7 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Well let me just say it felt amazing to be hiking in the sun with temps in the mid 60's. felt much warmer with the warm breeze. On our drive up the Gorge to Catherine Creek we were a bit worried about the weather conditions, between Angel's Rest and John Yeon it was too foggy/rainy to even SEE Washington across the River.
Once at the trail we went up and to the right (rd 20) and followed that up marveling at the flowers and rolling grassy hills, we also found an abandoned stove/oven on a spur trail, interesting...once we reached the turn around by Coyote Wall we turned back and headed down the large grassy hill near the power lines to meet up with the Catherine Creek west loop to make our way back to the car.
It was a beautiful day with many gorgeous flowers. Saw quite a few of the shooting stars, those are some of my favorites. We also saw quite a few turkey vultures flying over Rowland Lake.
Of course no Washington Gorge hike is truly complete until you visit Walking Man Brewery, which was our last stop.
All and all it was a great day, even got a little sun on my face.
Comments
Phoebe "BertMoss"
April 1, 2011
Making a backpack out of all these mazes of trails in the area would be sweet! Especially considering the price of gas/distance from Portland. Everything seems to be either on the trail, on a slope or in the direct-coming-from-every-direction-and-from-above- wind, with the exception of the area where we encountered this stove that is in the last photo. . Once we walked all the way up trail 20 to where it levels out and turns into the wooded area heading West there was a trail that jutted off to the left off of "20". It was in a flat area that seemed like there could be a decent tenting spot. However I don't know what this trail is, or if its a path to residential areas, but I bet someone else on PortlandHikers does.
Phoebe "BertMoss"
April 1, 2011
Just kidding, the stove trail was off to the right...
Kyle Meyer
April 3, 2011
Thanks for the description Phoebe! I'll most definitely be doing this soon :)
Shane
April 1, 2011
Beautiful photos. Did you see any place that seemed reasonable to pitch a tent while you were up there? I keep wanting to make this a backpack, especially early in the season.