Hiking enthusiast Doug Lorain admits to having been bitten by a rattlesnake, shot at by a hunter, and charged by a grizzly bear, twice. But he still returns to the great outdoors. Lorain, who lives in Beaverton, OR, has hiked more than 30,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, with 14,000 of those in Oregon. He is the author of 8 hiking books, with a new series...
Learn MoreIn the grand scheme of a 300-mile hiking trail, 11 miles does not seem like much. But it is a proposed 11-mile connector trail that Bob Scullin calls “a critical little segment.” Scullin, a board member of the Chinook Trail Association, used this phrase as he updated members at the association’s 25th annual meeting in Vancouver. The Vancouver-based...
Learn MoreMap collectors have another new one to buy. The continuing release of maps in the Pacific Northwest Recreation Series recently saw the publication of the Oregon Central Coast map. This replaces the Siuslaw National Forest map, which was last released in 1996. The new map sells for $8 at Forest Service offices (considerably higher at commercial outlets) and is printed on...
Learn MoreNov. 30th is the last day visitors to the Ochoco National Forest will be able to pick up a map at the Rager Ranger Station. That remote outpost is being shuttered more than 100 years after its establishment. Long gone is the original cabin built by one of the forest’s first district rangers back in 1908. Today, the ranger station consists of a series of buildings...
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Recent snowfall at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon means the popular ranger-guided snowshoe walks will resume for the season. Park ranger Dave Grimes said the walks will begin this weekend at 1 p.m. and continue every Saturday and Sunday through April 28. Walks also will be offered daily during the holidays from Wednesday, Dec. 26 through Tuesday, Jan. 1. The...
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The Whychus Canyon Preserve in Oregon is a 450-acre parcel along Whychus Creek. The Deschutes Land Trust purchased it at the end of 2010, in the process opening up land that had long been inaccessible to the public. Since adding the property to its portfolio, the nonprofit land trust has been busy building trails and restoring habitat. Back in June, trail markers were...
Learn MoreIn Sisters, Oregon and throughout the Northwest, recent forest fires have reminded us just how much local forests impact our quality of life. With the Pole Creek Fire burning just 5 miles from Sisters, Central Oregonians came out in droves to volunteer at the National Forest Foundation’s Friends of the Forest® Day. More than 115 volunteers were escorted through the fire...
Learn MoreFor a few weeks each year, from April into June, the land not far beyond Mount Hood is prime for walking across juniper-dappled hills in Oregon’s high desert. The air dries out quicker east of the mountains, making wildflowers bloom and caddis flies hatch to feed ravenous trout in the Deschutes River. The land where central Oregon begins, around Madras and Redmond,...
Learn MoreOne of the most scenic places in the Oregon Cascades, the lake in the crater of Broken Top in the Three Sisters Wilderness, has finally landed in one of William L. Sullivan’s hiking books. So why was the Eugene author, often referred to as Oregon’s “hiking guru,” holding out all these years? Blame it on the U.S. Forest Service, Sullivan responded...
Learn MoreThe Lewis and Clark National Park covers a sprawling 40 miles and comprises 12 separate sites in an area stretching from Long Beach, Washington State to Cannon Beach, Oregon. Abundant trails for hiking, drama, stunning scenery and wild, rugged coastline all mix together in this historic encounter of America’s most famous explorers. These trail-blazing pioneers, in every...
Learn MoreIn the summer of 1995, a 26-year-old woman who had never been backpacking before set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. She had already separated from her husband, quit her waitressing job and sold most of her belongings. Now she went to the outdoors store REI to purchase almost everything she could possibly think of for her three-month journey: fleece pants and an...
Learn MoreIn the wake of a storm that hit the Columbia River Gorge, volunteers with the Mt. Hood Chapter of the Pacific Crest Trail Association helped clear blocked hiking trails last weekend. The chapter’s volunteers care for 221 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mount Jefferson Wilderness to Mount Adams. And that help is critical considering that only one U.S. Forest...
Learn MoreRejecting the idea that they have to “keep up” is an attitude shift that many hikers are making as they move into their 60s, 70s and 80s, and they are heading out onto hiking trails in increasing numbers. In the past seven years, the Portland, OR Parks & Recreation Senior Recreation program has more than doubled the number of weekly hiking trips it...
Learn MoreNothing sells a conservation message more than a walk on the wild side. And doing it during the winter adds a whole new dimension to the appreciation. “If you’ve never snowshoed and you’re an avid hiker, snowshoeing is a way to see the forest and to see Oregon’s back country in a completely different way,” said Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild....
Learn MoreWhen I talk about backpacking alone, a 52-year-old woman, people tend to ask two things: Do you get lonely? And are you afraid? The answer to both is yes. Loneliness sets in during the long interval between supper and sleep. Meal done, I sit at my campsite, waiting for dark before crawling into my tent. My body is tired from hiking, but my mind is awake, wishing for...
Learn MoreThe idea for the Outdoor Blogger Network was born, appropriately enough, on a riverbank, via a conversation between two Outdoor bloggers. Rebecca Garlock, The Outdooress – and Joe Wolf, Flowing Waters – were talking about a myriad of topics and blogging ideas after spending a day fly fishing for trout in Oregon. It was one of those times when things just clicked. They...
Learn MoreAbout 350 air miles southeast of Portland, the West Little Owyhee River, a rarely visited tributary of the better-known Owyhee River, has cut a squiggle of a gorge through sandy expanses of sage and rye. The canyon is surely among the most inaccessible places in the West. At its loneliest, the nearest human living under a proper roof is about 24 hours away by four-wheel...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. My regular hiking companions have designated me the lead hiker, so I suppose that makes me the slowest Meanderthal. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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