally found a method of searching from the car that was successful. On the forest roads I was able to keenly spot them as we drove by, brilliant method!

I went up to Portland with Penny & Mark for Thanksgiving to reunite with some old college buddies, it was a fun & festive time!

still life in bathroom

out for bloodies, pibbers & manmosas

i was happy to spend time with my buddy Sanford Meisner! :)

at the fancy whiskey library

salute!

we had a big snow in Ashland which pretty much shut the place down. there seemed to be no snow removal devices in existence so people used chains & all the roads got packed slick & icy.

doing some yoga in the parking lot @ the studio

on the job, sometimes we had hazardous conditions to navigate like this washed out road...

here was my usual work look & garb, wearing about 7 shirts.

plenty of bear tracks but we never saw one.

this was my favorite day of work. the last day!!! when we drank some beer out at the plot.

Christmas Day hike @ Grizzly Peak!

my pal Emily

here's one of my favorite scenes in Ashland, my frosty morning walk along the tracks to the yoga studio

view of Ashland from a hike last week

This past weekend I went up to Corvallis to have a last hurrah with the Kindred family before I head to S. Am. We went to the coast to enjoy the sunshine & had a really fantastic day.