Where’s Nico?

It may not be a classic 80’s song, but I always loved that Bob and Doug McKenzie scored a novelty hit in the 80’s with “Take Off”. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas of the Canadian version of Saturday Night Live (SCTV) created two beer guzzling canucks in tukes, and 1982 was their moment in the sun. It was such a big moment, not only did they record an album, but they even made a fairly ridiculous movie called Strange Brew, which somehow cast both Max Von Sydnow and Mel Blanc and has a very undeserved 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Anyway, for “Take Off” – the hit single on the album, Moranis roped in his grade school buddy, Geddy Lee of Rush, to sing the chorus in between beer jokes on the song. The song peaked at number 16 on the pop charts, which ironically makes it the highest charting song that Geddy Lee ever recorded, topping the chart success of anything that Rush ever put out. Plus the song gave us this classic line:

But why are we choosing “Take Off” for this edition of the blog? Well, it’s actually because of the two fake brothers’ last name – McKenzie. Which brings us to the age old question, “Where’s Nico?”

Just off the amazing McKenzie River at beautiful Willamette National Forest!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, Willamette may sound familiar. This is the third time we’ve visited this fantastic forest, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

For that matter, if you’re a beer fan, Willamette may sound familiar because Willamette hops are very popular in IPA’s – but there’s a good chance you’ve always mispronounced it. Every beer drinker I know called it “Will-a-met”, but it’s actually pronounced “Will-am-et” (rhymes with ‘godd***it’).

Willamette has several great trails, many of which are along the beautiful McKenzie River. The river originates out of Clear Lake, quickly goes underground, comes out at Blue Pool, and runs about ninety miles to the west, and there are great places to explore throughout.

A good place to start is Clear Lake, which as I said, is also where the McKenzie starts. There’s a nice trail that’s a bit under five miles and takes you all around this lovely lake.

That last pic is from a bridge on the west end of Clear Lake, where the McKenzie river runs out of it. As I mentioned, the river quickly goes underground and emerges at a place called the Blue Pool. This may be the most scenic hike in the whole park – it’s only three miles or so, and it takes you through a forest that looks like it came straight out of a Tolken book. The hike leads you up to a pool that, true to it’s name, is impossibly blue.

It’s a trail we enjoy so much that we hiked it twice during this trip – if you ever come to Willamette, I really recommend you don’t miss this one! You may notice that not only did I change shirts between the two hikes, but also shaved off an ill-advised summer beard.

I will say it’s probably one of the two most popular hikes in the area, so it can bring a bit of a crowd, especially on weekends.

The other most popular hike is just downstream from the Blue Pool – the Koosha and Sahalie Falls Trail. There’s a short, mile or so hike you can take from Sahalie Falls down to Koosha Falls and back on the south side of the McKenzie. It’s very pretty, but if you’re up for just a little more of a hike (but still less than three miles), I recommend doing this trail – it’ll take you across bridges above Sahalie and below Koosha so you can explore the north side of the McKenzie, where there is WAY less traffic and you get some amazing views of both falls. If you want a pro tip on this hike, don’t start at Sahalie, as the All Trails guide will recommend – instead drive west just past the Koosha Falls campground and turn north on NF-750. It’s a windy road that goes just east of the Carmen Reservoir. Take the road for just a few minutes until you go over a bridge over the McKenzie that dumps into the reservoir. Just past the bridge, you’ll see places to park your car. It’s way less crowded down there. Then do the trail in counter-clockwise order. That’ll get you past the crowds who are doing the shorter hike at the very start, and leave you to some peace and quiet on the north side of the river one you get past that. This was another hike we enjoyed so much that we did it twice.

One other spot we really love along the McKenzie isn’t a hike at all. It’s just a few miles west of the Koosha and Sahalie. If you turn off the main road into the area for Olallie Campground and take a left, it’ll take you on a back road with a drop off spot for boats. Just past that drop off is another place where you can pull your car over. That is our go-to spot for happy hours together after our hikes. It’s a great place to take a few chairs or a blanket and just set up and enjoy the McKenzie rushing by.

There are great places to hit away from the McKenzie as well. One spot we enjoy also has a few waterfalls, as the name may imply – it’s called Proxy Falls.

The second place I wanted to mention is a bit north, but worth the drive – House Rock Campground. We enjoy working ‘river days’ into our trips periodically, where we take the day off from hiking and just enjoy the water, always giving Nico some time on his pink floatie (a.k.a. “the Barbie pillow”). Although there is a trail in the area to House Rock that can be kind of fun here too.

It’s been a great two weeks here at Willamette. Tomorrow, we’ll be pushing off to our next destination, but I’ll leave the details on that for the next blog post!

ANA (Ask Nico Anything)

Big fan and first time caller, Nico! How can I be sure that these questions in the ANA section of your post are actually submitted by readers and not just thought up by Ken?

Wel, eet mus be frum reeders becuz you say you beeg fan and fers tym caler. Unless dat jus papa mesing wid Nico…

Today is the big World Cup finale between Spain and Argentina! Nico, are you Team Messi or Team Yamal?

Nico ees Teem Salvy!

Becize, frum de tubs pik abuv eet lukes like Messi and Yamal cud makes gud teem togethr – why they fite?

Nico, with the World Cup wrapping up today and the Royals season going, er, not quite as hoped for, what will you be rooting for this fall?

Well, Nico never gives up on Royals. So he still haz dis. But Nico likes to tink ov heemselv as more Teem Mama…

– Ken, 7/19/2026