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Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier, Olympic National Park by Ray Phung

“I think we’ll do 15 miles the first day,” I announced looking up from the wilderness map.  “But the first 13 miles are REALLY flat,” I continue in hopes of quelling the looks of skepticism that Hanna gives me from the adjacent couch, “Don’t let the mileage scare you:  we’re reasonably fit people, we’ll be fine.”  I think I also said this to reassure myself that the trail I picked would be doable in a three day weekend.  I will admit – 15 miles in a day seemed like a lot.  But with the time constraint, I couldn’t figure out how else to spread out the mileage.   Surprisingly Hanna doesn’t seem phased by the proposed expedition. “It’ll be fun!” I exclaim.  All summer, we’ve been talking about doing a backpacking trip.  I hadn’t been out in the backcountry since the Enchantments and was itching for some adventure time before winter sets in.  And Hanna, just moving to the Northwest, was ready to explore her new home.  

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Table Mountain - Wind and Fog by Ray Phung

This year for MLK day, I grabbed Adam and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge for another winter-time adventure.  Miraculously we both had the day off.  We set out to do Table Mountain on the Washington side of river.  Table Mountain is one of the higher points in the Gorge, with a sheer triangular face and and 360 degree view from the summit.  

The Table Mountain is noted for it's long, difficult hike to the summit from the Bonneville Trailhead.  Adam and I decided to do the hike from Aldrich Butte Trailhead.  This newer trailhead shortens the hike to 8 miles with 3350 feet of elevation gain.  It starts among the power lines and largely follows old, abandoned sections of service access roads.  The Aldrich Butte was a location for a WWII defense site.  After ascending a portion of Aldrich Butte, the trail splits off to follow the Cedar Creek drainage, and parallels and eventually joins the Pacific Crest Trail. 

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Tom, Dick, and Harry Hike + Timberline by Ray Phung

Sometime after Christmas and before the new year, my buddy Tom invited me up to Mt Hood to run around in the woods.  He had been sick for the couple weeks prior, and was in much need of some fresh mountain air, beautiful scenery, and exercise.  And of course I am always down for an adventure.

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