The Amy said she would write this one up, but since she has not.... I will toss out a brief write up.
The hike is in the Columbia River Gorge about 12 miles before Hood River. Amy's friend Cory was up from SF, so we thought we would take her out for a ike, then out to Hood River for lunch. We thought we were doing a 4 1/2 miler, but it looks like we did more like a 8 mile 1500 ft hike. The hike follows Herman Creek back a campground in the woods surrounding the Columbia River. The hike was nice, about half way in passing a lovely 15-20 foot falls. My one real complaint is that although the hike is called "Herman Creek", you rarely see the creek. Most of the hike is up the hill from the actual creek.
After the hike we drove into Hood River for lunch... now this is an experiance I would suggest for travelers from other lands. Its a really nice outdoors/action sports town. There are several brew pubs (including Full Sail) and lots of shops n stuff. On the way out we went down to the river to watch the windsurfers and kite surfers.... that is quite the social scene down there.
Overall it was a good day, but the hike itself is kinda ho hum.... done much better, done worse.
I would post pics, but my iPhone crashed, and I lost a couple months of photos. Awesome.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dog mountain, June 5
This was by far the most challenging hike I (Jamie) have done to day, but it really was worth it. We started out with a 2800 foot steady climb in about 2.7 miles. The hike starts off going up, no warm up. At this point you get to choose between two trains a "more difficult" and "less difficult" choice.... so of course we had to choose the "more difficult" option, while in hind sight was a good choice. When the trails merged again, the amount of traffic was a bit overwhelming. It was like we were caribou in the great migration.... About 2 miles in, you get above the timberline, and enter beautiful wild flower filled open meadows. At any given point there was at least a dozen different kinds of wild flowers within a few feet of where I was standing. When we got to the top, there was a massive crowd like you would expect to see for a movie in the park event. From the main viewing area you had crystal clear views of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens, but if you continue continue along the trail for like another 100 yards, you reach to actual summit (the viewpoint is like 30 feet shy of the very tippy top). Along this last little bit of trail, if you look between the trees, stand on one foot, hold your head just right, and stick out your tongue, you actually have a wonderful view of Mt Adams (iPhones couldn't get good pics of this).
We took the less traveled longer (3.7 mile) route back down. This was the most consistent 3.7 mile downgrade ever walked by any person. By the time we were near the bottom, we were all ready to be done. Amy's toes were all jammed up, Karen was afraid if her legs quit moving they never start again, and my arches were really pissed off at me, but it was completely worth it.
All in all a really challenging, but very fulfilling hike.
Horsetail falls/Tripple Falls, May 28
This was supposed to be a leisurely 2.5 mile hike in the woods with the kids.... but of course we ended up doing the whole 4.3 mile version. the hike started out pretty sketchy with two whiny kids that really had no interest in hiking (they fell asleep in the truck on the way out and we woke them up when we got there, so they were a bit asleep still when we started). After a touch of some creative manipulation, we got the attitudes fixed and a great time was had by all.
The trailhead is at horsetail falls. Its not the biggest waterfall in the area, but you can walk down right in front of it and feel the real power of the wind/mist coming off the falls hitting the pond. About a half mile in we came to Ponytail Falls. The was really quite kick ass, in my humble opinion. This is a nice little waterfall you get to walk behind while inside of a cave. I think I (jamie) was more child like with my enthusiasm with this than any of the kids. We continued along the trail, walking along the upper edge of a Oneonto Creek Gorge, eventually crossing said creek on a bridge a good 50 or so feet above the creek. The view to the north is through the gorge, over the top of the falls, and eventually to the Columbia River. The view to the south was up the creek into the forested mountains. So Beautiful.
After we crossed the bridge we came to a trail crossing and had to chose go back to the truck or go to Triple Falls. Some very nice strangers said there as a bit of a climb to get there, but it isn't too bad but totally worth it. Mac was up for it, and of course Amy was totally down for it, so with a little convincing Eva we were on our way to Triple Falls. This was a bigger steeper climb than we expected, but the little princess was determined to finish the climb and really did a great job of "just keep walking" all while being careful. The trail was quire rocky, and there were some points of sketch footing, but both kids did quite great in these sections. We eventually got to the top and took a break at the Triple Falls viewing area, while having a snack of apples, oranges, and Teddy Grams (which the kids ate with their spoons of their camping knife/spork thing-a-ma-bobs).
After that we just walked out to the car. The end.
Cascade Head, May 22
This was the hike we did for our anniversary. We started off at Cascade head which is just north of Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast. This is a wonderful hike that climbs about 1200 feet on a 5.5 mile in and back. The first half (roughly) is in a wonderful coastal forest (reaffirming my desire to own a machete), then out of nowhere the view open up and youare in a hillside meadow with a southern view of the coastline. the hike continues along the coastline, at points along the cliff edge a good 100+ feet over the beach, ending at the upper viewpoint. Along the way beck we got to watch a pair of bald eagles riding the upstream of air coming up through the cliffs, circling about 30 feet directly over our heads (Amy was convinced they were going to attack her eyeballs)
We then went to the historic Bayfront in Newport and had our usual lunch at Mo's (they have remodeled to make it nicer, I do not approve). WE then ventured to to Agate Beach to visit our wedding site on out first anniversary. It was very romantic and lovely visiting our wedding site, but honestly it barely looks the same. The tsunami form the Japan quake really had an effect on the beach. There is a good 4-5 foot ledge in the beach from where the wave dug out the sand.
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