2019-20 - Oregon - it never snows here and when it does, it sucks

[::: :::]

I'm predicting resort quotas & really busy backcountry this season
(sigh)

[mall walker]

sup PNW people. I might be moving to PDX pretty soon (< 1 year)... anyone have any thoughts/tips on what part of the city to look at? I'm not expecting to ski every day but wouldn't mind being within rideable distance of some at least dirt-road type biking stuff. Forest Park? Anything else? Where is nice... we'll be selling our house here and buying a house, and the plan is to stay at least til our daughter's in high school (she is minus 1 month right now)

nothing's set in stone but this seems firmly to be the plan, so I'm getting the research process started now... any tips / links to reading / whatever else appreciated. thanks mags

[::: :::]

we all end up driving an hour to get to dirt road stuff if you're in portland proper
Forest Park is an enjoyable in-city option but will get old as the only option
does work keep you near downtown? beaverton? work from home?
is school district most important?

[mall walker]

we all end up driving an hour to get to dirt road stuff if you're in portland proper
Forest Park is an enjoyable in-city option but will get old as the only option
does work keep you near downtown? beaverton? work from home?
is school district most important?

my work is flexible, but wife will likely wanna be reasonable-commutable from downtown. schools matter, as does recreation. but a fair bit of flexibility. are the city schools decent?

[::: :::]

my work is flexible, but wife will likely wanna be reasonable-commutable from downtown. schools matter, as does recreation. but a fair bit of flexibility. are the city schools decent?

in the right neighborhoods, yes

lmk if you need local realtor or somesuch -- i'd like to think i'm some kind of local expert but they will have a way better pulse on homes/neighborhoods etc
i'm happy to chat in evening some time if that's an easier way to ask questions etc

[puma]

my work is flexible, but wife will likely wanna be reasonable-commutable from downtown. schools matter, as does recreation. but a fair bit of flexibility. are the city schools decent?

I have just moved away, but was there for 15 years. Schools are better in the suburbs. Good PPS schools are there, but you will pay more to live in the boundary. We lived in Northeast Portland and loved it being close to amenities and being in a very walkable neighborhood. Easy access to downtown. Better to get to Hood, the Gorge, and Central Oregon than westside\suburbs. As for dirt, perhaps I did not try hard enough being spoiled with a bunch of time in Central Oregon and being lazy...but Portland is not great for dirt to ride nearby. Sandy Ridge and Post Canyon to the east are the closest "good" stuff, with Bend 3 hours away for many more good options.

[TBS]

Forest Park is an enjoyable in-city option but will get old as the only option

Wildwood at night, with lights, never got old...
And there used to be some decent singletrack off Rocky point Road in Scappoose. Can’t remember which timber company owned the land but they were cool.

But yea, otherwise you gotta drive a bunch to find dirt

[Huskier]

With Bend 3 hours away for many more sandy, flat, boring options.

FTFY

If you have 3 hours to burn to drive, head south. Oakridge, Blackrock, Umpqua. I'll warn you though if you make it that far you may never come back.

[Huskier]

sup PNW people. I might be moving to PDX pretty soon (< 1 year)... anyone have any thoughts/tips on what part of the city to look at? I'm not expecting to ski every day but wouldn't mind being within rideable distance of some at least dirt-road type biking stuff. Forest Park? Anything else? Where is nice... we'll be selling our house here and buying a house, and the plan is to stay at least til our daughter's in high school (she is minus 1 month right now)

nothing's set in stone but this seems firmly to be the plan, so I'm getting the research process started now... any tips / links to reading / whatever else appreciated. thanks mags

Leif Erikson is Gravel Grinder heaven but Tbh the Forest Park Karens of Portland are so anti-bike that rad techy trails that would otherwise be killer are firmly no-go. Also, if you're a roady, and can swing living in NW hills, some of the best neighborhood riding anyone could ask for. If you're a commoner like the rest of us, anywhere within the square of Prescott, I-5, Division, and like...70th. ...is basically the same neighborhood, with different street names...

[Supermoon]

Leif is ok, I do it like once every couple weeks but it gets old. I’ve been doing some dirt laps up Mt Tabor lately to get a little more variety in. Some of the Firelanes that are bike friendly can be fun, but there’s only like four or five of those.

There’s a bunch of stuff w/in like 30-40 mins for gravel. Mtb is what everyone’s been saying with some lift-served options on Hood.

