The sun came out to play!

Trapped inside all week long (with no window to see out of - poor me!) during a wonderful sunny break in the weather, we made sure to take full advantage over the weekend.  Saturday we headed out to OSU-managed McDonald Research Forest in Corvallis - one of my favorite places ever.  The parking area we started from, Oak Creek, is the most popular access point for the forest and, of course, many other Corvallis-ites had the same idea we did.  We planned to just enjoy a fairly leisurely hike, leaving water and snacks behind.  Turns out adventure was in store for us! 
To try to avoid other hikers we headed away from the more heavily traveled main road and ended up on an unmaintained mountain biking trail called South Side Slip.  Jay was an avid mountain biker in college and learned all of the "illegal" trails - no maintenance is done by the University, no signage exists.  The trail was a little more than I bargained for - very steep sections, but very pretty.  I huffed and puffed my way up and we landed on a gravel-covered logging road.  Turns out Jay knew from about halfway up the trail where we were headed - McCulloch Peak, the tallest point in McDonald forest.  The first time I made it to the top of McCulloch was the year after I graduated from OSU and I remember worrying about being able to get myself up the winding logging roads to the top.  McCulloch became a sometime destination on my then-frequent weekend hikes, but on this bright and beautiful February day I was introduced to a route I had never attempted before. 
We were now at a crossroads:  head down the logging roads and back to the car, head up the logging road to the actual peak, or cross the logging road and continue on the bike path that had gotten us to this point.  Hmm.....well, we made it this far and my legs/heart/lungs hadn't given out yet, so we went for option 3! 
Always trailing Jay and Shep, I stopped often to catch my breath.  The trail was so steep at times that I was literally using my fingertips to grip the dirt.  I would stop, see a tree ahead, then tell myself I just had to get to that tree, then the next, etc.  Eventually we made it! 2178 feet up in the forest. Of course I didn't have a camera with me to commemorate (or water or snacks, for that matter!!) but I can assure you it was gorgeous. There was a nice retired couple up there who took a shorter route from a different starting point that we chatted with.  I kept wishing they would toss me part of their banana or a cap-full of water, but alas...no such thing.  But I survived to tell my tale and there will be more of those to come!

  Sunday we decided to head back to the forest to stretch our tired muscles. Jay brought his mountain bike with and has stories to tell of his explorations.  Shep and I played it safe and had a nice walk to Dimple Hill from the Lewisburg Saddle parking area in North Corvallis.  Yard chores were waiting for us when we got home but it was a great weekend!