Month: September 2010

  • Oregon

    Sunrise, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I made my very first appearance in the state of Oregon over the weekend. I’m impressed and hooked. Oregon is a very pretty state, and I didn’t even get to see very much of it. My Oregon experience took me to a little known section in the northeastern corner, the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area in the Wallowa Mountains. I went with two other grad students in the department for an overnight trip to Mirror Lake in the heart of the wilderness area. We left Friday night just as the sun was setting and drove…

  • Grandmother Mountain

    Looking West on Grandmother Mountain, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. This weekend, Erin and I set out for our first hike together in Idaho and we made our first summit together on Grandmother Mountain. The hike to Grandmother Mountain begins high up in the St. Joe National Forest 12 miles out of Clarkia. The entire hike is above 5500 feet, which was a neat considering all of our hiking in the East (so far) was under 5500 feet.* Grandmother Mountain is an easy two-mile one-way along a high sub-alpine ridge with forest mixed with meadow. The summit stands at 6369…

  • Fall Foliage

    Foliage, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. With the sudden drop in temperatures, Fall has officially begun in the northwest. This is the first time I’ve spent fall in a predominantly evergreen forest. While there is color to be found in the west, I suspect that the immediate area won’t be the place to find it. But, as fall rolls in, I provide a tribute to the spectacular display before the forest retires for winter.