What AI thinks of the WyEast Blog of late…. uncanny accuracy!

The crickets are chirping and (AI-generated) tumbleweeds are rolling around the WyEast Blog this fall, so I thought I’d post an overdue update: the blog lives! Just a bit behind on posts.

First off, some personal news: I’ll be retiring after 40 years in public service at the end of this month! I surely never planned to work this long, but I’ve been gifted with a job I love, an amazing agency to be part of for 33 of those years and with a team of co-workers who have become like family, many whom I have worked with for decades. Most every day is rewarding and fun, and for that I feel stupid fortunate!

Young punk in the 90s in luxury window cube…. This was weekend attire, by the way. The internet hadn’t been invented just yet, so working overtime mean a trip into the office, typically on Saturday mornings. Lots of museum pieces on my desk – notably, Kodak slide trays and a preview carrousel projector on the far right that we called R2D2. Fancy cassette/CD boombox on the shelf (probably playing Everclear or Green Day… it was the 90!) and a Macintosh Centris computer on the desk. 

However, sometime early this year I knew the time was right. I’ll be 64 in January, after all! Mainly, it was the fact that I’ve been able to bring a new tier of diverse, talented young professionals onboard since COVID amid the “great resignation”, making it much easier to hand off the baton and step aside. The luxury of an orderly succession in these times has been profoundly rewarding, knowing that the future of the organization I care so much about is in great hands!

Old fart reprising the previous 90s pose in my old cube for a photo-op a few weeks ago. CRT monitors have long since given way to flat screens and I don’t think the younger workers could identify a slide tray if I were to put one in their hands. The building was completely remodeled after COVID to a “hoteling” format with no formal offices. Today, most workers (myself included) working a hybrid schedule of telework/in-person days. It’s a brave new work office world!

The race toward retirement over the past few months has been a hectic transition for my team at work, but to spice things up, my wife and I kicked off the second phase of a major home renovation we started during COVID, and that has been in the works since we bought house more than 33 years ago. The timing wasn’t the intended plan, as we started working on the design way back in January, but it has combined with my retirement sprint to create a perfect storm of (muddy) chaos on the home front. 

Foundation forms for a kitchen addition to our old 1944 house in North Portland. Project completion is scheduled for February!

A saving grace is that much of the work that I’m contributing to the project (interior painting, casing and trimming windows and doors, installing pantry cabinets and building a new back porch… it’s a long list!) begins in January, in tandem with my retirement. I can’t say that was well-planned, but it turned out to be fortuitous timing.

Looking ahead to retirement, my plans include MUCH more time on endeavors like this blog. plus time up on the Mountain and in the Gorge, of course. I continue to serve on the board for Trailkeepers of Oregon (TKO) and have various projects I’m involved in on that front that I’m looking forward to leaning into, as well.

On that note, I’ll close with my annual calendars, as all proceeds go straight to TKO. This year I’ve branched out a bit, with dual calendars. First up, the 23^rd edition of the Mount Hood National Campaign calendar, featuring the view from Gnarl Ridge on the cover for 2026:

 2026 Mount Hood Calendar cover

And for something a bit different, I’ve also created an Oregon High Desert calendar:

2025 Oregon High Desert Calendar cover

The desert calendar is a bit of a preview of my retirement, as I began making what I call my “old man in the desert” trips in spring and fall each year since COVID in what was initially an effort to simply isolate and avoid crowds. These trips ignited an old passion for Oregon’s Outback that remains strong for me, and thus the collection of photos for this calendar. I’m already planning my spring “old man in the desert” escape!

Both calendars measure 11×14″ and are printed on glossy, high quality stock. They are available on my Zazzle store at the link below — including full previews of the monthly images:

Tom’s Mount Hood and Oregon Desert Calendars

Zazzle ships relatively quickly, so if you’re looking for stocking stuffers, these should arrive by the holidays if ordered in the next week or two. You can also ship them direct as gifts from the Zazzle store!

Squaring the circle after 18 years! The USFS gave TKO the green light to add our field guide trail map and info about upcoming volunteer stewardship opportunities on the Vista Ridge and Old Vista Ridge trail at their shared trailhead this summer. This comes after (ahem!) an unauthorized rescue of the Old Vista Ridge Trail that began way back in 2007, an effort that eventually allowed this beautiful old trail to be officially recognized by the USFS, once again. Today, TKO has an ongoing agreement to maintain both trails annually.

So there’s my mea culpa for the tumbling tumbleweeds around here. Happily, I have many articles in the queue for 2026 (and beyond) and can’t wait to begin working on them full-time as a retired person! In the meantime, my very best to those who follow this blog and, as always…  

…I hope to see you on the trail sometime!

_____________________ 

Tom Kloster | December 2025