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December 23, 2011 4 miles 0 feet gained
90% of my time on Sauvie island has been spent on sandy beaches on hot days. It was nice to get out and explore what else the island has to offer. Sadly, due to inviting an always tardy friend along there wasn't enough time to finish the hike and get the the lighthouse before dark. NEXT TIME Gorgeous day/Sunset~
November 29, 2011 4 miles 250 feet gained
Lovely day for a hike. Made the proper turn this time to see the waterfall... even with all the garbage, shoes, used condoms, and beer cans it was a freaking beautiful place.
November 15, 2011 8.5 miles 500 feet gained
Being the only dry day this week, it was a great day to get out for a hike. This was my first time visiting the area and it was frickin amazing!! We spent the first 15 or so minutes of the day in the parking lot looking at mushrooms. It was like a fungi party. Amazing hike with some hot mulligatawny soup for lunch. I can't wait to come back here again and ag...
November 6, 2011 4 miles 500 feet gained
Lots of puddles and fungus.
October 20, 2011 2.5 miles 750 feet gained
what a fabulous sight!! I am so glad I finally visited the lake. There were still wildflowers in bloom. Wonderful day.
September 26, 2011 5 miles 500 feet gained
nice day exploring this side of the park
July 22, 2011 4.5 miles 500 feet gained
One of my favorite falls to visit
June 30, 2011 7 miles 1,250 feet gained
I don't remember where I heard about this trail (the one up past Ripplebrook) , but, somewhere along the line I did and decided to visit after a casual trip to Poop Creek. Nice trail, flowers, some orchids, nice river views from above. After a little post-hike research I discovered this is mostly used as a mountain bike trail, which explains why I was unable...
June 24, 2011 4 miles 500 feet gained
Had a tough decision to make after work today; Sit in Friday rush hour traffic, or head the other way and go for a short hike. Ummm, I choose hike! It was nice to venture out of the Gorge for some different scenery (not that I don't love the Gorge to pieces)
June 21, 2011 5 miles 1,500 feet gained
The hike up was quiet and chill, lots of flowers and snakes. But wow did it get busy! On my way down around 10am, between the vista trail and the parking lot I crossed paths with about 35-40 people; Note to self: leave town much earlier tomorrow.
June 11, 2011 3 miles 0 feet gained
The end of this road trip signified the end of my 3 week vacation in-between jobs (*sad trombone sound*) we were supposed to be headed straight to Portland, but I managed to finagle a short side trip to Little Crater Lake, the PCT is about 1/2 mile from the campground. Not a particularly interesting area to hike, but the spring fed lake was clear and blue an...
June 10, 2011 5 miles 750 feet gained
Read about the "northernmost stand of rare cyprus trees" and thought that would be a cool thing to check out. I wasn't too sure what a cyprus tree looked like, but I did know they were the rarest tree in North America, only growing in the Siskiyou Mountains, and therefore assumed they would be very interesting. It turns out they are just glorified Juniper bu...
June 9, 2011 7 miles 1,250 feet gained
Headed to Southern Oregon with no real plan. Started the day with the glorious hot springs and a waterfall. Then picked a hike at random from the Hiking the Siskiyous/Southern Cascades book, "Viewpoint Mike", turned out to be a nice destination, lots of cool flowers, great views, and right by Lost Creek Lake for a post hike swim (yes! it was actually warm en...
June 7, 2011 6 miles 1,250 feet gained
It was FEROCIOUSLY windy out there! The balsamroot was blowing away petal by petal.
June 2, 2011 7 miles 750 feet gained
Went out to Eagle Creek today, saw lots of flowers, people and gastropods of all sorts.
May 31, 2011 7 miles 2,000 feet gained
Started out the day hiking Elowah falls & Upper McCord creek. The cliff at McCord creek is exploding with color! Pink, Red, Purple, Yellow, white... Lots of cliff paintbrush, smooth leaf douglasia, larkspur, Howell's daisy, white shooting starts, hot pink rock penstemon and tons of 5 ft ferns. It really is a sight to see, and so amazing such a variety of col...
May 26, 2011 11 miles 2,250 feet gained
Today was another day centered around wildflowers. Being the childish potty humor loving person I am, I find "clustered broomrape" and "naked broomrape" to be the most hilariously intriguing flower names around! So it was the goal to find both today. Morning started out early at Horsethief Butte, in the beloved rain shadow. Hiked all around the park, found a...
May 24, 2011 6 miles 750 feet gained
Headed out early this morning, making a stop up on Mt. Hood to enjoy some early morning tranquility and snow before heading down in to the Gorge for more flower hunting. Today was a very successful day, I came across both flowers I have been looking forward to all season, the Chocolate lily and the Fairy Slipper Orchid, both of which we found at Hood River M...
May 18, 2011 2 miles 250 feet gained
Pulled a muscle in my back, putting quite the damper on hiking, but I managed to make it out for a short hike so not to miss out on the flowers. A deer jumped right out in front of us on the trail, which I was not expecting in such an open area.
