Monica went hiking May 24, 2011 8 miles 1,000 feet gained

Hood River Mountain/ Rowena Crest/ Oneonta Gorge

1

We left SE Portland at 6 am and headed down 26 until 35 to get to hood river ( I know long way but we had never been on hwy 35). First we went up to Hood River Mountain and it was very rad, saw my first fairy slipper orchid and chocolate lilly! Once near the top the views were amazing and the hills were covered with paintbrush and balsamroot sadly the lupine was only just starting. Next we went to Rowena and poked around. Lots of poison oak and I even found a tick on me! Nice day and weather overall : )

Trail Talk

1 person has hearted this trip.

Monica · May 28, 2011

We also stopped at Oneonta Gorge and saw a giant pacific salamander!

Chris · May 29, 2011

Awesome! I have yet to see one of these guys. Was he up the gorge behind the logs, or along the trail higher up?

Monica · May 29, 2011

He was before the log jam, there is a big rock you need to climb down and right at the bottom he was right in the middle of the trail, lucky for him that we were coming off the rock and had to look to see where our feet were going to land or he would have gotten stepped on! I moved him off the trail and within 3 minutes he had found a hiding place in the rocks. I have never seen one before so I was very excited.