It's a rare thing to go into the depths of hell and return uplifted, but if you enter Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America, with respect and an open mind, that's what you'll experience.

I've never been one to climb mountains just to say I've been there. For me, mountains are powerful metaphors, so I always approach them with forethought and intent.

What is it about water that lifts the human spirit?

Monday's hike along the upper McCloud River in far Northern California begins with a detour. We're going to start at Lower Falls and hike about three miles upstream to Lakin Dam, passing Middle Falls and Upper Falls on the way.

Known more as a hiking, horseback riding or mountain bike trail, the North Umpqua Trail, east of Roseburg, is starting to draw quite a few nature-loving runners.

It pays to keep your eyes on the trail — even when it's a well-established path like the Upper Rogue River Trail. But sometimes that's not quite enough. You have to make sure you're watching the right trail.

The story has been told many times.

It isn't easy hiding a waterfall that has been called Oregon's Niagara or Yosemite, but somehow we do.

The hike begins in the hush of a redwood cathedral and ends in the crashing surf. From dripping ferns, singing streams and frolicking elk to barking sea lions, clouds of pelicans and, if you're lucky, spouting whales and prancing porpoise pods.

MERLIN — The Rogue Valley Sporting Clays Association will host "New Shooters Fun Day" Saturday at its Merlin range to give beginning and novice shotgunners a chance to test-drive the association's range.

Late last summer a cluster of lightning strikes ignited a series of blazes in and around the Sky Lakes Wilderness that burned about 21,000 acres. One of the fires in that complex burned across the Red Blanket Trail, a high-mountain path that skirts the border between Crater Lake National Park and the Sky Lakes.

Standing atop Hobart Bluff, I'm reminded of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo — Mount Taylor, the San Francisco Peaks, Mount Hesperus and Blanca Peak — marking the traditional boundaries of the tribe's territory in the Southwest.

The Oregon Recreation Trails Advisory Council is accepting nominations for its Doug Newman Recreation Trails Achievement Award honoring the state's leading trail builders.

From the bluffs, filled with grasses, Douglas irises and seashore lupines, the horizon stretches to a panorama of headlands, sand, offshore rocks and ocean. The clouds have broken for a moment, revealing streaks of blue behind thinning puffs of gray. Along the beach, a few dots move slowly across the sand — people braving the uncertain weather to take in the bracing sea air, the calls of shorebirds and the steady roar of the breakers.

JACKSONVILLE — A dream to link the trail systems in Jacksonville and Ashland is germinating among local hiking enthusiasts.

I stand in a cluster of wildflowers — shooting stars, scarlet fritillaries and larkspurs — their violets, reds and purples dappling the gray-tan ground in a forest of Oregon white oaks. It is mid-spring, the air is cool, and I am walking with a bounce in my step at last.

It might be the most fun and educational recreation in the Rogue Valley that you can do for free, it only takes an hour and a half and you walk away with new eyes for seeing nature.

WHITE CITY — Tiffanie Phariss took a little mud in her eye so a few Chiroptera could enjoy their version of the American dream.

I am out of breath from the climb, a cold breeze whipping across my face.

There is no perfect hiking guide. I've looked long and hard, and have yet to find one that isn't flawed in some way. But there are some good ones for Southern Oregon, all of them like old friends to me. When I moved here 20 years ago, they were my first hiking companions, and they have proven to be a likable and easygoing bunch, full of practical advice.