Zoo to Pittock to Stone House back to Zoo loop

[Eric Peterson]

Picked up Thum and was going to meet Mayhem at Kings Mt. for a up and down.

Then we were going to drive down to Elk Mt. for a up and down.

It was snowing pretty hard this morning before dawn and Mayhem had to turn around
at the Shell gas station in Gales Creek. He must have passed us as we also ended up
turning around at the Shell. Thum txtd Mayhem as soon we had cell service again and
Mayhem was waiting for us at the HWY 26 weigh station.



We decided to hit the Wildwood trail from the Zoo as a plan b.

Here is Thum getting our Zoo parking validated -



Did some up and down in the Hoyt and passed a tarped out house right off
of the Magnolia trail -



Thum and I are inside a tree house -









Cool pan shot of Pittock area -



Cleaning my boots off before hiking -



Some pictures from around the Pittock area -







Whew -



Stopped by the Audubon Society and checked out some caged birds that are on display
all year around?

Julio the owl was the best -



Owl video -



Turkey Vulture was pretty cool too -





Headed down to the Stone House for our turn around point -





Find Thum in this picture -





On our way back to the Zoo before Burnside Mayhem noticed Geoff
from the one time we saw him way back in July on a DN loony Gorge hike!



Here is Geoff back on that DN hike -



We stopped in at the Zoo for a few more critter pix -







Wasn't the planned 4500' of EG I was looking for with Kings and Elk out and backs
but ended up being almost 2000' of EG and 9 miles of LOL hiking!

Thanks again guys for hiking with me!

[mayhem]

Unexpected but better safe than sorry
Steps 21,590
Calories 2,590
Funny Easiest Hike ever & messed up my toe bashed it while laughing to hard to hike normal. I was laughing so hard never noticed it until I got home now I'm crying...just a little bit!


Geoff from loony some sort of loop Casey creek hike. cool dude that runs forever!
http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... ilit=geoff

Real 360 Mansion
http://360.io/ZDTj3K

Pano Mansion

[Eric Peterson]

No wonder you said you wanted Thum and I to rub your feet again when we got back the cars

[Crusak]

So the roads were bad enough to keep you out of the Coast Range. Nice recovery though!

Looks like a fun day all the same. I've never seen the 'stone house' - at least I don't remember it.

[mayhem]

So the roads were bad enough to keep you out of the Coast Range. Nice recovery though!

Looks like a fun day all the same. I've never seen the 'stone house' - at least I don't remember it.

We could have car pooled but EP did not want me in his luxury car!

[BCJ]

That's one of my standard trail running routes...good trail with enough elevation change to make you feel like you did a little climbing, but mild enough to keep a good rythym. Did you guys just want to pay for parking to support the zoo or did you not know about the free parking lot about 200 yards up the road at the start of the Wildwood?

[Born2BBrad]

It seem weird to read that you only went 9 miles and only gained 2000'.

I think this is the only day I hiked longer and higher than you guys. I'll have to mark it on my calendar.

Sounds like you had fun, though. Every outdoor adventure does not have to be loony. Sometimes it about enjoying the views, the exercise and the company.

Brad

[Crusak]

hahahaha! just noticed the group photo IFO the gift shop at the zoo. OMG totally explains why I enjoy hiking with you guys.

[Eric Peterson]

So the roads were bad enough to keep you out of the Coast Range. Nice recovery though!

Looks like a fun day all the same. I've never seen the 'stone house' - at least I don't remember it.

We could have car pooled but EP did not want me in his luxury car!

Sorry, I didn't think to drive back to that Shell and carpool from there. But even in my Saab
behind the plow it would have been slow and dicey, but she does fine in packed snow with
no chains. Saabs aren't designed for chains on their front wheels anyway really, or at least
they are freekn' way too expensive to get the rights ones or something...

Brad, I would have loved just going up to Dublin too, but we burned a lot of time already
bugging around in the snow on HWY 6 so we opted for something close since I had to be
home by noon.

[Thum]

I wonder if snaggle-poop-taxi-bag and the pizza hat dude made it home ok?


@BCJ hahah yeah we were just messing around and didnt pay to park. There were a lot of runners today, it certainly is an awesome place to go for a run, jog or walk.


It was fun to see the normal sights around the arbo and washington park lightly covered in snow:














And what we missed in the zoo:


Mayhems desired Mountain Lion 30ft above the ground in a tree:





Bobcats:





Red-flanked Duiker:





Shine on the right, rose tu(mom) and baby samudra in the middle:





And my fav, grandson of the famous Inji, Kutai: