Rooster Rock Hike

In Oregon, we have two Rooster Rocks. One is in the Columbia River Gorge, the other is near Cascadia State Park. It is the one near Cascadia, that I went on with a group from Meetup.com earlier today. Living up to it's temperate rainforest status, is rained well over have the time on the trail, but us Pacific Northwesterners are used to the rain. If you love difficult hikes, this one is for you; but if you are like me, and have hip or knee pain after walking a few miles on flat ground, this is definitely not for you. Nor is this for hikers that normally hike less than 8 miles on relatively flat ground.

With the combination hip pain and steep ascent, the 6.6 mile trail was a real pain compared to Silver Falls State Park's Trail of Ten Falls. But at this time of year, there was enough flowering plants that madei t worthwhile to me. Some of the pictures are as follows:

Bear Grass

 Oregon Iris

Three-leaved Anemone

 Pacific Rhododendron

 False Solomon's Seal

Pacific Madone (the tree that sheds it's bark)

Rooster Rock through the trees

Linn County Lamb & Wool Festival

I first heard about this festival near the end of last summer, so I figured I'd give it a look-see this year. Each day, it has different events going on, such as a parade down the main street of Scio. I arrived shortly after the parade and parked in a church parking lot a few blocks away from all the action. My first target was the Junior High School gym that was where they had quilts, as I like to look at the geometrical ones.  Below are a few of my favorites:

 

The next stop was where the main part of the fair was held to look at the animals and check out the booths. Unfortunately, I didn't see any sheep at that time and the booths didn't carry anything of interest to me.

After moseying around for a while at this place and that, I went across the creek to see the wool show only to find out that they wouldn't start until 7:00 p.m. and it was entirely vacant. So no lambs or wool, save for the lamb burgers that a booth was selling. Some festival this turned out to be, I was under the impression that sheep and wool for sale were going to be there the whole 3 days. Before deciding to leave as it was raining, I went across the street to check out the old tractors next to the Scio Veterans Memmorial.

Diamond Lake fishing trip

Saturday, two days ago, I went fishing at Diamond Lake, a popular lake in the Oregon Cascades flanked by two mountains on each side. One of these mountains, Mount Thielsen, has always been one of my favorite mountains due to it's shape. The other is Mount Bailey, which is somewhat dome-shaped. Anyway, now that the Tui Chub is once again eradicated from the lake, the fishing is great. Although it took me five hours before I finally landed a Rainbow Trout that was of average size, other people were catching them quite often. Some of the trout that were caught were 20 inches or more! Overall, it was a good day to go fishing at the lake. A pair of Bald Eagles came over around noon to give us a show as they attempted at grabbing a trout from the lake. In all my years at going to Diamond Lake, I have never seen Bald Eagles there before. It is nice that they are making a comeback

 Mount Bailey in the morining

 Mount Thielsen in the morning

 Reflection of Mount Thielsen

Bald Eagle (center) 

Mount Thielsen in the afternoon

New pigs and the retiring of three steers.

First off, the steers that we had are no more. The company I work for butchered them in February. So since they are no longer around, I am moving their picture from the main page to this one.
 

 Amos the Angus

 Charley the Charlet

 Harry the Hereford

Secondly, here are the new pigs my parents got the other day. They will be raised and sold to family and friends. No names have been given to them yet.

Aumsville Ponds and other sights

Yesterday I went to the Aumsville Ponds County Park for the first time. I was quite nice to see it this time of year. This small park has a trail that snakes around the largest pond "Young Lake" and through some lowland forest.  As I was walking  I saw two deer roughly 40 feet away from me that ran off before I could take a good picture. I also saw a Great Blue Heron there as well. Fishing, hiking, and water activities are available at the park. Water activities includes kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. Motorized boats are not allowed. While Young Lake is roughly 1/5 the surface area of the Silverton Reservoir, it provides several inlets and an island to make it interesting enough to kayak on. For birdwatchers, being on the water can bring a whole new perspective.

If you really want to make the most of your visit to this park, I suggest a morning hike on the loop trail, followed by kayaking (or canoeing) and a picnic. If it is really hot out, like in August, an afternoon swim might be a nice idea.

Young Lake

One of the small ponds

 Another small pond

 

Young Lake

 Geese in Young Lake

Above shows the 'island' of Young Lake.

An 8 foot wide channel creates the island during the wet season.

 

 Great Blue Heron

Leaving the Aumsville Ponds behind I went to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. I have been there before on a hike, but this time, I wanted to check out the spots I didn't see last time. That let me to a boardwalk that snaked through the trees. Just like last time I was at this refuge, I didn't see the variety of animals that I see at other places. As such, I most likely won't visit this place in the Springtime again.

 The boardwalk trail

Before coming home, I decided to make a loop on some country roads in Marion county. That led me to at least one Buffalo (American Bison) farm and a barn that I would love to have.

 One of the 'Buffalo' Farms

 The barn I liked