36. Labyrinth Hiking

The Labyrinth Trail, WA            12/16/2017         (#58)

East out of the Portland mist, through the frosted central gorge to the open dry eastern gorge, this time to the Labyrinth, trailhead at the Hwy 14/Old Hwy 8 intersection at Rowland Lake.

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Waterfall along Old Hwy 8

The aptly named trail winds gently upward between columnar basalt buttes and a cascading stream.

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Bare trees, gold grasses, dried flower seed heads, lichen splotched talus piles, higher and higher, rising to views to the south of the Columbia River, the orchards, fields and cliffs around Mosier, Oregon.

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To the east the open skies of the Columbia Plateau beckon; to the west, the lowering clouds of western Oregon gloam, this whole area scoured by the Missoula floods. We explore some of the side trails around the waterfall,

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at the base of a columnar basalt butte,

and to our lunchstop viewpoint.

Then on up a bit more,

past the cliff that is covered with purple desert parsley in spring,

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View toward Coyote Wall

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past the oak tree on the trail’s edge,

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to the next high point.

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Wind rising, we agree to turn around. Down we go, light changing, shoulders of Hood briefly exposed, back to the old highway then home.

LOOKBACK

During our first hike here in June of 2012, I was enchanted, just exploring the bones of the landscape, the windings between rock exposures then covered with halos of pinkish grass.

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May 2012

We attained a high viewpoint back down to Rowland Lake and the river and began to realize the potential. Future trips saw the cliffs and mounds adorned with yellows and purples of spring wildflowers,

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Mt Hood from Old Hwy 8 approach trail, May 2012

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Balsam root near Hwy 8, April 2014

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April 2014

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Grass Widows, March 2017

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Gold stars, March 2017

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Buttercups in oak woodland, March 2016

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Columbia Desert Parsley, April 2014

the white snows of winter,

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December 2015

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December 2015

and actual rainbows.

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December 2016

Some comparisons: the waterfall –

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May 2012

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March 2017

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December 2015

the oak tree –

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May 2012

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December 2015

We also brought back poison oak and left behind one contact lens.  We have explored a few of the side trails – there are many more to look forward to.

CRAFTING

Knitting the green shawl: finished another tortilla and the Sonic Six hat.

Decorating the tree – Diamond Log Cabin Christmas Tree Skirt (Quilt In A Day pattern) made in the early 2000’s.  I have learned a lot about color and fabric choices since then, but It still fits our decor and I like it well enough to continue to use it. The rest of the tree decorating is waiting for one child to be home from college.

34. Lyle Cherry Orchard and Other Adventures

Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, Washington   12/3/2017   (#57)

What joy to step with boots on the trail again today, – a bright blue sky, bitter wind, December-low-angle light sparkling on the water day -in the eastern Columbia River Gorge.  Trail of dirt and stone and oak leaf duff winding up alternately through golden grasslands and black cliffs of the Missoula flood scoured columnar Columbia Plateau basalts.  White caps on the river, bare oak branches, luminous grey clouds to the west raining on the Cascade crest, with only the eastern flank of Mt Hood visible in the clouds if you know where to look. Sounds of wind and ravens and the occasional train. Deep memories of where the yellow bells, purple grass widows, golden stars (and poison oak!) will be come spring….

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Approach trail

Views from the Convict Road:

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East view

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West view

Views from the lower plateau:

Along the trail to the upper tier:

Views from our high point:

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The way down:

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And looking back up from the Convict Road to where we were:

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Some details:

We hiked about 3.5 miles, 1000 feet today. We turned back at the cliff high point where the trail heads inland then farther east toward the remnants of the old cherry orchard.

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We saw a beautiful interplay of sun and clouds while driving back west.

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West view from the Hood River bridge into the gorge

LOOKBACK:

Spring wildflowers:

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Yellow Bells on the lower trail, March 2017

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Gold stars along the upper switchbacks, March 2017

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Grass widows at the upper viewpoint, March 2017

Fall colors:

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Poison Oak, October 2016

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Orange oak leaves, October 2016

CRAFTING

I distracted myself this week by sewing all the clamshells together on my Atmospheric River quilt.

