April 10, 2014 by Ray Phung

Winter has been long. Though my heart will always belong in the Northwest, the seemingly relentless gray skies and rain starts to wear both on my sense of adventure and my photographic inspiration. Many months ago, I began tossing around the idea of a spring climbing trip in Bishop, CA. It had been at least a year and a half since I last made the journey to Bishop - that was just unacceptable. After consulting with the Erik's, we finally marked some dates on the calendar. And through several long weeks, it finally arrived - an 8 day vacation of sun, climbing, photography, camping, and friends.

Linhof Photo Samples / March 20, 2014 by Ray Phung

After getting my Linhof Technika III up and running, I was anxious to get ahold of some 4x5 sheet film to try it out. Luckily, my good old buddy Adam (check him and his work out at http://www.contentunknown.com) had an old, and mostly full, box of Arista sheet film. Adam claimed that this film was left in a desk drawer inside a sweltering warehouse for a couple of summers. Then lived in the back of his truck for quite sometime. "Use it at your own risk," he warned.

Table Mountain - Wind and Fog / February 3, 2014 by Ray Phung

This year for MLK day, I grabbed Adam and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge for another winter-time adventure. Miraculously we both had the day off. We set out to do Table Mountain on the Washington side of river. Table Mountain is one of the higher points in the Gorge, with a sheer triangular face and and 360 degree view from the summit.

The Table Mountain is noted for it's long, difficult hike to the summit from the Bonneville Trailhead. Adam and I decided to do the hike from Aldrich Butte Trailhead. This newer trailhead shortens the hike to 8 miles with 3350 feet of elevation gain. It starts among the power lines and largely follows old, abandoned sections of service access roads. The Aldrich Butte was a location for a WWII defense site. After ascending a portion of Aldrich Butte, the trail splits off to follow the Cedar Creek drainage, and parallels and eventually joins the Pacific Crest Trail.

Rock of Ages Loop Hike / January 30, 2014 by Ray Phung

Right before the new year, my buddy Temo and I drove out to the Columbia River Gorge to do the Rock of Ages Loop. This trail is 10 miles long, while gaining around 3000 ft of elevation. Over the last hiking season, I have been trying to knock out all the steep, scrambling hikes in the Gorge. This trail in particular sees a lot of traffic by those training for the alpine treks up the Cascades.

This loop starts at the Horsetail Falls trailhead, and begins by climbing up to Ponytail Falls.

Tom, Dick, and Harry Hike + Timberline / January 26, 2014 by Ray Phung

Sometime after Christmas and before the new year, my buddy Tom invited me up to Mt Hood to run around in the woods. He had been sick for the couple weeks prior, and was in much need of some fresh mountain air, beautiful scenery, and exercise. And of course I am always down for an adventure.