Don’t know much about schools cause I don’t have kids, but SE is cool in the right spots and it’s closer to Hood than the west hills. I’m in Sellwood and I can get to Ski Bowl in a little over an hour. 90 mins to Meadows. Lots of good deals in Milwaukee right now on houses just south of town.

Just got my official dirt pimp card if you need any help.

[mall walker]

right on, thanks everyone. I don’t mind gravel grinding / dirt roads fwiw, just would rather not ride exclusively paved city roads (or bike paths). I expect to drive to mtb. I also am known to get up at 4am and get my thing on in full dark with 1500Lm+ lights so I’m not so worried about the karens, as long as biking is permitted anyway.

is the nearby (less than 1.5hrs driving) ski touring basically just hood / st. helens, or are there lower elevation ridges / spots that hold enough snow to bother with?

[::: :::]

for proximity to get outside, hood r. is a better locale
but the need to be in pdx may trump that

[::: :::]

is the nearby (less than 1.5hrs driving) ski touring basically just hood / st. helens, or are there lower elevation ridges / spots that hold enough snow to bother with?

https://www.google.com/books/edition...sec=frontcover

[TBS]

right on, thanks everyone. I don’t mind gravel grinding / dirt roads fwiw, just would rather not ride exclusively paved city roads (or bike paths). I expect to drive to mtb. I also am known to get up at 4am and get my thing on in full dark with 1500Lm+ lights so I’m not so worried about the karens, as long as biking is permitted anyway.

is the nearby (less than 1.5hrs driving) ski touring basically just hood / st. helens, or are there lower elevation ridges / spots that hold enough snow to bother with?

If the bolded part was directed at my comment about Wildwood, that trail is sort of technically closed to bikes...that's why it's best at night...

for proximity to get outside, hood r. is a better locale
but the need to be in pdx may trump that

This.
You don't have to go all the way to Hood River though. Cascade Locks is about 45 minutes from downtown Portland, so 15 minutes closer. Also consider the Washington side of the river - Camas, Stevenson, Skamania are all closer to Portland than Hood River or Bingen.
OTOH when the Gorge ices up commute times increase substantially.

[Supermoon]

If the bolded part was directed at my comment about Wildwood, that trail is sort of technically closed to bikes...that's why it's best at night...



This.
You don't have to go all the way to Hood River though. Cascade Locks is about 45 minutes from downtown Portland, so 15 minutes closer. Also consider the Washington side of the river - Camas, Stevenson, Skamania are all closer to Portland than Hood River or Bingen.
OTOH when the Gorge ices up commute times increase substantially.

I wouldn’t wish commuting into PDX from Washington on anyone but my worst enemies.

[Skier of the Hood]

is the nearby (less than 1.5hrs driving) ski touring basically just hood / st. helens, or are there lower elevation ridges / spots that hold enough snow to bother with?

Lots of tours in the area are recorded here, some that are not in the book.
https://turns-all-year.com/trip-repo...tr&task=search

Although really the area is quite limited outside the volcanoes if it is a bad snow year. Sometimes though that means you can get creative going farther afield to take advantage of logging road access on such things as Jefferson Park, Goat Rocks, or winter ascents of Adams.

[river59]

Lived in Skamania county for awhile. Nice quiet rural area somewhat close to PDX. Close to lots of recreation. Schools = no bueno. Commuting through the gorge in winter = no bueno. If your wife has flexibility to stay home when freezing levels are swinging around then she could avoid it.

Hood and Saint Helens are close enough to PDX and have lots of opportunities for year round turns. Adams is a bit farther and has limited access in Winter and early Spring without a sled, but it is my volcano of choice when you can get to it.

In a good snow year, the opportunity exists for interesting skiing, mostly XCish, in the gorge.

If access to resorts is important and you want to be close to PDX, I would try to stay east of downtown.

[OregonDead]

Chemeketa Community College wine program is having a pretty good sale rn. https://www.chemeketacellars.com/Wines extra $2 off per bottle starts when you get to a case and that is on top of the summer sale price. I stopped in today to pick up a couple cases after picking up a mixed case the other day to taste.

Also we are into the last few days of Palmer. Who is going up? Been a fast summer (I've mostly skied days after cold nights though like last Saturday tho) I'll probably make it up for last call if not sooner

[river59]

Also we are into the last few days of Palmer. Who is going up? Been a fast summer (I've mostly skied days after cold nights though like last Saturday tho) I'll probably make it up for last call if not sooner

Might be in for some 8/31 into 9/1 overnight weirdness to fulfill turns all year nonsense. Seems like things have dried up earlier than normal this year. I would be interested in a conditions report if anyone heads up before then.

