#northwest adventure

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE FILM 

An Adventure Film by Shawn Bannon
Shot in Oregon and Washington. We traveled to our favorite film locations fromThe Shining and Twin Peaks. Hiking around the volcanos of the Cascade Mountains. Then backpacked in the Hoh Rainforest where we unknowingly slept near a herd of Roosevelt Elk.

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is massive, a massive volcano. It’s covered by 25 major glaciers and numerous unnamed snow / ice patches. At 14,410ft elevation you can see it from Seattle which is about 60 miles away as the raven flies. We packed some Pizza Pi Vegan Pizza and Mighty-O Vegan Donuts for this alpine adventure. My wife crossed her first glacier on this trip. It was steep with a drop off at the bottom if you fell. You probably wouldn’t die if you fell but you could get pretty beat up. It was a bit unnerving. We brought crampons but I didn’t think we’d be hitting anything this steep so we didn’t pack ice axes. An adventurous family with younger kids about 11, 8, and 5 were also doing this section and they were completely unprepared. The five year old was carried across, the eight year old did splendid and the eleven year old cried the entire way. It took all of us about 30 minutes to cross a 200ft section. It was terrifying to watch him because he easily could of fallen and slid down the ice but he made it. We all made it. We ended our Mount Rainer expedition with some delicious Mighty-O Donuts. It was a joyous beautiful day.

Northwest Adventure Post 01: Portland

Northwest Adventure Post 02: Mount Hood

Northwest Adventure Post 03: Hoh Rainforest 

Northwest Adventure Post 04: Elks of Hoh Rainforest

Northwest Adventure Post 05: Hurricane Ridge

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: Hurricane Ridge

We hiked Hurricane Ridge and down to the Elwha River Restoration in Olympic National Park. It’s inspiring to see a dam that has been completely removed and with such great success. The restoration is still in full swing and the salmon are finally swimming upstream for the first time in a century. 

On our hike we made some tasty vegan BLTA’s while we had a gorgeous view of  the glaciers in Olympic National Park. Just a couple posts left from one of my favorite adventures.

Northwest Adventure Post 01: Portland

Northwest Adventure Post 02: Mount Hood

Northwest Adventure Post 03: Hoh Rainforest 

Northwest Adventure Post 04: Elks of Hoh Rainforest

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: ELKS OF HOH RAINFOREST  

It was a beautiful morning in the Hoh Rainforest. We woke up and had oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast, then we quickly packed up our backpacks to hike out. As we wandered slowly through the forest we heard some noises in the bushes. Alix was the first to notice him. It was what I had been wanting to see for years, a Bull Elk about 50 yards off in the distance. He was partially obstructed by humungous trees but as he pranced away we could see his enormous size. The moment was too precious and I didn’t bother taking out my camera. I was just happy to be here. We waited about five or so minutes to see if he would reappear but he never did. We continued our stroll through the forest admiring the trees, mushrooms, banana slugs and droplets of rain. At this moment we were clueless to the fact that we were surrounded by a herd of Roosevelt elk. They slowly revealed themselves to us as we hiked through the forest. We were ever so quiet, moving in slow motion and rather delicately. If you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings you could easily not see a single elk at least until they were completely blocking the trail. When we finally realized that we were completely surrounded by we were in complete shock. It was just too cool.  Leaning just a little to your left or to your right  could reveal dozens of elk, that’s how hidden most of them were. We stood there in awe surrounded by babies, youngins and females. Then a massive bull elk lifted his head right in front of us, we were twenty feet away. It took my wife about a minute to even notice him because just one tree blocked her entire view of him. I slowly inched her over until she could clearly see him, then I took a few photos as he checked us out. As he slowly wandered away the elk bugling began. It was magical, a moment in time that I will never want to forget.