May 12, 2011 6 miles 1,000 feet gained
We went out today to explore the western side of the Gorge in search of wildflowers. Was realllllly hoping to locate a Chocolate Lily, but no luck today. We explored around John Yeon and Upper McCord Creek, Ainsworth Loop, Oneonta Gorge, Sheppards Dell, Bridal Veil (mmmmmmm Camas) and upper and lower Latourell. Upper McCord Creek had some lively red Paintbru...
May 11, 2011 3 miles 750 feet gained
Today we intended on biking on the Historic Columbia River state trail from Hood River to Mosier and another short jaunt on the trail farther west, but the bike rack was being very uncooperative so hiking it was! Made a short trip up Hood River Mountain to check out the wildflowers. Lots of Balsamroot are blooming and a few Indian Paintbrush are poking up he...
April 26, 2011 5.5 miles 1,500 feet gained
Did the loop starting at Wahkeena today. LOVE wahkeena springs, its one of my favorite places to visit in the Gorge. The trail looks a lot different then the last time I visited it in the snow. The trail was pretty empty until we got to the junction with Larch Mt trail where we met a group of hikers having lunch; and of course we saw the usual slew of hikers...
April 7, 2011 4 miles 750 feet gained
Had to go to the Gorge for some work-related stuff today and figured why not knock a few short hikes off the list afterwards. That list being the Friends of the Gorge 25 trails/ 25 years list. While I had already done these earlier this year, the challenge takes place from April-October so a re-tracing of steps was in order, and who could ever complain about...
April 6, 2011 6 miles 1,000 feet gained
Luckily we got a late start to the hike (1:30) and missed out on all the hail that happened around noon, my friend even reported some snow mix just a couple miles from here! I could have sworn the calendar said April. Decided to break in my new boots today and see how waterproof they were on the soggy muddy trails of Forest Park. They passed the test! Yet an...
March 31, 2011 7 miles 1,750 feet gained
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 ...
March 25, 2011 2 miles 0 feet gained
Torrential downpours, extreme wind, flooding etc kept us from doing a lot of the hiking we had planned for the Redwoods. Many places inaccessible due to flooding (Ex: Fern Canyon) And some old growth areas (Tall Trees Grove) were off limits due to high winds and the danger of "widow maker" limbs falling from wayyyy highhhh up. It was my first visit to LadyBi...
March 17, 2011 12 miles 1,000 feet gained
The first hike of the All Trails Challenge Fund Raiser. Got" lost" due to lack of sign at trail junction, hence the need to raise some funds for dear sweet Forest Park.
March 12, 2011 2.5 miles 500 feet gained
The rain ceased briefly, prompting a short afterwork jaunt. Lots of interesting clouds in the Gorge today. Other than Multnomah Falls the Gorge was surprisingly empty for a Saturday.
March 10, 2011 3 miles 1,500 feet gained
*sigh* not so good at marking these hikes on the map! This was an amazing short hike, good workout, amazing views of the Gorge and Dog Mt, some Native history and a little snow! ICK, also found a goat carcass in the parking lot, wrapped up in a plastic sheet, with its guts in a separate bag. SUPER BUMMER.
March 7, 2011 4.5 miles 500 feet gained
umm I didn't do so well on marking this on the map! Again one of my favorite hikes, I am to do this once a month, just too see how much the scenery changes throughout the year.
March 5, 2011 4.5 miles 1,000 feet gained
2 days after a cougar attacked a woman's dog on the Sandy we decided to do some exploring on the Sandy. Saw some big prints in the mud, eeek
March 2, 2011 4 miles 750 feet gained
We intended upon doing the Wahkeena-Multnomah Loop trail, but ankle deep snow, lack of waterproof footwear and trekking poles made it so we only got to Fairy Falls. It was a slushy, slippy haul.
February 22, 2011 5 miles 1,500 feet gained
experienced all types of weather on this one, rain, snow, hail, sunshine!
February 20, 2011 4.5 miles 1,000 feet gained
I was surprised by what a busy day it was on this trail, on a chilly February Sunday. I saw about 2 dozen people. I guess the 3 day weekend had a lot of people out and about.
February 14, 2011 2.5 miles 500 feet gained
Nothing says happy Valentines day like a solo hike after work!
February 10, 2011 2.5 miles 500 feet gained
Just about the only hike I can fit in after work/before dark this time of year.
February 9, 2011 3 miles 0 feet gained
A rare clear and sunny day on the coast, got a little bit of hiking in before it was time to head back to camp for chicken mole and beers and then a little more exploring in the AM before heading back to town.
February 3, 2011 9 miles 500 feet gained
This was my first visit to Silver Falls, we got an early start when the trails were still icy, and only saw about 5 other people the whole day!
January 31, 2011 3 miles 500 feet gained
January 27, 2011 7 miles 1,250 feet gained
I had seen this Wauna Viewpoint in my hiking book, but had always dismissed it. Today we gave it a try before heading out on Eagle Creek. It was lovely clear day and we had some pretty nice views for January, despite the power lines.
January 26, 2011 3 miles 500 feet gained
Beautiful Falls. Loved this little hike. Got a lot of sunshine and saw a large group of hikers coming down from Hamilton Mt on our way in.
January 20, 2011 10 miles 1,000 feet gained
lots of wandering DOWN the road to see dry creek falls, when it is in fact UP the road
January 19, 2011 2 miles 250 feet gained
