Wahkeena

This was the intended hike last week when we hit the gorge and saw the haze that would make Angels rest and the view point a nice view of clouds.  Jay has been here before when hiking in the gorge and remembered Fairy falls and wanted to go back.  This week we headed out a bit earlier to Wahkeena falls, the last stop before Multnomah and since our trail map survived last week we didn't have to return to visitors center to get another where a nice volunteer would tell us we should try yet another trail that would leave me in agony... it took me until Wednesday to walk normally last week. No really, my calves and I were not on speaking terms.

From the road you'd think this place was rather unremarkable for a waterfall, lovely rapids but not much of a change in elevation unless you look all the way back in the shot.  We'll be there after a few switch backs and a lot of me stopping to take needless pictures to pretend I wasn't out of breath.

The first stretch was actually not that bad if you take the elevation out of it. Its smooth and paved and a pretty steep climb, the climb was also much longer than last week which did not bode well for my wimpy legs.

This is just before the first bridge and the highest point of the falls visible from the road.  From anything I can find on Wahkeena the entire stretch from the spring is considered part of the waterfall but may points appear more like heavy rapids.  We had our first set of switch backs to climb approximately 600ft in about a half a mile, happily also paved until we get to the first big split in the trails.

Near the top there was a view point dedicated to a fire fighter who lost his life fighting fires in the area with a beautiful view of the Columbia.

From the viewpoint we had approximately 200ft more to climb in some easier grade along the falls. Several bridges like the one in this shot and finally we turn a bend in the trail to Fairy Falls

This was actually pretty low in volume for the falls at this time of year but as it cascades over the rock face it gives the appearance of a lot more water.  Good thing too, you'll see the 'bridge' in place to help cross the water here on the bottom right of the shot.

From fairy falls we had another half mile to get to the spring, mostly through forested area covered in moss and ferns.

The spring was calm and quiet by comparison, the water coming up from the ground and moving swiftly to the point where it hits the elevation change and picks up more speed.

This was the first point below the spring I could get a descent picture, darn trees in the way.  This was an out and back trail so from the spring we headed back.  We were nearly tricked by some misleading trail signs into going to Devil's rest, the sign said .4 miles to Devil's rest.  After consulting my map and then looking at the opposing sign which someone had written in the word trail we realized it was .4 to the trail itself and still another few miles to Devil's rest. We headed up to Multnomah and ended it with a lovely snack from the lodge hehe

I think I got a bit carried away with the ketchup here, but I was starving even with a sandwich and snacks on the trail nom.

More pics are in the Flickr albums and at some point I will figure out how to map the trip on Every map since we haven't invested in any sort of a GPS device.

Horsetail Falls to Triple Falls

We had planned to hike to Angel's rest today, then as we drove out to the trail head Jay mentioned a pretty waterfall he passed on a hike several years back so a popped it into Everytrail and found it was along the Wahkeena falls trail which is nearby on the highway so the plans changed.  I didn't have a trail map for that one and the idea of climbing up into the mountains without at least a basic idea of where I was going didn't sound fun so we passed Wahkeena to Multnomah falls to see if they had a trail map available and grab some lunch. The nice man who gave us the map then proceeded to tell us about Horsetail falls and after a glance at the map we saw 3 sets of falls in the elevation we would pass and considering the overcast weather that would at least guarantee something to look at.  I should have checked the trail map a bit closer....

Starting from the base of horsetail falls, we had a 'nice' series of switchbacks to take us up approximately 500ft... i really hate switch backs, escalator please? :D

No really, this trail was wicked.  There was a family on the trail with us putting me to shame, I kept pretending to stall so they could take pictures while Jay got to listen to me whine and I stubbornly refused to let him carry the backpack with our water and snacks. Not sure why, oh wait, its me.

The misery was worth it, this was our first view of Pony tail falls.  The trail from here runs behind the falls under the rock.  If you look to the right of the shot you can see another hiker on the trail where it leads back up the other side.  Guess what we got to do after passing the waterfall?  More climbing. The switchbacks were a bit easier this time so there was more moving and less stopping.  When we came out next we were at Oneonta falls which were not that remarkable until you turn and look back in the direction of the highway.

