12.5 miles of hiking • 3000' elevation gain •
Parked at the start of the Oneonta Trail and headed down to Franklin Ridge trail, down Franklin through some spectacularly overgrown trail segments to the spur that goes to the super semi-secret awesome overlook ;), then across to Larch Mtn Trail and back up to Sherrard (on a clear sunny afternoon finally), and the 1/4 mile road trek down to the car. What is amazing about this trail? Everything, good grade is never steep, Christmas trail, 3 amazing overlooks, good solitude for the gorge and long enough to kick your butt. Another lovely hike... We also stopped at Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint where we had, for some reason, never stopped before. There is insanely picturesque view of Vista House with the WA gorge highlights in the background. Also saw a family of baby squirrels... insane cuteness.
Now for why the gym sucks. Could you do the treadmill at full incline for 5 1/4 hours at the gym pushing almost as hard as you could to the point where you were completely drained? No... it is amazing the kind of workout hiking is and with the distractions of nature and scenery and the motivation of having to get back to the car it is actually fun, there is just no way to match it. Even a short 4-5 mile hike with moderate elevation gain is an amazing 2-hour workout you could not touch at a gym. Add in the benefits of breathing "fresh" air, not your gym neighbor's sweat and perfume, the sheer number of pleasant accessible moderate hikes and, other than resistance training, I don't know why people even go to the gym around here.
