Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2021 | 1B
OUTDOORS
IT’S A BLAST
Shotgun Creek features beautiful winter hike near Eugene
Adam Sawyer Special to Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
The following is an excerpt from “Best Easy Day Hikes Salem and Eugene,” by Adam Sawyer, which will be available April 1.
T
he Shotgun Creek Recreation site is located about an hour and fifteen minute drive southeast of Salem in the Cascade
foothills. The site boasts 6.5 miles of hiking trails within the 20 acres of developed day-use area, to go along with 260
acres of undeveloped forest. It is a perfect melding of urban park amenities with an out-of-town, temperate coniferous
rainforest experience. h The creek is remarkably scenic, the woods are lush, and the trails are very well cared for and a
joy to hike. It can be a bit of a muddy track in the rainy season, but nothing proper footwear can’t overcome. And because of its
location, the site doesn’t get a ton of visitors in the off-season. Show up on a sunny winter weekday and you might not encounter
another human soul. There are a number of hiking options available thanks to a network of interconnecting loops. A great way to
explore much of what the site has to offer is by connecting the Shotgun Creek and Tiki Trail Loops for a 3.4-mile hike that tours the
breadth of the day-use area. See HIKE, Page 2B
Shotgun Creek Recreation area between Salem and Eugene features some beautiful rainy season hiking options. PHOTO BY ADAM SAWYER
The indoor camping annoyances
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
Day 10 with no power.
My camping analogy in the past
week’s column still stands: In bed before
8:30 because of the dark and dropping
thermometer, using sunrise as the wa-
keup call, boiling water to make instant
coffee (although a similar powerless
friend said he uses the outlet in his truck
to use the coffee grinder).
Among the 100-plus neighbors in the
same black hole, according to the PGE re-
corded information line, we actually have
it better than many.
We have a gas stove and water heater,
so we can cook and take hot showers. A
neighbor down the next block whose
power came back yesterday was cooking
on a camp stove on his porch and show-
ering at a friend’s house.
And we have a decorative gas fireplace
in the living room.
Note that I said “decorative.”
Without power to run the blower, it in-
efficiently heats about 6 feet into the
west end of the living room, with the heat
slowly diffusing through the house until
it hits about 2 degrees above the outdoor
temperature in both of the bedrooms.
On the plus side, you can warm your
hands on the glass tile facing on the fire-
place for about a half-hour after turning it
off to let the metal cool.
The things that you don’t think about
when you’re actually camping in the
great outdoors are the light and the
damp.
See MILLER, Page 2B
Crews work to restore power on
Delaney Road Southeast on Tuesday,
Feb. 16, 2021 near Turner, Oregon.
ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL