Walktober

Do you like walking for fun, exercise, or errands? Do you wish you had more reasons to walk? Walktober 2024 is a month filled with more than 35 walks and tours, including art walks, nature walks, historical walks, coffee shop walks, walk challenges, and more in Lane County. Whether art, horticulture, exercise, or making friends is your thing, you’ll find a range of guided tours, group walks, and self-guided options to suit your tastes.

The Coffee Shop Hop is returning for chances to walk, sip, and win. This year, the Coffee Shop Hop passport has expanded to 17 shops in and around downtown Eugene - and two in downtown Springfield. Present your passport, featuring artwork by Eugene illustrator and muralist Erick Wonderly Varela, to receive a passport sticker and a discount on your cup of coffee or tea. At the end of October, submit a photo of your passport to enter the coffee shop gift card raffle. Find information at wewalklane.org/2024-coffee-shop-hop.

Mount Adams

The USGS national volcanic threat assessment ranked Mount Adams as a high-threat volcano. It is the second tallest and largest active volcano in Washington State. Six locatable earthquakes (magnitude 0.9–2.0) were detected in September on a seismic station located about 7 miles southwest of the summit of Mount Adams and at other stations much farther away from the volcano. This represents the most earthquakes located at Mount Adams in a month since monitoring began in 1982.

The Cascades Volcano Observatory is installing temporary seismic stations south and southwest of Mount Adams to improve seismic monitoring capabilities. Data from the new temporary stations will be transmitted in real-time to improve the ability to locate smaller earthquakes more precisely and assist in understanding their cause. The results will determine if any additional actions are needed.

Gas prices

Rising tensions in the Middle East have caused crude oil prices to rise, fueling small increases at the pumps in 19 states and slowing the declines in other states. For the week, the national average for regular edges down two cents to $3.18 a gallon. The Oregon average ticks up three cents to $3.68 a gallon.

Hurricane Milton is expected to land late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Gas supplies are expected to tighten in Florida. This should not impact pump prices here in the Pacific Northwest but could put upward pressure on the national average. The Oregon average began 2024 at $3.79 a gallon compared to $3.68 today. Its lowest price this year is $3.58 on February 14th, and the highest is nearly $4.51 on May 1st. The national average started the year at $3.11 and is at $3.18 today. Its lowest price so far this year is just under $3.07 on January 15, and the highest is just under $3.68 on April 19.

This week, only one Oregon county still has an average above $4 a gallon: Wallowa ($4.14).