Eastern Invasion

Introduce yourself to the group! We welcome novice and expert alike! We especially love hearing from those new to Portland and those new to hiking
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vinovampire
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Joined: March 23rd, 2012, 5:28 pm

Eastern Invasion

Post by vinovampire » March 23rd, 2012, 6:15 pm

Hello Everybody - I'm always happy to take an opportunity to introduce myself. I'm an unabashed invader from the eastern USA, northeast New England to be not much more exact. Over the next few months, it looks like I'll be visiting Portland at least three times and plan on getting outside as much as possible.

I've been backpacking and hiking in New England for the past 15+ years of my adult life and took plenty of "long walks" in the wilderness area around my home as a kid. As a kid, we lived in a small house surrounded by a large (for NE) piece of wilderness land. My little brother and I would wander for hours through the woods and across the streams to various ponds. I didn't realize how lucky we were at the time. Now, I'm out in the back-country every chance that I can find to slip away, which ends up being several times a month all year-round. I love hiking and camping out during all four seasons equally - (a) winter, (b) mud, (c) bug, and (d) fall.

I've had so many "highlights" from my hiking career, I can't even begin to answer that question, BUT I'm always excited about the next adventure, whether it's a quarter mile off a road or a couple weeks on the trail. That said, here's a picture from one of my favorite hikes from this winter. Snow was gently falling the entire day, which you can faintly make out from the specks in "the doorway." I was having such a magical day, I forgot to go up to the actual summit. :mrgreen:

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Mt Mansfield, Vermont, USA

Over the next few weeks, I'll be lurking and asking questions. I'll be looking for good suggestions and trail reports for hikes in the Portland/Bend-areas in April. The nice people over at Backpacker Forums suggested this place, and it looks like a great resource.

Warm regards,
VinoVampire!!

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Don Nelsen
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Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by Don Nelsen » March 23rd, 2012, 6:32 pm

Hey Vino - welcome to the site!

-Don
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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vinovampire
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Joined: March 23rd, 2012, 5:28 pm

Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by vinovampire » March 23rd, 2012, 6:43 pm

Thanks for the warm welcome, Don.

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Crusak
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Joined: August 6th, 2009, 7:33 pm
Location: Oregon

Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by Crusak » March 23rd, 2012, 7:24 pm

vinovampire wrote:I love hiking and camping out during all four seasons equally - (a) winter, (b) mud, (c) bug, and (d) fall.
ha, well said! welcome to the site.
Jim's Hikes

Solvitur Ambulando

forestkeeper
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Location: Canby, Oregon
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Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by forestkeeper » March 24th, 2012, 2:26 pm

:) Welcome Vinovampire! Where did you get your nickname from? I really love that winter picture! Where is this and what camera were you using? I love how you can almost see under the tree canopy. I think it would be pretty fun just exploring around under all those trees. Have a nice rest of the weekend.

ForestKeeper

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vinovampire
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Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by vinovampire » March 27th, 2012, 5:57 am

ForestKeeper wrote::) Welcome Vinovampire! Where did you get your nickname from? I really love that winter picture! Where is this and what camera were you using? I love how you can almost see under the tree canopy. I think it would be pretty fun just exploring around under all those trees. Have a nice rest of the weekend.

ForestKeeper
Hi ForestKeeper,

I got the nickname back in 2007 when I was going through a bit of a wild streak. :D We came up with it around 2am one morning, while my hiking buddies Dicey Jane, MEGA, and I were planning a thru hike on Vermont's Long Trail. It perfectly combined my love of wine, alliteration, and the fact that I had really sharp canine teeth at the time (they have since been smoothed down a bit by my dentist). Dicey Jane now lives in Bend, OR and she'll be my "guide" on this visit.

I took that picture February 2012 on the Sunset Ridge Trail on Mt Mansfield in Vermont using a Canon PowerShot SX230 HS. At this point, I'm a total amateur when it comes to photography, so the SX230 works perfectly for my needs. It seems to take nice pictures and is easy to carry. That was just an amazing morning, and I feel lucky to have captured the feel of the mountain that day.

Also, I just bought my plane ticket to PDX!!! I'm excited for my visit to the PNW!

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vinovampire
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Joined: March 23rd, 2012, 5:28 pm

Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by vinovampire » April 21st, 2012, 8:48 pm

As a follow-up to my introduction, I'd like to say a big thank you to all of you Portland Hikers! The week of April 7 to 15, I took my first trip to the PNW, and specifically Oregon. I spent every almost waking moment exploring as many different aspects of the state as possible. In just over one week, I hit up about a dozen different coffee/tea shops, several brew pubs, some really great restaurants in Bend and Portland, played disk golf, etc.

Obviously, hiking getting a few good hikes (including snowshoe and XC ski trips) was really important for me. Although I would have loved to have done more, I managed to get to the following: (a) Eagle Creek Trail to Tunnel Falls, (b) a short cross-country ski around Dutchman Loop, and (c) Deschutes River Trail (in both directions). My friend Dicey Jane and her boyfriend were amazing guides, showing me their favorite spots, but the information I got on this website before my trip was outstanding.

Also, I figured I should share at least one of my pictures from the trip. :D

Image
Punch Bowl Falls, April 8, 2012

I'm hoping to get in at least two more visits to Oregon before the end of the summer. It's a pretty long trip from where I live in New England, but I really loved every minute of my first visit and am totally totally sold on the PNW.

:twisted:ino :twisted:ampire

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retired jerry
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Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by retired jerry » April 21st, 2012, 9:01 pm

August and September you can get up to alpine areas in the Cascades - Mt. Hood, Goat Rocks, Mt Jefferson, Three Sisters,...

Those would be great if you're here then

forestkeeper
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Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by forestkeeper » April 22nd, 2012, 1:51 am

:) You're always welcome here !! By the way, do you have a website that has some of your good photos?

ForestKeeper

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vinovampire
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Re: Eastern Invasion

Post by vinovampire » April 23rd, 2012, 9:03 am

I just bought my next plane ticket to PDX!! :mrgreen: I'm so excited for another bite at the apple. My hope is to see the Columbia Gorge area at a few different times during the Spring and Summer. It's not an quick trip from Northern New England, but it's worth it to me! Also, I'm angling to get at least three weeks off from work in July for a third PNW visit. So, I hope that the Cascades (Mt. Hood, Three Sisters, etc) are at least approachable in late-July.

ForestKeeper - I should setup some sort of photo website for my hiking trip pictures. I'm a total amateur when it comes to most things, including photography, but it's nice to have some pictures to help share some of my hiking experiences with friends and family. That said, here are a couple more pictures:

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Three Friends on the Trail Across from Tunnel Falls, April 8, 2012

The next two pictures pretty much show the northernmost and southernmost places where I hiked the Deschutes River Trail, just outside of Bend. We got a little bit further north, to the place where the trail leave the river, but this is one of the last pictures I took that day. I loved seeing all the lava along the trail (Lava Island, etc) and enjoyed how you could be in the high desert at one point and a few miles away be surrounded by pine forest and snow. Really unique for a guy who's always lived in the northeast.

Image
Deschutes River Trail, April 12, 2012

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Deschutes River Trail, April 12, 2012

Again, this is one of the nicest hiking/backpacking websites I've seen. There's just such a wealth of information, it's really impressive.

:twisted: ino :evil: ampire!

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