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Each clamshell is 17.5″wide; quilt is 87.5″ square.

I began knitting on Emily’s green scarf.

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Other Adventures this week were less pleasant, including a horizontal trip in an MRI machine, several blood draws and waiting rooms, as well as scheduling a surgery date in January to remove something that a doctor discovered by chance while looking for something else.  What luck, really – if all goes as planned the long term prognosis is great and there will be no lasting harm.  Still it is an unexpected and unasked for journey. So after the emotional trauma of this week, it was with great joy that I ventured on to a dirt and stone trail today in the blue sky, bitter wind, golden hills, and black cliffs of the eastern gorge.

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33. Sun and Rain at Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge, WA, Thanksgiving weekend

Our Thanksgiving drama:  Emily home from Oberlin for the long weekend, Sean here, but covering college basketball games at the PK80 tournament at the Rose Garden, Brian also here and working, but not on Thanksgiving. Good friends to join us for dinner. I baked the pies in the morning, the casseroles in the early afternoon and started the oven to roast the 9 pound turkey at 3 pm.  I rinsed the brine and trussed the bird – and the oven was only at 170 degrees.  Ten minutes later, only 175 degrees.  Eventually realized the oven is never going to get to 500 – it gradually rose to 300 degrees, hot enough to reheat the casseroles, but something is wrong!  Our neighbors generously allowed us to use their oven when their turkey was done, so we were able to eat about 2 hours later than planned – another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat (thank you Arlo Guthrie), with plenty of leftovers for the next day. The silver lining was that Sean was home from work by the time dinner was ready.

Steigerwald Lake and Columbia River Dike      11/26/2017 (#56)

Post-Thanksgiving time/sun window Sunday morning after other family members delivered to airport/work. We drove about 25 minutes to the trailhead near Washougal, Washington.

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Bright sun and clouds at the start of the trail.

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Clouds closing in from the west. Tundra Swans in the lake beyond the closed art trail gate.

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Noisy Canada geese in the distance as a bald eagle flies above them then alights in a tree above the first bridge. We also saw a smaller hawk rustling up the geese.

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On to the second bridge as the sun dims and the clouds close in — a few wind gusts, a squall, large fat raindrops spatter us and cast rings in the lake.  Three ducks in a row swim away.  Other hikers heading back to the trail head.  By the time we get our hoods up, lenses wiped, the rain has lessened to sprinkle, drizzle, mist.  We are prepared for this.

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We continue on to the dike and walk east above the Columbia River, Vista House on the horizon through a shroud of clouds closing in.  We walk all the way to the closed gate, though I believe the land beyond is soon to be added to the conserved space. Wind blowing east with the clouds, and the wave caps give the illusion of the river flowing upstream…

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Vista House across the Columbia River

Returning the same way, and the rain returns.

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Back to the trailhead, with a few more photo stops.  Light has changed again.  Time to get inside, get dry.

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White tundra swans in the far lake

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We walked about 4 miles round trip.

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LOOKBACK:

The Steigerwald is a close-in go-to place for us – the light is always spectacular, there is often a resident bald eagle, we often see waterfowl – heron, duck, geese, swans, and on a clear day, the top of Mt Hood is on view.

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March 2015

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August 2015

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March 2016

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Vista House, March 2015

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Vista House and Mt Hood, August 2015

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Ice on the lake, December 2016  

Flying geese:

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March 2016

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March 2016

CRAFTING:

Our Thanksgiving tableau includes one of Emily’s glove turkeys and several knitted pumpkins.

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Woven apple pie crust.

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New yarn for a green scarf for Emily

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There is a medical issue to be dealt with, so I am adding some words of wisdom for the days ahead:

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30. Coyote Wall, WA

Little Moab trail on a misty day.   Nov 6, 2017  (#53)

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Monday was supposed to be clear in the eastern gorge after a rainy weekend, but the clouds did not move out until afternoon.  Fortunately, the misting rain at the Coyote Wall trailhead dried up about the time we got our boots on.  We walked the old road section, admiring the remains of fall colors, then wound our way up the cliffs of the Little Moab trail.