Northwest Adventure Post 01: Portland

Northwest Adventure Post 02: Mount Hood

Northwest Adventure Post 03: Hoh Rainforest 

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: HOH RAINFOREST 

We made it to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park and I have very little to say because this was way beyond anything I could of imagined.

We backpacked into the Hoh Rainforest and found the most beautiful campsite right along the river. We were the only humans in sight. Deer and Elk were amongst us along with a lot of cute little creatures and mushrooms which call the forest home. A light rain sprinkled on our tent in the middle of the night and gave us the full treat of being in this peaceful forest.

We watched the sunset while eating my new favorite backpacking food, vegan stroganoff from Leahey Foods which we had picked up at Food Fight! vegan grocery. The adventure continues next week with more Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge, Twin Peaks and the grand finale will be Mount Rainier. Time to get out there and explore.

Northwest Adventure Post 01: Portland

Northwest Adventure Post 02: Mount Hood

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: MOUNT HOOD

We’ve always wanted to check out the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. We knew that once we were in the pacific northwest we could hit up our favorite restaurants and check out some beautiful areas that we’d never been to before. My wife and I first stopped in Portland and gathered supplies at Food Fight, next we got vegan tarts and quiches to go from Back to Eden Vegan Bakery. Will filled up our backpacks and headed to the massive volcano formerly known as Wy'east.

First and foremost Mount Hood is awesome in the fall. It was very quiet and we only saw a handful of people all day. We were pleasantly surprised at the tranquility of Mount Hood. I’m sure we went at that time of year where the crowds are snuggling up inside.

The Overlook Hotel which goes by Timberline Lodge, had very similar  weather to the opening of The Shining. They were getting ready for the winter and all the last minute repairs were being done before the big snowstorms land. The Timberline Lodge was used for the exteriors in  The Shining, primarily the opening helicopter shot and a few exterior shots scattered throughout the film. Stanley Kubrick had the entire interior and part of the exterior built on a soundstage in England. It was quite a treat to see the location from one of my favorite films. 

Checking out cool movie locations is fun but what you always find out is how filmmakers reframe and reimagine real locations. The true gems are the areas we stumbled upon when aimlessly hiking around the Overlook Hotel. For example Mirror Lake was breathtaking and a perfect place to relax and have lunch. Little Zigzag falls was lush and beautiful and our first taste of the temperate rainforests that rest on Mount Hood. 

I highly recommend you copy this trip. I know we will be doing this again and again. After Mount Hood we head up to Washington to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park for some backpacking. Check back in a few days for my latest post on this Northwest Adventure. And if you haven’t seen my first post click below.

Northwest Adventure Post 01: Portland

NORTHWEST ADVENTURE: PORTLAND

Recently my wife and I went on a camping, hiking and backpacking adventure in the Pacific Northwest. Our First stop was Portland to hit up some of our favorite hang outs such as Food Fight!, Sweetpea Bakery, The Bye and Bye, Back to Eden Bakery and we’d try out A.N.D Cafe for the first time. This was our first time back to Portland after getting engaged here in 2010.

We got to Portland, hit up Vita Cafe for breakfast and stocked up on some backpacking supplies at Food Fight!, treats from Sweetpea and savory tarts to go from Back to Eden for our trip out to Mount Hood. We were about to check out the Overlook Hotel from The Shining which rests upon the volcano which was once called Wy'east. After exploring Mount Hood we’d be back to Portland to spend the night. Then it’s up to Washington to explore Olympic National Park, Seattle, Snoqualmie Falls from Twin Peaks and Mount Rainier National Park. Stay tuned later this week for my upcoming posts on the rest of this adventure.

Vita Cafe: Vegan Sloppy Biscuit Sandwich and Tofurkey Florentine

Sweetpea Bakery: Vegan Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich and a Chocolate filled Croissant in the background.

A.N.D. Cafe: Vegan Feast Waffle stuffed with housemade vegan sausage. Full Nest, 3 hashbrown nests. herb tofu, vegan sausage with a biscuit.