Peak Northwest

Crowded trailheads. Packed campgrounds. Busy beaches, rivers and lakes. Oregon outdoor recreation areas saw a huge flood of visitors in 2020, many of whom were new to outdoor recreation. We discuss the crowds and offer some advice for people who don’t have a lot of outdoor recreation experience. (Don’t miss our previous episodes on Camping 101, Backpacking 101 and relieving yourself responsibly while in nature.)

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Many outdoor enthusiasts have dreamed of building their ultimate adventure vehicles— the type of rigs you can use to get where you’re going and sleep comfortably along the way. For this week’s episode of the Peak Northwest podcast, we caught up with Brooke Weeber, a Portland-based artist and adventurer who built out her own adventure van in 2020.

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Traveling with friends and family is fun, but there’s something special about enjoying the Pacific Northwest on your own. On this week’s episode of Peak Northwest, we dive into both the joys and difficulties of solo travel – from day hikes to road trips – getting some advice from Kim Waara, an avid solo traveler based in Portland.

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A mysterious monolith placed in — and later removed from — the Utah desert captivated the country this fall. And while we were following the twists and turns of the story, our minds wandered back to another high-profile case that raised questions about art and vandalism in nature, this on in southeast Oregon.

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Why pay top dollar for a perfect Christmas tree when you can pay a nominal fee, tromp off into the woods and cut down your own? While you might not walk away with the prettiest fir in the world, harvesting your Christmas tree from the national forest is a Pacific Northwest pastime – and a great excuse to get outside this time of year. On this week’s episode, we get some advice from Heather Ibsen, public affairs officer with the Mount Hood National Forest, who has a lot of experience cutting Christmas trees from the forest.

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Back before the COVID-19 pandemic set in here in Oregon, Peak Northwest co-host Jim Ryan schemed up a mission: try to see as many Columbia River Gorge waterfalls as possible — from sunrise to sundown. He recruited co-host Jamie Hale and video producer Brooke Herbert, and they headed out to the gorge. By sundown, they’d seen 16 waterfalls — and captured each of them on camera.

This week on the Peak Northwest podcast, Jim and Jamie relive the trip, which spanned from Vista House to Starvation Creek Falls. Check out the new Peak Northwest video episode about the excursion.

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As the Northwest weather turns dreary, we're looking for ways to stay active through the winter — especially this year, when we're staying close to home. We'll also take a look back at lessons learned from Oregon's first coronavirus shutdown.

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As the smoke clears on yet another devastating wildfire season in Oregon, questions naturally begin to arise: How bad is it? When can we go back? How long will it take for the forests to grow back?

Answers don’t always come quickly or easily, but to the question of “how long,” we can at least turn to some of the forests in Oregon that have been devastated by other major fires – most notably the Tillamook Burn.

The Tillamook Burn was actually a series of wildfires that burned the same part of the northern Coast Range every six years between 1933 and 1951. And while it’s not a perfect comparison to some of the recent wildfires, the re-growing forest there can offer hope to those feeling despondent over the fire damage this year.

On this week’s episode of the Peak Northwest podcast, we discuss the many hiking trails that wind through the Tillamook State Forest, exploring a forest in the process of recovery nearly 70 years after the Tillamook Burn.

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On this week’s episode of the Peak Northwest podcast, we speak with Dave Tragethon from Mt. Hood Meadows about what precautions the ski resort has made amid the coronavirus pandemic, and what skiing will look like this season.

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This week on the Peak Northwest podcast, we make the case for spending that time hiking in Camas — the small suburban town in southwest Washington. And to help us out, we brought on Camas resident Sally Hale, who just happens to be Jamie's mother.

You can support this podcast and our local journalism with a subscription to OregonLive. Go to oregonlive.com/podsupport. Thank you.

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