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Dried flower seed heads in the grass,

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lichen and moss on the rocks,

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fog on the top of the wall,

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all the views across the windless glassy Columbia River to the Mosier/Lyle/Rowena viewpoints.

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‘Twas a good hike at Coyote Wall, with only a few other hikers and bikers sprinkled through our day.

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4.6 miles/1300’

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LOOKBACK:

We have hiked here many times – to see the first grass widows in February,

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February 2015

the brilliant balsamroot in April,

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April 2017

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April 2017

the autumnal colors of fall, as we saw today, and snow in winter:

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December 2015

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December 2015

I am hoping someday the trail below the wall will reopen to hikers – it would be a lovely loop.

Knitting, spinning, quilting:

I have spun more singles and plied, skeined and washed my first practice yarn.

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I cast on a Sonic Six hat with the tubular 1×1 rib cast on in Total Eclipse yarn and am enjoying knitting the slip stitch pattern.

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I finished the fourth of the blue and purple washcloths.

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I have sewn the first two rows of the Atmospheric River clamshell quilt – so far, so good.

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27. Cape Horn Loop, Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Cape Horn Loop     October 14, 2017    (#50 – hikes in 2017)

On a beautiful fall day, after several days of rain, we went with friends to the Cape Horn trail just east of Washougal, WA.  This view shows the massive cliffs of Cape Horn from Angel’s Rest on the Oregon side of the river. Our trail will follow the road down to the lower green fields, then traverse west along the lower cliffs before heading back up hill to the top of the mountain.

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October 2014  Cape Horn viewed from Angel’s Rest

Fog draped the summit when we arrived, so we chose to hike clockwise around the loop, our first views being the highway 14 viaduct above us as we completed the road walk.

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From the road, the trail then enters the forest, and emerges onto the open mossy scree slopes above the cliffs adjacent to the waterfall (which was at very low flow).

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We reached the lowest part of the trail above the Columbia River, and could look east to see Cigar Rock.

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Eastward view toward Beacon Rock, Phoca Rock; fog topped cliffs

We continued across the cliffs, and opted for the westernmost loop that leads onto a promontory above the western entrance to the train tunnel that cuts through the cliff beneath us.

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From here, the trail heads upward through various switchback sections, with spurs to the Oak and Waterfall viewpoints, then through the trail tunnel under highway 14, and finally up to the Nancy Russell Overlook, where plenty of other hikers were resting.

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We saw two giant baguettes being transported by barge (or was it sawdust)?

 

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There is a distinct sandbar in the river channel below glinting in the sun.

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Next, the traverse along property boundaries to the actual highest point – Pioneer viewpoint. By this time the fog had evaporated.

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View to the east upriver from Pioneer Point

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View to west from Pioneer Point, including Hwy 14 viaduct

From there it is all downhill, down the steep switchbacks to the trailhead.  We were a bit early for the fall color display, and saw only one flower, a penstemon, whereas in the spring the trail is lined by hanging gardens of wildflowers.

It was a lovely day for a hike. On a side note, the turftoe plate I was using in my right boot seemed to delay the onset of pain in my arthritic big toe for a couple of miles, and I hope this tool will allow me to continue with longer hikes.

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Total for the day: 7.5 miles, 1350 feet.

Look back:

We have hiked this trail several times – though we have only completed the full loop a couple of times because the lower cliff area is closed from February to July for peregrine falcon nesting. In 2014, when we hiked the lower loop, we saw a train exit the tunnel beneath us.

 

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The most striking comparison is the new view of burned up Angel’s Rest, almost directly across from Cape Horn on the Oregon side of the river.  Green in the past, it is now brown.

