Jerry and Ben's Halloween Contest

 Hiya Gang.

Little Fox, Navy and Cocoa Beanie here taking a break from hiking to work on our entry for Jerry and Ben's contest. 
Let's see what LF did last year....oh yeah the Candy Corn Cocktail.  It was disgusting.  Bleh.

2022 submission is missing (Sekrebeary issues of course).  

2021 was the costume "Twins"  and a healthy Halloween snack from Reindeer Coyote.

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However, this year we think we might have our most tasty treat yet - Homemade Pumpkin Ice Cream (ok, ice cream is a stretch, it's a banana based "nice" cream, but this year the treat we made actually tastes good.  

Start off by getting quality ingredients.  Real maple syrup was key.  Cocoa said imitation vanilla extract would work.  I have learned that no one argues with Cocoa Beanie when it comes to cooking. 

 

Of course you need bananas.  We used 3 frozen bananas and 1 brown banana. 

You need to have pumpkin for pumpkin ice cream. Cocoa says canned will do.

Whirl it up in the food processor. 

Freeze and enjoy with your pals.  

Blog world wish us luck with our entry, we are going for the gold this year in the snack category.

Note to judges: Making a dessert is in no way trying to gain favor with Judge Jerry (however if it does gain favor then we'll take any advantage we can get).

Chanterelles are in season.

 Hiya Gang,

Navy and Cocoa here - Little Fox took us mushroom hunting today.  What a haul we got!!!!  

Two mice and a mountain

 Hiya Gang,
Cocoa and Navy here.  Little Fox is "resting" today after a long night of partying.  Us mice decided to go hiking ourselves.  A pretty amazing fall day on Mt. Hood. 

Water is flowing nicely in the waterfalls. 

Appreciate the sustainability feature of this sign, reusing the other side makes so much sense. 

Take it from here Navy.  
Ok Cocoa, found another waterfall along the trail.  Later on in the hike but maybe the same river?  Hopefully we can find a view of the mountain and a nice picnic spot. 

When the mention of food is involved Sequoia gets pretty serious about the hike. 

Great job team, found a nice spot with a view of the mountain. Some grass, a little sun and the roommates brought along cheese for us mice. 

It was hard to miss the mountain today - even from the ski lift areas it was out and in full show.

Finally, something to post about!

Navy and Cocoa here, and today Little Fox took us back out to the gorge and we went to Tracy Hill.  LF took us  there a while back when the flowers were blooming and the grass was greener. Navy found Mt. Hood but barely see it.

Sequoia wanted to be in this picture with Navy.

Navy found the old Corral.  Little fox says it's one of his favorite spots.

Little fox and Cocoa are hanging out in the backpack…Navy is the more adventurous stuffy today.

Eventually after lunch Cocoa decided to come out and switch spots with Navy.  After the hike, none of the animals could be found as it was snack time and they each got their own cookie to munch on.

More real PCT and a new budding bartender in the blogger world

Good day blog gang.

Cocoa here (do you see the PCT marker in the background)?  Navy, Little Fox and I are doing more hiking near Mt. Ashland looking for sweeping vistas (not today....thanks wildfire smoke) and lots of flowers.

Navy stumbled across a little trail magic on the PCT today.

Coolers full of soda (shasta brand - ironic since we can see Mt. Shasta), some LaCroix and a logbook.

In previous years Little Fox has found boxes of apples, granola bars, beers, and coolers of soda.

The trail angel also set up some yard chairs, the gang likes this one as they can put their tired feet up and relax. 

The flowers on the PCT are doing well, today our hike was chosen by Navy Beanie.  Grouse Gap to Siskiyou Summit (and beyond).

The trail calls - Navy must go.

We made it to Siskiyou summit and what a nice view.  360 degrees and on a non-smokey day you can see everything.  Oregon, California, Lakes, Mountains etc.

On our way back Navy mentioned he signed up for a class at a local winery that was happening today.  

Apparently it's been a dream of Navy's to be an amateur bartender.  From the looks of things it seems he has two customers who are ready to enjoy a glass or two of wine.

A trip down south

 Hiya Gang,

Little Fox and crew (Navy and Cocoa Beanie) here as we take a short walk around the Willamette River ner Eugene Oregon on our trip south.  This is the Defazio Bridge, named after a long time representative.  It's for walking, scootters, bikes, and other non motorized (ie cars) wheeled transportation.

The Defazio Bridge is ok but the real part of this trip is hiking on the real PCT while working on the virtual PCT.

Cocoa is starting us out on the the PCT near Mt. Ashland ski resort.

This trail section of the PCT is pretty flat and our destination is Grouse Gap.

A ton of the state is on fire but the smoke was kind enough to 

The Flowers are out (albeit if we were here 3 weeks before the flower show would be amazing). 

The Grouse Gap shelter was a great place to have a snack. They have picnic tables, a fire pit (can't use now because of the aforementioned state being on fire) but in the winter they usually keep a little fire going on the weekends so the cross country skiers have a warm place to relax.

Where to next?

Working on the virtual PCT via the real PCT.

 Hiya Gang,
As you may know Sandy and I are working on our virtual PCT challenge.  We've been plugging away at the hiking yet we're still in California.  Last time I checked we are nearing Lake Tahoe.

Since it's such a nice summer day the gang and I (Navy, Cocoa, Sequoia) decided to do a little hiking on the real PCT.  Today's destination is Upper and Lower Twin Lakes near Mt. Hood.  The lakes are accessible off of a side trail from the PCT but we still get some PCT miles in so that's cool.

Too early for Huckleberries (a wild berry that has had no luck in being grown commercially- don't get the roommate started on Huckleberies or we'll never finish this post) so it's a nice treat when its found in the wild (also super expensive to buy...almost double of Copper River Salmon).

Bark, whoof, whoof (translation: enough chit chat, let's go).

The PCT is a pretty amazing trail.  This fox has hiked portions of it in Oregon, Washington and some near Lake Tahoe.  Any hike along the PCT almosts guarantees some amazing scenery.

Here's the turnoff.

Eventually made it to the lakes.  Upper Twin Lake was quieter (we were there earlier) but the hordes of people were arriving.

Luckily, we started early and missed most of the folks at Upper Twin Lake.  So pretty.

Off to Lower Twin Lake (an easier hike).  It was much busier and there were all types of hikers (people were carrying innertubes up the trail to Lower Twin Lake.  

Us animals didn't get any pictures at Lower Twin Lake.  Sequoia insisted on walking around the lake and when he puts his paws down there is no stopping him.  Of course, the human left lunch in the car so the roommate got hangry and no pictures for us.

Good news for us Mice and Fox (we snuck Tillamook Cheese with us as our lunch).