Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Spencer's Butte

Peter E.

January 23, 2010 - 5:35 PM

I groggily opened my shutters this morning to be greeted by a beautiful sunny day. It's been rainy in Eugene the last couple weeks, and the west coast has been hit with record storms. My dad reported to me that back home Flagstaff, AZ has gotten four feet of snow in the last four days! Luckily for us, though, we were treated to blue sky.

I was bombarded with texts as soon as I climbed out of bed with offers to throw the football and go for a bike ride. It's beautiful that my friends (mostly native Oregonians) value good weather. Coming from Phoenix it's easy to take blue skies for granted, but in Eugene I've learned to appreciate and take full advantage of sunny days. There's always a sense of urgency to be outside when we're blessed with nice weather, especially on winter days.

Thus, it was not long before we decided to climb Spencer's Butte. My roommates, friends, and I piled into the car and sped off to the trailhead. Most people summit Spencer's from the west side of the Butte, but we prefer to do the longer 4-mile round trip hike from the east side (off of Fox Hollow Road). On this occasion we made the right choice because there were many folks climbing from the other side (we were greeted by a hoard of hikers as we scrambled up towards the summit). At last, we reached the summit and perched ourselves atop a rock that overlooked the entire Willamette Valley.

The valley was wonderfully clear, and we could see as far as the Three Sisters to the east, Albany to the north, and the Coastal Range to the west. Red Tailed hawks circled around us, adding to the picturesque natural scenery. We sat atop the Butte for a long while talking and enjoying the day, and finally we reluctantly made the descent back to the car.

As the sun sets the clouds slowly creep back over Eugene, but at least the day was a success. Though short lived, the day was just a taste of what's to come in the spring.