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Angel’s Rest 2014

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Angel’s Rest 2017

Crafting:

I have knit two more tortillas and a square purple wash cloth, as well as mended four pairs of hand knit socks in time for winter.

I have been planning my giant clam shell quilt, but have not yet made a satisfactory template.  More on that later.

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25. Early Fall in the Gifford Pinchot

September 30, 2017    Rainy weekend predicted; possible dry window Saturday to the east of Portland;  Indian Heaven still closed from the Crater Fire; windy along the Columbia River. We decided to try some short hikes in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest between Mt Adams and Indian Heaven, near Trout Lake, WA.

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Our first drive through the Columbia River Gorge since the fire: Good photos are posted in official feeds elsewhere.  I was pleased to see how much is not burned. That said, it was sobering to see the extent of the burn: blackened trees on the skyline, blackened forest floors down to the highway in some places, blackened trunks on still green trees.  I felt great appreciation for the fire fighting, for the massive cleanup that has already occurred, and for the challenge ahead. We will be back someday but not soon.

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Through the passenger window of a moving car:  Blackened trees on the skyline; slash piles below.

We got a glimpse of Mt Adams and an intense, wide rainbow just as we entered Trout Lake.

 

Steamboat Mountain  (#48)

This short hike (1.5 miles, 400′) is touted by Scott Cook in his Curious Gorge book to have some of the best views of the Cascades and a relatively easy trail. The weather was not in our favor, though.  When we parked at the trailhead/quarry, we could just see the top of Steamboat Mountain from the base.

 

As we hiked up the well graded trail through red huckleberry the clouds closed in.

 

From the rocky top, I could just make out our Suburu parked at the base, but no mountains, no views.

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Looking down at our Suburu (center of photo) from the top

 

We ate our lunch, hiked down.  We were reminded that we are now in hunting season, as people were firing guns just on the other side of the quarry.

Langfield  Falls

Driving back south toward Trout Lake, we visited Langfield Falls, just east of Tire Junction.  There is a short trail down to the waterfall viewpoint, and another user trail along the creek above the falls. A spatter of rain, a lovely waterfall.

 

Natural Bridge

Back to Trout Lake, then west about 5 miles, is the Natural Bridge area- a collapsed lava tube with bridges in places of incomplete collapse.  A friend from the Portland Hikers Facebook group had tipped us off to brilliant fall color here, and we found this to be true – even if we were early for the full show.  The inner collapsed tube is overgrown with vine maples that blazed in gradation through the spectrum from bright green, to yellow green, yellow, yellow orange, orange, red orange and red: the analogous colors from half the color wheel on view.  We wandered around for a while, and Dan set up his tripod as we waited for sunbreaks to illuminate the scene.

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One of the Natural Bridges

 

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Dan with tripod

22. Mt St Helens Boundary Trail

Eagle Creek fire update as of  9/11/17:  34000 acres, 7% contained.

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USFS Incident Map

Boundary Trail toward Harry’s Ridge     9/10/2017    (#45)

The skies are alternating blue and cloudy today. Unsure of any firesafe place east of us, we opted to drive north to Johnston Ridge, Mt St Helens National Monument.  Clouds that were floating at mountain level when we arrived late morning evaporated during the day.

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Mt St Helens

We hiked the Boundary Trail toward Harry’s Ridge.

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Coldwater Peak, north of the Boundary Trail

The trail that used to go along a steep, cliffy slope to the grand viewpoint at Devil’s Elbow is now closed.  The new alternate route cuts over the ridge, and has a view to Spirit Lake from the pass at the top of the cutoff. We stopped there for lunch.

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Lunch stop at the top of the new cut off trail, with view to Spirit Lake

I decided it was too hot to continue, so hiked slowly back to the observatory.  Dan went on to Harry’s Ridge then met me back at the observatory later.  I had the chance to watch the excellent 16 minute film that simulates the eruption and illustrates the forces of nature during the 1980 eruption.

