Boring Lava Field

The Portland metropolitan area, including suburbs, is one of the few places in the continental United States to have extinct volcanoes within a city's limits. I have one in my backyard, only in Oregon.

Portland rock climbs: A climber's guide to Northwest Oregon

A must have guide for Rock Climbing in Portland is:

Portland rock climbs: A climber's guide to Northwest Oregon

This is the preeminent book on climbing in Portland. It details the finest crags in Northwest Oregon's lower Willamette Valley region. Offers precise route beta, detailed ink topos and enhanced photographic maps designed to quickly point you directly to your next rock climb. There are extensive route illustrations of Beacon Rock, Rocky Butte, Broughton and Carver.

Rocky Butte - Rock Climbing in Portland, OR.

Rocky Butte is a popular location for rock climbers in the Portland area. It hosts approximately 150 routes which vary in difficulty and type. The majority of routes will be top-roped, though there are some options for Traditional climbing and Lead Climbing. The most popular climbs are on the section known as Video Bluff.

Pacific Crest Trail – Goat Wilderness

The Goat Rocks Wilderness is a portion of the volcanic Cascade Mountain Range in southwestern Washington located between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The Goat Rocks are remnants of a large volcano, extinct for some two million years.

Glaciation and erosion have worn away at the terrain here, leaving moderate summits on both sides of the crest of the Cascades. The elevation in the Goat Rocks ranges from 3,000 feet to 8,201 feet at Gilbert Peak. The deep east-west drainages below the ridges often open into park-like alpine meadows dotted with small lakes and even smaller ponds.

Annual snowfall typically equals more than 25 feet, not melting entirely until late July or early August and keeping the ponds and lakes full when it does give in to the sun. Pikas and marmots scurry about above timberline, while the more reserved deer and elk have been spotted lower down. Mountain goats frequently show up in the higher country.

Much of the 120-mile trail system stays on the ridges at or above timberline. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) wanders north-south through the middle of the Wilderness for 31.1 miles, past 7,930-foot Old Snowy Mountain, where glaciers persist. Approximately 14 other trails climb to eventually join the PCT.

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail (commonly referred to as the PCT, and occasionally designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail) is a long-distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail on the Western Seaboard of the United States. The southern terminus is at the California border with Mexico. The trail continues through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington before reaching its northern terminus in British Columbia, Canada.

A parallel route for bicycles, the Pacific Crest Bicycle Trail (PCBT) is a 2,500 mile route designed to closely parallel the PCT on roads. The PCT and PCBT cross in about 27 places along their routes.

Thru hiking is a term used in referring to hikers who complete long distance trails from end-to-end in a single trip. The Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, and Continental Divide Trail are the three long distance trails in the U.S. Successfully thru-hiking all of these three trails is known as the “Triple Crown of hiking".Thru-hiking is a long commitment, usually taking between four and six months, that requires thorough preparation and dedication. Although the actual number is difficult to calculate, it is estimated that around 180 out of approximately 300 people who attempt a thru-hike complete the entire trail each year.



The first thing prospective thru hikers have to do when thinking about attempting a thru hike is planning their trip. The Pacific Crest Trail Association estimates that it takes most hikers between 6 and 8 months to plan their trip.The first decision during the trip planning process is to decide the route to take. Most hikers travel from the Southern Terminus at the Mexico Border north to Manning Park, British Columbia, but some hikers travel southbound. In a normal weather year, northbound hikes are most practical. If snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is high in early June and low in the Northern Cascades, some hikers may choose to 'flip-flop.' Flip-flopping can take many forms but is often the term used to describe beginning at one end (on the PCT, usually the southern end) of the trail and then, at some point, like reaching the Sierra, going to the end of the trail (Manning Park in B.C.) and hiking southbound to finish the trail.


Hikers also have to determine their resupply points. Resupply points are towns or post offices where hikers replenish food and other supplies such as cooking fuel. Hikers can ship packages to themselves at the U.S. Post Offices along the trail, resupply at general and grocery stores along the trail, or any combination of the two.The final major logistical step is to create an approximate schedule for completion. Thru hikers have to make sure they complete enough miles every day so they will be able to reach the opposite end of the trail before weather conditions make sections impassible. However, the snow pack in the Sierra Nevada can prevent an early start. The timing is a balance of not getting to the Sierra too soon nor the Northern Cascades too late. Most hikers cover about 20 miles (32 km) per day.

In order to reduce their hiking time to increase their chances of completion many hikers try to substantially reduce their pack weight. Since the creation of the Pacific Crest Trail there has been a large movement by hikers away from large heavy packs with a lot of gear. There are three classifications for hikers: Traditional, Lightweight, and Ultralight. Very few hikers are traditional hikers anymore. The Pacific Crest Trail Association cites Ray Jardine’s book Beyond Backpacking as a great resource for hikers during the planning process.Beyond Backpacking is a “how-to” book for ultralight hikers. In this book Jardine explains how to trim every extra ounce from one’s pack weight by doing everything from cutting extra straps off your pack to eating only food that does not have to be cooked.