Stub Stewart State Park – Riveted

More Banks-Vernonia Trail

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 19:16:55 +0000

After we finished up some work today we headed out on the bikes and decided to ride to Banks (the other half of the Banks-Vernonia Trail ride that we did yesterday). This is such a great trail. These are all taken with my iPhone right from my bike-mount while riding (with the exception of the railroad bridge one, cuz…well…you'll see):

That railroad bridge was super fun to ride over. It's SO FAR DOWN when you stop and look over the edge! Oh yeah, the trail from Stub Stewart to Banks is ALL downhill. You know what that means…not so fast on the way home!

We had a nice frosty coffee concoction at the Banks Trail Cafe in Banks and then headed back to camp.

Now were going to work a bit, shower, and then meet up with Aluminarium (they're a few spots down from us tonight!) for some happy hour and dinner (and a lot of catching up!)

Here's the map and elevation of our ride: 21.5 miles

Stub Stewart State Park

Laura Domela — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:22:17 +0000

We grabbed the Airstream and came out to Stub Stewart State Park yesterday afternoon to meet up with some friends. After stopping at Trader Joe’s, Camping World, and suffering the world’s longest wait for propane at the nearby Pilot (they’re not usually that bad), we were on our way and had camp set up by about 6:30pm.

Our view through the trees at the back of our spot:

This morning we got up and decided to ride into Vernonia for some breakfast. It’s about 11.5 miles from here along the Banks-Vernonia Trail…a gorgeous ride!

We locked up the bikes and had breakfast at the Black Iron Grill on Bridge Street. Kinda dark inside, but our double cappuccinos were great and so was our breakfast! Also: every single song ever remembered from my childhood…ALL of those songs played during breakfast. Horse with No Name, Hotel California, Wildfire, Band on the Run, Go Your Own Way…well, you get the idea. It was kinda great. Also, this.

Sunny ride back to Stub Stewart after breakfast:

Back at camp now working for the rest of the day after a 23 mile bike ride! Here’s the map with elevation, if you’re curious:

Bumping Knots Loop Trail Hike

Laura Domela — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:26:33 +0000

We headed out this morning (even though it was raining here at Stub Stewart) for a nice hike out to Bumping Knots Loop. Oh yeah, first, more nature photos:

It was actually really pleasant under the canopy of big trees…a little drizzly but a nice change from the hot sunny days we've been having.

Here's today's hike: 7.25 miles (I love how tiny the campground loop looks here)

I cooked us up a nice omelette with bacon, avocado, spinach, and cheddar when we got back to the Airstream. It tasted SO good after that wet hilly hike.

It's been such a nice week working and hiking out here in the hills. We're heading home tomorrow because we've got a few things to do to get ready for our road trip up to Banff (leaving next week and we're pretty excited about it!)

More Hiking, More Nature Photos

Laura Domela — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Another good hike this afternoon at Stub Stewart State Park.

Here's a polaroid I found on the ground near the Banks Vernonia Trail:

When I looked up, I was standing in the exact spot where they took and dropped the snapshot. That was a fun little loop to be standing inside of.

Oh, and here's today's hike (5.36 miles) with the elevation chart:

Tomorrow we're going to go for the longer (black diamond, even!) hike. We'll try to get an earlier start so it's not so dang hot while we're climbing those hills.

25 Miles Later….

Laura Domela — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 21:59:58 +0000

We thought we might mix it up a little and go for a bike ride instead of a hike today. It was a hot day…the Banks Vernonia Trail is right there and mostly shaded and gorgeous. Perfect. We got the folders out, filled up a few things of water, grabbed our sunglasses and off we went.

If you turned left from Stub Stewart you'd be in Banks, Oregon in about 10 miles, and if you turned right from Stub Stewart you'd be in Vernonia in about 10 miles. We went to Vernonia (and around) and then back…about twenty-five miles on folding bikes. Not too bad!

The trail is gorgeous. What we didn't realize until we were on our way back, however, was that the trail TO Vernonia is very, very slightly downhill. It seemed mostly level to us but it's definitely noticeable that it is NOT level when you're on the way back FROM Vernonia. No big deal really…just that we haven't ridden more than about 5 miles on those little folding bikes before and this was, well…quite a bit more than that.

We're grilling up some chicken tonight and I'm going to try out the new compact blender/smoothie-maker I got for the Airstream by making some fresh gazpacho to go with dinner. If it works like I hope it does, I'll give details about it in another post.