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View while hiking back toward Johnston Observatory

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Looking east from the observatory toward Mt Adams

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Mt Adams

There are straggling summer flowers in bloom – lupine of both large and dwarf varieties, penstemon, paintbrush, yarrow, an abundant yellow composite, and equally abundant white pearly everlasting gilding the slopes, and standing out strongly in contrast to the early reds of fall.

We stopped at Coldwater Lake to walk the boardwalk trail that illustrates the Birth of the Lake. It was peaceful and beautiful there, with excellent views of Minnie Peak and Mt St. Helens. It is pleasant to walk through shady foliage after spending time in the blast zone. My total mileage for the day was about 5 miles/800 feet.

LOOKBACK:

Boundary Trail to Harry’s Ridge – we have hiked this trail in several seasons, with different views of the mountain:

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June 2016

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September 2017

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Inner crater dome close up    June 2016

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September 2017

Coldwater Lake:

In March of 2015, a low snow year, we walked the 12 mile loop around Coldwater Lake.  The foliage was mostly dormant and brown.  We had views of the mountain, walked by the abandoned logging machinery destroyed by the blast, got some closer views of Minnie Peak.

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March 2015   Minnie Peak and old logging machinery on Coldwater Ridge

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March 2015    Minnie Peak

 

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March 2015

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September 2017 Mt St Helens and Coldwater Lake

In Spring of 2017 we were in the area hiking the Hummocks trail, and we visited the Science and Learning Center, which gave us a snowy view of the boardwalk that we walked on today.

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February 2017   Looking down on Coldwater Lake

 

20. The Columbia River Gorge is on fire!!!

September 5, 2017

In northeast Portland the sun is cloaked in an orange shroud, the air tastes bitter, smells like smoke, and is dripping ash, ash from the burning trees in our beloved Columbia River Gorge!  The heat has pushed the human caused (allegedly a teenager with firecracker) conflagration west along the famous waterfall corridor.  Residents have evacuated and their homes are intact so far. Firefighters are working hard, may they stay safe!  But the weather is so hot and dry and the winds relentless – we all fear for the next stage of this tragedy.  It is a waiting game now as I reflect on all the lovely hikes we have taken in the area – waiting to know which of these amazing places are intact, and which will begin a new phase of regrowth and regeneration.  I am no stranger to hiking in burn zones, but this particular area was so lush and green.  It is very sad.

From east to west, some of our favorite places that are threatened or burned:

Herman Creek

 Dry Creek Falls

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Dry Creek Falls April 2017

Eagle Creek

Note that steep trail area is likely where the fireworks were used.

Wahclella Falls

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Wahclella Falls April 2016

McCord Creek / Elowah Falls

Oneonta / Horsetail area

Wahkeena / Multnomah Falls Loop

Multnomah Falls

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June 2014

MultnomahFalls (2)

December 2015

MultnomahFalls (3)

November 2014

Angel’s Rest

Latourell Falls

Views from Washington toward Oregon where the fire is burning

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Hamilton Mountain, looking toward Bonneville Dam May 2016

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Cape Horn looking upriver April 2016

 

 

13. Latourell Falls and Sherrard Point, 7/14/2017

Latourell Falls and Sherrard Point  7/14/2017  (#37)

Health issues and visitors slowed down my hiking this past couple of weeks, but we ventured out again to the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, with our visiting son, to an easy waterfall hike and an iconic viewpoint.

 Latourell Falls

Latourell Falls is one of the westernmost waterfalls in waterfall alley of the Columbia River Gorge.  The lower falls is easily seen from the old highway; the short trail down to its base was crowded on this beautiful Friday afternoon in July.  We chose to hike the easy 2.4 mile loop (500′) which took us to views of both upper and lower falls, and an overlook of the Washington side of the gorge.  Most of the usual forest flowers were past, or dusty remnants, with the exception of hedge nettle along the lower part of the trail in pleasing tall swaths, and  bright yellow arnica at the upper falls.

