Since Mother Nature is refusing to rain on us, we were forced to get out and about for the second weekend in a row. The "it rains in Portland nine months out of the year" ain't no joke. Well, it ain't no joke most years, but this year the jokes on us because it hasn't rained very much. The rainy season is usually the time to sit back, do some reading, drinking coffee and, in my case, programming, but when the sun is shining and the temperatures are approaching 60, well, you just have to get out and go. So, we loaded up the car and headed back out the Gorge to the sprawling metropolis of Bingen, Washington (that's bin-jen, not bing-en). Bingen is out there across the Columbia from Hood River, and being on the north side of the river has a little bit more of a sunny and deserty feel to it. A few years back we had hiked up the Coyote Wall, but I have since been informed that we surely missed out by not looping around to the Labyrinth, so this go 'round we decided to start on the Labyrinth side and loop back down the Wall. It was a great call. Most folks go the other way, so we pretty much had the start of our hike to ourselves. And the Labyrinth did not disappoint! It was beautiful... well, honestly, I really can't do it just. You might be better served to click on the image and flip through the photos, because a picture is worth a thousand words and one would have to be a mighty fine wordsmith to do this place justice. Suffice it to say the river was calm and clear, snaking through the gorge like a giant vein of silver, slowly creeping to the Pacific. The hawks were circling overhead calling to one another and watching the feeble humans struggle up the hills while the waterfalls effortlessly flowed the other way. Like I said, I really can't do it justice.
