I saw some great landscapes and birds on the Cape Horn loop. On this seven-mile hike I led a friend out beyond his physical capabilities and he got hurt. From his moaning and blood I learned to be a better aide and companion on the trail.

Landscapes 

Diverse landscapes crowd this loop, including two waterfalls, a prairie, and many vistas overlooking the gorge. The river water looked very green in contrast to the distant bluish mountains.

We checked out Phoca Rock, which changed dramatically in luster and hue as the sun set. I can’t verify, but the thing must be named after the French phoque, for seal (the marine mammal). In fact there is a user-submitted Google Maps image of a big ol’ fat sea lion lounging on this conspicuous rock in the middle of the Columbia.

Being out there on a sunny day on one of the shortest days of the year was special. Newly built overlooks were put in place in 2020.

Birds

The trail opens into a small prairie. We watched a northern harrier hunting buoyantly in a steady wind. I think it was a juvenile because of its brown coloration. I look forward to seeing this hawk again and studying its appearance, including the “gray ghost” adult male.

We observed ravens, spotted towhees, a red-tailed hawk, a kinglet (could not tell whether ruby-crowned or golden-crowned), hairy woodpecker, nuthatches and chickadees. 

I need some help distinguishing the chestnut-backed chickadee from the Pacific plumage variant of the black-capped chickadee. I think I may have seen this richly colored brown bird, but I couldn’t be certain without getting back home to my Sibley guide. Next time I see one, I will know.

Part of the trail is closed February to July to protect peregrine falcon nests. If I saw one of these falcons hunting in the gorge I would lose my shit.

My companion got hurt

He complained of “debilitating pain” in his toes on the many descents over rock-strewn parts of the trail. I waited as he improvised by stuffing gloves into the toe section of his shoes. Inexplicably, he had worn steel-toed shoes.

Shortly after this he fell and cut his hand right at the knuckle where a vein was split open and bled profusely onto his light-colored jacket. He struggled to apply pressure properly, continually disrupting the coagulation process while accusing me of leading him on an extra-long leg of the trail that he didn’t know about.

I made a few mistakes. Next time, I will judge the physical conditioning of my trail buddy beforehand, and err on the side of caution because of the risks of being out there during covid and wintertime. I will state specifically what gear and clothing they should bring. I will do a quick readiness check before we even leave the city. And during the hike, I will continually communicate where we are at. I won’t make the assumption that they saw and understood the trail markers and maps that I did.

Lastly, I will be more patient when a buddy is flailing, and I will put blame aside.

We got enchiladas once back in town

They were OK. I think once the pandemic is over I’ll continue to avoid eating out. Because most bars and restaurants suck at their jobs and serve you crap.

Dear City of Portland,

I live in North Portland and according to city maps, I am surrounded on both sides of the peninsula by heavy industrial polluters. These industrial sites are mixed in closely with dense housing. On top of that, I live near Lombard Street and the constant vehicle exhaust from diesel and poorly maintained gasoline engines. Diesel defeat devices and large fuel-guzzling trucks and SUVs are rampant in my neighborhood. I also endured the wildfire smoke of fall 2020.

I check current air quality daily at IQAir.com. On many days this year and last, I have limited my outdoor activities because of the bad Portland air. I am fortunate to be a healthy adult. But I would never raise a child in this city for fear of developmental problems, childhood cancer, and asthma.

I believe the current air quality standards are already too lenient, and we will look back decades from now and wonder why we traded respiratory health and got nothing in return.

I think immediate action on every source of air pollution is needed in Portland.

Healthy climate fee:

$25 per ton of GHG is completely reasonable for this huge amount of emissions. In fact, treating the air we breathe as an open sewer should be much more expensive for polluters. What if it cost only $25 to dump a ton of liquid waste into the Willamette River? Please move forward with this fee.

Clean Air Protection Fee:

I believe this would help to reduce local substantial hazardous air pollution.

I believe much current air pollution occurs because there is very little cost to it. The costs of air pollution are externalized, and it is considered acceptable to treat the air above us as an open sewer. In addition, fuel is cheap. This is why you see vast fields of idling rail cars, idling construction machinery, and inefficient building practices. By putting a greater cost on pollution, behavior will change without much of an economic impact. Fees such as this are straightforward and they serve to organize many smaller decisions to reduce the overall amount of air pollution.

Please move forward with the proposed fees, and consider raising them further.

Thank you for reading my comment and prioritizing environmental and human health,
Mr P.P. Poopenfarten III

Comment at https://www.portland.gov/bps/climate-action/healthy-climate by 08 Jan 2021. See the excellent work being done by Neighbors for Clean Air.

I visited coastal Long Beach, Washington for a puppy play date.

The breed is called a silken windhound, and it’s a relatively new breed. The dog belongs to my friend, and she reunites with her siblings regularly.

This visit was special. There were 3 littermates present, along with two borzois, which are a large, elegant breed of dog with a loping gait that provided the genetic raw material (along with whippets) of the silken windhound breed.

These dogs engaged in pure play and exploration for three hours straight. They were inexhaustible (or they were too excited to notice their exhaustion).

We checked out sights in Astoria. This town at the mouth of the Columbia River impressed me with the way the infrastructure wraps around the estuary. It’s much bigger than the coastal specks of a town that I had visited. We took in the bridges, the city tower, and the stately oceangoing ships.

On the beach I enjoyed watching the sandpipers, the gulls, and the fragments of crabs, jellyfish and molluscs. I sat at the tree that marked the westernmost point that Lewis and Clark reached in their expedition. I ran in the grassy dunes with the five dogs as they went BERSERK.

On the long drive back I learned more about the family tragedies that have punctuated my friend’s past. I also learned of the slower-burning problems – the difficult, tangled ones.

I look for people who will expand my horizons, who will broaden my view of the world. These individuals are the ones I will take with all my heart, who I will embrace into my future, as long as they will be with me in special natural places and at special times.

When we got back to town we enjoyed an eggnog/bourbon cocktail by my fire while we stroked the soft brindle fur of the spent dog.

In the past week I’ve seen:

• A full-grown aspen tree (in a park) chopped down for firewood
• A burned-out USPS mailbox with a large pile of ashes that would have been people’s holiday letters and gifts
• Sparkling new motorcycles and lawn equipment next to the piles of wet garbage outside their tents
• General shouting and unsettling interactions with the more unhinged ones

Is it the cold weather? The pandemic? The holidays? I don’t know, I just keep safe as best I can.