Sherrard Point

We then backtracked along the old highway to Larch Mountain Road, and drove the 13 winding miles through forest lined intermittently with orange tiger lilies, purple foxglove, white cow parsnip and yellow wooly weed. Sherrard Point, the view point at the top of Larch Mountain is a short (0.3 miles) walk up a wooded path that was  lined with many forest flowers.  At the top, the cream puff cascade peaks were all floating in the distance, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams to the North, Mt. Hood directly to the south, and Mt. Jefferson a bit farther south in the haze.

 

 

9. Grassy Knoll and #Hearts4PDX

Grassy Knoll   6/17/2017   (#33)

Bear siting on the approach road

This lovely trail is not heavily used, possibly because the trailhead is a very slow 10 miles on a potholed road (6808) that is on a ledge above a steep drop down to Bear Creek.   We saw a bear on the road within the first mile after the end of pavement.  We drove around a bend, and there ahead was a large shaggy deep brown bear who looked back at us then hustled down the road around the next bend, away from us.  By the time we made our way to that spot in the road we could not see any sign of the bear.  There were steep, heavily forested cliffs above and below the road, but I have seen a bear run up a similarly steep mountainside in Yellowstone, so I have no doubt the bear could have gone either way.  This was the first time I have seen a bear in the Pacific Northwest.  I have seen them previously in Yosemite and Yellowstone.

Wildflower Hike

The trail begins by traversing a grassy slope that is full of wildflowers – buckwheat, lupine, paintbrush, penstemon, groundsel, bluehead gillia, and lots of mariposa lilies.

The next mile or so is very steep uphill through the shady woods. Dan compared the trail to the steep part of Dog Mountain. Forest flowers abound, especially windflower and Solomon seals.

The trail breaks out onto an east facing rocky view point with abundant bright pink cliff penstemon and views across Big Lava Flow to Mt. Adams and Little Huckleberry Mountain.

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Back into the forest and along the ridge top, there are views to Mt. Hood to the south, and more varied wildflowers in the dappled light.

The trail passes a mossy outcrop with lots of white onion flower, penstemon and phlox.  Last year this area was covered with Mariposa lilies and other kinds of onions.

Eventually, there is a view ahead to Grassy Knoll.

The trail switchbacks through a glorious meadow with abundant flowers, and increasing views of Mt. Hood to the south, and Mt. Adams to the east. At the top are the remains of a fire lookout.

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Mt. Hood, Dog and Wind Mts. in the foreground

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Mt. Hood and the lookout footings

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Mt. Hood behind Mt. Defiance

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To the west – Three Corner Rock is the point on the left, and Silverstar Mountain the double peak on the right of the skyline

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Mt. Adams and Little Huckleberry Mountain

We continued up the trail for about a mile, through more forest and two more wildflower meadows.  We saw more flowers we hadn’t seen yet.

The uppermost meadow was covered in yellow glacier lilies and small pink western spring beauty.  Looking back from the high meadow we had another view of Mt. Hood before heading down the trail for the day.

We first hiked this trail last year about the same time in June, but on a rainy and overcast day, so we were glad to see the views this time.  Another difference is that last year was a low snow year so wildflowers were all much earlier, and the suite that we saw included later season bloomers, such as Clarkia and a lot more blooms from the onion family. Other than the Clarkia, we saw almost all the same flowers, plus a few early season extras in the upper meadows above Grassy Knoll, which we did not hike to last year.  Our total for this hike was 63 different wildflowers that I could identify, the highest total for this year.  We hope to go to both Saddle and Silverstar Mountains next week, where we may see even more different flowers.  This hike was about 6 miles and  1500 feet elevation.

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Mt Hood from Grassy Knoll

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Flower list

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GPS track

Yarn Projects Finished

I retaught myself how to crochet, and made 6 #Hearts4PDX for the yarnbombing event planned for June 26th, in honor of the Hollywood Transit Center attack victims. I appreciated the opportunity to do something positive in response to this event.

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#Hearts4PDX

I finished knitting a pair of socks from the pattern Ludwig by Stephanie van der Linden.  These have been my “on the go” knitting for a few months.