[powdrhound]

Palmer has the least amount of snow of any of my August days here.
Closing day is Sunday 8/30.

[Hood26]

Great summer on Palmer. It was awesome to watch so many talented racers and freestyle skiers from Team USA.

[SchralphMacchio]

right on, thanks everyone. I don’t mind gravel grinding / dirt roads fwiw, just would rather not ride exclusively paved city roads (or bike paths). I expect to drive to mtb. I also am known to get up at 4am and get my thing on in full dark with 1500Lm+ lights so I’m not so worried about the karens, as long as biking is permitted anyway.

is the nearby (less than 1.5hrs driving) ski touring basically just hood / st. helens, or are there lower elevation ridges / spots that hold enough snow to bother with?

The answer for raising a kid with good schools and better access to recreation is Eugene ... with a snomo. Touring access down here midwinter sucks balls without one (and I’ll never get one, so, yeah it’s a 1:45 flight to SLC, arrive at 9 am MST, have old friends pick you up when you land and you’ll be half way up White Pine by 11 am) ... but the Doo (Hoodoo) is one of the best family oriented ski resorts for young children that I’ve ever seen. Before the shutdown I randomly found myself drinking beer with 4 other dads around the fireplace while our wives were out skiing (all different groups), our kids in various stages of passed out, playing with the life size board games, in the arcade, or on their own electronic devices. Tables with AC outlets for your crockpot full of animal or vegan chili simmering all morning. It’s worth the micro terrain being down there as it makes parenting and skiing pretty workable.

Spring / summer / fall down here are the bomb though ... endless camping hiking and MTB up the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette drainages. MTB access within 1 hour of Eug is world class btw, but access in less than 30 mins sucks balls (at least until we get our city MTB park in the south hills in the next couple of years).

EUG is probably not something your wife can swing for work, but I thought I’d plant mental seeds for you anyways.

A preemptive welcome to the newborn parenting and PNW life!

PS, stuff costs more in PDX than SLC, and paychecks aren’t usually comparably higher than SLC - your home equity exchange won’t be even close to 1:1 unless you get an hour away from PDX. A small 1930’s craftsman in a decent but property crime afflicted northeast Portland neighborhood will likely still run for more than a modern 4/2 house in upper Olympus highland area that never sees as much as stolen glass recyclables from the recycling bin (sorry if I fucked up the neighborhood name, I know them all just don’t know what they are called heh). Also, PDX traffic is very real and very much sucks balls going the wrong way at the wrong time. It might be offset a bit (vastly improved from pre pandemic levels) in the near term with all the work from home shift that’s happened, but I’m not optimistic for the next 20 years that the local infrastructure plans will keep up with increasing demand and development in the region. Good transit planning simply can’t outsmart terrain topography and low property taxes in Washington state vs high property taxes in Multnomah County ... Keep that in mind for your location planning.

[SchralphMacchio]

Mag check in —
Everyone in fire zones doing okay? Any refugees? Anyone need anything?

Close calls and battle tales to tell?

I’m thankful Eugene was spared on Monday night - lots of unchecked grassland, invasive species buildup, huge stands of dead/diseased fuel loads around Eugene Ridgeline / Amazon Headwaters.

[muted]

I wouldn’t wish commuting into PDX from Washington on anyone but my worst enemies.

Supermoo is/was a local, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt....but my sister lives above Camus and her husband works near the airport. She has trails a block from her house (mainly running trails that criss-cross everywhere, but not designed for MTB or on Trailforks), and some small lakes 5 minutes away nearby to run around or kayak in. North of her, not far is the Cold Creek complex. I went biking there a couple times. Lotsa dirt roads to criss-cross, some MTB trails are fun, and maybe there is some novelty skiing somewhat beyond there for a month or two in winter? It's real red-necky back on those dirt roads but quick access is decent. Maybe theres some less travelled gems out there, maybe it's just target practice and 4x4 heaven, I dunno.

I lived in PDX for a summer, it kinda bummed me out how long I had to drive for most things after work. Camus has a big paper mill in town, so it's not a quaint small town, but above that it's OK. But it's not remotely like living in PDX for quick access to great restaurants, music and rioting.

[jonesy]

Coming to your town soon, all of it.