Matt - Matthew Singer

Seven Devils on the Fourth of July

July 19, 2015July 8, 2020 Matt Hikes

What do you do when temperatures rise above 100Âº F? Seek relief at very high elevations. This June was one of the hottest on record for the northwest with several days above 100 degrees in Moscow. So when my friends proposed a backpacking trip for the Fourth of July weekend, i was a bit skeptical, especially given the location's tendency…

Alaska

June 30, 2015 Matt Travel Stories

I was in Alaska from June 10-17. This trip was mostly about business with a little bit of pleasure while I was out there. I attended the 2015 meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. This wasn't my first scientific meeting. But it was my first time at ABS and my first meeting where I was alone. I was the only…

East Moscow Mountain

June 2, 2015 Matt Hikes

[map style="width: auto; height:400px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;" gpx="http://www.mineral2.com/wp-content/uploads/Moscow Mountain Hike.GPX"] I hadÂ heard about the big trees on Moscow Mountain, but I had yet to experience them for myself. I first drove the road along the ridge back in 2010, the year I moved to Idaho. Back then, I passed some fairly large trees along the…

Small hikes near Moscow

May 10, 2015 Matt All Things Moscow, Hikes

The end of the semester is a busy time, and that often means foregoing larger adventures for some smaller ones closer to home. In the last week, I've been trying to keep active and take advantage of the local trails. One of these trails is the Headwaters trail on the western end of Moscow Mountain. In my five years here,…

Blue Mountains: Panjab Loop

April 20, 2015April 20, 2015 Matt Hikes

We open the 2015 hiking season with a fairly big hike in the Blue Mountains. The Panjab loop takes us up the Panjab Creek trail and back down via the Rattlesnake Trail in the Wenaha Tucannon Wilderness. This hike is full of wildflowers, wildlife, and canyon views. (more…)

Yes, I’m still alive.

April 15, 2015 Matt Personal Updates

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. The purpose of this post is the reassure you that I'm still alive and kicking. There haven't been many adventures and photo outings this winter for a number of reasons, the least of which is that it's been a pretty lackluster winter in terms of snow fall. But I've also…

Annual Wallowas Weekend 2014

September 19, 2014September 22, 2014 Matt Hikes

[map style="width: auto; height:400px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;" gpx="http://www.mineral2.com/wp-content/uploads/Selected Data from wallowas 2014.GPX"] The annual Wallowas Weekend tradition kinda took a hiatus for a couple of years. In 2012, Tyler had to pull out of the trip, and several other people followed. That left me with one other person who still wanted to hike, but also…

Oregon Butte

September 7, 2014September 7, 2014 Matt Hikes

In a world where there are so many playgrounds at arm's reach, the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington are so often overlooked. They're not as tall as the surrounding mountain ranges - the highest point is just shy of 6400 feet. There are no natural lakes, and the valleys are actually canyons carved into an uplifted basalt lava flow. But…

August Update

September 5, 2014September 4, 2014 Matt Hikes, Personal Updates

I just realized that August has come and gone and I have yet to write about anything that happened during this month. It's not as though I haven't done anything. In fact, I was quite busy every weekend. So, let's see, what happened in August? It got really hot. In fact, it got so hot, that doing things became unpleasant.…

Roman Nose Lakes

July 29, 2014July 29, 2014 Matt Hikes, Travel Stories

[caption id="attachment_605" align="aligncenter" width="344"] Upper Roman Nose Lake with Roman Nose peak rising behind it.[/caption] Last year, I tried to take my family up to Harrison Lake to enjoy a true alpine zone. When we got close, we saw that the lake had been closed due to problematic bear activity. I would have still been ok hiking up there, but…