Saturday Hiking

The View from the top of the hill at Chip Ross

I like hiking alone. I like hiking with friends too, but there is a special king of peace that I find in a long hike by myself. There is nobody to judge me of worry about me. I am only accountable to me. Nobody knows whether I made it up that hill without stopping or whether I sat down in the dirt and frowned at the view. I like it like that.

It's not really quiet out here. It's just a different kind of noise. There are lots of birds and bugs and the wind has a lot to say.  At the top of the hill in Chip Ross, I am greeted by a flock of Chestnut-Backed Chickidees and some Juncos. They are flitting around singing and taunting me in my attempts to take their picture. 

I don't have the trials to myself. A bad ass runner chick passes me. Then another about ten minutes later.

I am jealous of their physical ability but not of what they are doing. It looks extremely unfun to me. Now and then I have to hop off the trail for a mountain biker to whip by, but mostly I just get to listen to the woods. The last blackberries of the season are ripe. They try to lure me off the trail, but I will not be lured. The best blackberry in the world is not worth the rash I will have if I get into the Poison Oak. The Poison Oak is plentiful. A lot of this trail is Oak Savannah. It's a rare and beautiful, Willamette Valley ecosystem, and it's always rank with Poison Oak.

A view from Dan's Trail Mcdonald Forst

My beautiful nemesis, Poison Oak