The Oneonta gorge is described in all the published information as a chasm-like gorge which runs from the old Columbia River highway to the lower falls. It was cool today so no one was out hiking in the water, the gorge area is a nature preserve so no trails were laid but the hikers wade their way through the water which is up to 3ft deep in some places to see the view from below.

By this point that 20% chance of rain they were forecasting was proven a lie as there was a pretty steady rain, thankfully our coats were doing their job and repelling it and we decided to continue on.  Around and around through some beautiful scenery, moss covering everything, random water falls along the trail side

This spot, which doesn't show as well in the photo as I would have liked, the water was trickling over the entire rock face from somewhere above and unlike much of the water we've encountered coming from the mountains it was tepid instead of being ice cold.   Another 1.1 miles up the trail and we came to a rather confused point in the trail, it turned right on what appeared to be the established trail and another led down, not seeing 2 trails on the map we took a few steps around the turn and found Triple Falls

This area was worth all the grumbling it took to get here, being spring the water flow is high from the snow melting in the higher elevations and it was covered in ferns and moss.

The river above the falls full of nice mossy rocks ;)  and plenty of places to walk right up to the river and step out onto the rocks amid the rapids, or if you're me slip while climbing over a downed tree and nearly faceplant in the water.  Yeah, I did that... no there is not a picture of that.

View from the shore looking toward the falls.. see that tree on the right with the bark partially worn off? I'm disappointed tree, you tried to drown me in the river, just sayin'

From triple falls the trail heads to Larch mountain which is 6000ft in elevation which we were not feeling up for so we decided to head back.  Stopped at a view point between Ponytail and Horsetail falls which had a nice view of the Columbia now that the fog lifted.

Now to ponder where we go next...

A hiking we will go

This was one of those things on the "to do" list but as we are both in awful shape and smoked it didn't lend itself to doing much hiking.  I found a couple lovely books about hiking and they sat collecting dust until recently when we decided to quit smoking and eat better.  What better place for a first hike than the cost, because that was likely to be nice and flat right? ha ha So we set off and started the day at Camp 18

Things were not looking to work in our favor based on the weather on this side of the coast range.  The forecast was calling for mostly sunny, this is decidedly *not* mostly sunny.

The weather improved as we came down out of the coast range so there was still hope for some lovely views.  Sadly, the tide was in so there was not going to be any beach walking today, the waves crashing in to shore as the tide rolled in were beautiful though.  Last time we were here earlier in the morning we were able to walk around the rock point.

I still laugh every time I see these signs, I know the point but all I see is a wave that resembles some science fiction monster and getting to higher ground isn't likely to help that. Oh No the wave is going to chew on you, run!

Yes because this looks sooo safe doesn't it?  It really helped that it had spring so every time Jay stepped it bounced me and I found myself clinging to the hand rails.  Following the bridge and the trail right we found access to the south beach and another trail that headed up the mountain.  We climbed what seemed like half way up an found a few lovely views, then realized that we didn't think to bring water or snacks and decided to make our way back down to check out some other low level trails

What? you wanted to walk? Well here, have some nice gross mud to get your shoes and jeans all nasty so you sink every few steps, meerrhhh

Oh, you didn't like the mud? well look, this section of the trail is washed out so we'll be substituting these nice, slick logs from a downed tree instead.  Odd trail hazards, roots and mud aside it was a pretty hike and despite not having really done much in the way of exercise recently I was amazingly not winded, tired or ready to collapse on the ground which is good because it was still a mile back to the car.

And the view from the south side of the moutain we were climbing looking out over one of the many small beach towns along the coast.

still not quite sure what to make of this sign we saw in town.. cemetery recycle center. Yeaahhhh   It was well in to the afternoon by this point so we decided to head back home, it was approximately an hour and a half home.

One of the many farms along the highway to the coast. I love farm markets, but did they have to make the sign so... just wow. :)

Thanks for Reading...

Oh immersion mixer, why do you hate me?

