Saturday, November 24, 2012

Cannon Beach


 Cannon Beach Oregon is one of my favorite destinations on the Oregon Coast. Roughly 2-2.5 hours drive from Portland it offers a host of activities to beach goers. 

One of my favorite activities is walking the beach and taking photos. the great rock formations make for some amazing shots, especially with the crashing waves. 

Cannon Beach is my favorite spot because of the access to the low tide pools. Looking at the star fish and all the life moving about the tide pools. Great activity and learning experience for all ages.



Wallowa Mountains

 Ice Lake Trail #1808

Amazing trail begins at Wallowa Lake, take the West Fork Trail #1920 for about 5-6 miles and you will encounter this sign on the trail marking the turn off. Take that trail right and you will come to a river crossing. Depending on how deep the water is and weather or not you want to get wet one can either ford the river or walk across the mess of branches and trees that have created a make shift bridge across the water. From there you continue on the trail cursing through trees and meadows.

Soon after crossing the river the trail difficulty increases steadily until you reach the lake at the top. The waterfall was a beautiful sight to see but after crossing countless switchbacks in the mid day heat we just wanted to set up camp, but it was just a reminder that we still had a ways to go.



Waterfall from Ice Lake
The hike is challenging especially with overnight gear, but the views and experience at the top is well worth it. The views are spectacular, the fishing is great and there are no crowds of people.











We found that fishing with a regular spinning reel and a bobber with a worm was the most successful. Every time we would cast out the fish would bite as soon as the worm hit the water. I didn't get a single bite fly fishing.