Road Trips and Hike Reports

Wednesday was a long driving day.  We started out heading South on US-385 through Hot Springs SD and then East on US-18.  It was a very desolate stretch of plains for several hours.  Later, following the suggestions of our friend Bob (who was born in South Dakota) we were on SD-44 East of Winner and saw some gorgeous ravines and very dramatic bluffs of the Missouri River. We overnighted at Fort Randall Casino which was not a winner nor a very nice place to stay.  The hotel wasn’t awful but it was VERY basic and old but it was cheap.  The next day we spent most of driving East through Ohio on US-20. US-20 makes a very direct and generally high speed journey across many miles of Iowa.  We made a brief tour to visit an Iowa institution, Maid-Rite , in Waterloo.  It wasn’t Brian’s favorite lunch but the strawberry shake we agreed was excellent.  We visited a state park in Iowa, Backbone State Park. I had previously stopped at this large state park, Io...

Since we'd both been to South Dakota before, we didn't feel any need to go to Mount Rushmore or Crazy Horse.  For most people, having been to Devil's Tower would fall into that same camp but I absolutely adore Devil's Tower and have been 4 times now.  So we headed out on that long drive first thing Tuesday.  Weather was gorgeous, much cooler than the day before in North Dakota.  We walked the Red Beds Trail which is about 2.8 miles and goes along a much wider and wilder loop than the very short paved trail that winds directly around the base of the rock.  Since the park ranger said parking was limited (it was busier than you might expect for a mid-September Tuesday), we opted to park at the picnic area at the very bottom of the entire area near the Prairie Dog village.  This added a stiff hike up the flanks of the butte before we could join the 2.8 mile loop and since we enjoyed it so much we went a little more than a complete circle on the loop to take the...

We were up very late last night and we had to do laundry at the hotel before we could head out so it was about 80 degrees when we arrived at the trailhead after driving south about 60 miles on US-85.  The sun was very intense and I couldn't find my sunscreen this morning so I used a hand towel from our hiking backpack as a cover for my ears and neck as best as I could.  We bought a big jug of water but should have had a third 'spare' water to supplement our ever present 27 ounce metal bottles.  We had to be very judicious with our water consumption throughout this hike.  Low humidity and a cooling breeze made the temperature and intense sun more comfortable but it was still a little rough for me for the first 2 miles. We chose to start the trail by crossing the scenic road immediately and doing the loop in that direction.  The trail worked its way up into a few of the many buttes found along the 16 mile scenic road that goes through the North Unit of the park. T...

The rest of our time in Central Oregon with family went well enough.  It's always tough when you just have 2 days since there is only so much that can be done in that time.  We ended up walking around Sisters again on Thursday (with my mom) and she had fun browsing and buying a few things. Friday we headed over to Portland.  The drive was ok overall but the pass over Mount Hood was crowded and annoying.  When we got the car returned at PDX airport we had to decide between transit or a Lyft to get downtown to the train station.  We ended up using Trimet and it was totally fine.  We got off on the East side of the Willamette river and walked across the Steel Bridge rather than walking from Old Town on the West side of the river.  There really weren't very many people (homeless or otherwise) around but it was quite warm. Unfortunately our inbound train was very late so we left about 2.5 hours late.  In the end the train made up half of that time on t...

Our 2nd day with my Dad was fun.  We had dinner the first night at the Old Spaghetti Factory which, as usual, was adequate food but served in a great environment.  They are now in what used to he the venerable Oregon Electric Station restaurant downtown near the 5th Street Public Market.  The Spaghetti Factory better be a LOT busier than it was when we went because their dining room(s) are huge at this location.  On the 2nd night we went to Red Robin which isn't very groundbreaking either but it's someplace we always used to go to as a family and has been very popular in Eugene for years.  That 2nd night in Eugene ended fairly early so we could rest up and get an early start the next day heading over to Central Oregon. Wednesday we got on the road a little before 8 am.  We had a basic breakfast and a short, somewhat underwhelming and buggy walk along the Leaburg Canal .  I did not know until just now that the entire Leaburg dam is being decommissioned ...

Our flights to PDX went well. While maybe a little underwhelming, having a dinner on our first class leg from Detroit to Portland was a novel experience.  The Portland airport, which I used to work at, has gone through some very widely Instagram covered renovations.  I wasn't surprised by seeing the light colored wood and curving walls of the new terminal but I was surprised at how cavernous and cathedral like the height of the ceilings are now.  It's very fresh and modern looking and feels like they worked to downplay the walls that have increasingly made airports feel very segmented with a check-in area then a huge security screening area and then the secure area with concourses etc.  That's all still present at PDX now but it's been blended into a more natural flow with less jarring transitions.  It was also interesting to see how they blended the new areas and the old.  As PDX has done for decades, the carpets and colors don't jarringly change and while...

We headed out from the apartment about 9 am after loading the car up and saying goodbye to the cat.  Our first flight doesn't leave (from Buffalo) until almost 4 pm so we had a lot of time to kill.  Breakfast was a bagel at Bruegger's and then we headed west on US-20.  As planned, we stopped at Como Lake Park , an enormous Erie county park that we visited once before.  It was nice getting a good leg stretcher in with warm dry weather.  We are both wearing jeans today so we're thankful it was just in the 70's when we walked. From Como Lake Park to the airport was only a 20 minute trip and we were picked up by the parking shuttle driver immediately so didn't have any hanging out time.  I forgot to grab my normal driving glasses but my prescription hiking sunglasses should work for driving and I do have my reading glasses with me also.   Getting through check-in, baggage and security was all very fast with no line to speak of.  We ate in the air...

Today we headed out uncertain of what to do with our day.  I'm getting over a chest cold I think I got from somebody at work.  Brian caught what I have and isn't as close to being over it as I think I am.  We don't feel awful but not great either.  After pouring over the saved hikes in Alltrails I decided to look at a road atlas and see if there was any substantial piece of road I could get to that would be new to me.   I identified a triangle from about Pulaski to Verona NY (along NY-13) and then NY-49 along the top of Oneida Lake which I had not marked as having been on and most of it was also designated scenic route.  So that's what we did today. The park in Camden was a surprise discovery.  It's not a place we'd heard of our seen before but it's a really nice deeply forested piece of land right in Camden.  Camden isn't very big or well known but it's a real town not a 1 stop sign nothing. The park is apparently 117 acres so it's not huge ...