It started off with a simple task, make a chocolate milk shake... mind you this actually started last night after dinner when I opened the freezer to find we were out of vanilla ice cream *the horror* Jay was a saint and went to the store so I could feed my craving despite me not having the excuse of having pregancy cravings.  No really, just no, we'll leave it with that

I have a lovely Cuisinart mixer that I bought with thoughts of making smoothies, milk shakes and many other things that sounded much better at the time than they did when I started looking up recipes, because that has never happened before *peers at the Cooks Illustrated, 2000 recipe cookbook currently collecting dust in the kitchen* Yeahhh.. so where was I, oh yes the mixer.  I get out all the stuff and started mixing last night and it was too runny.  Seems I got a bit carried away with the milk, still tasted good.

Fast forward to this evening, last nights attempt was too runny so less milk is in order this time which seemed simple enough.

The evil immersion mixer, it was even uncooperative about allowing me to take this photo insisting twice on falling over.   Start with ice cream, chocolate and much less milk than yesterday, start mixing. Well, perhaps a bit more milk because this just isn't working.  Add more milk and I hear a loud slurp sound and suddenly I'm wearing a chocolate dotted shirt, not very nice mixer.

As you can see it was still being resistent to actually mixing, vanilla ice cream waving hi from the sides of the mixing cup.   At this point I gave up and used my spoon. 

Oh What A Night...

A week would be more accurate but all the same, I object. It all started around the holidays; Lizzie, who does not appreciate a change in schedule by the humans was a mess from us having 2 4 day weekends.  The result was typical, food leaving the body in a less than desirable manner but it wasn't unusual and it while abnormal it wasn't alarming so we gave her some rice and let her be which usually helps bring her around... not this time.  Its now January 12 and she's still not right, there was improvement for several days but now things have gotten much worse so I made a call to the vet to get her in so we could get her on meds to sort this out.  She is being her usual self, running  around insisting she's being starved due to lack of food, and aside of the obvious digestion issues she's fine.  

Fast forward to mid-day, Indiana is frantically clawing at the door to go out so I let him out and see a repeat of what Lizzie is doing... great. Thats 2 so I watch Maggie like a hawk the rest of the day, she appears to be fine.  

Up until it was time to go to the vet Lizzie was her normal bossy self, barking and carrying on for snacks and expressing her displeasure with the world, but the visit took longer than we were hoping and she didn't do too well.  By the end she was so upset with being there she started hacking, by the time we got home she was so upset she refused to do anything but lay there.  I made chicken and rice for a bland dinner for the sick tummies and she snubbed it, best I got was a few licks of the piece of chicken I gave her in her bed and she spit it back out.  This, is going to be a very long week

ahh the days when we weren't at the vet every month, this was in Michigan enjoying the dog beach near Muskegon

A Day in the Park for the New Year

And a chilly start to the year it is, woke up to frost and temps below freezing, screams of terror on the news about.. OMG ICE.  One day people here will remember that snow isn't the end of the world, just a need for caution when driving.

We decided to go to the Rose Garden downtown, its clear out today so we figured there should be some lovely views of Mt Hood and the surrounding mountains.

 Despite it being the middle of winter and the rose garden being in a snow zone in the west hills it was pretty and green, a few roses still held stubbornly to blossoms from late fall that never quite opened.

Lots of green, lots of grass, love that we still have this much green in the middle of winter.

The mountains didn't disappoint either, though I wasn't able to get a descent shot from the park so we headed further up the mountain to the arboretum and there was a perfect view of Mt St Helens with Mt Adams in the background. The weather was brisk but not horrible, the wind however was awful. 

 We passed on the Japanese Garden, we were on our way out as it was opening but we did make a stop at Pittock Mansion on the way home.  We have some beautiful night shots taken from here a few years ago and the view of the city never disappoints. Again timed rather poorly as it opened for its last day of holiday tours later in the day, ahh well.

 Mt Hood from Pittock overlooking the city, she still has a blanket of fog masking a really clear view but its a view that never gets old.

And looking east  across the city, with the cascades still covered in that same blanket of fog.