The Gorge

Wind Mountain and Panther Creek Falls

This past weekend we decided to venture over the Washington side of the Gorge, so first we went for a hike up Wind Mountain, a beautiful, cinder cone just west of Dog Mountain. The trail is not well maintained, in fact some parts are a little scary. Not plunge to your death scary, but certainly slide down a hillside bouncing off of bushes and trees scary. Fortunately, that didn't happen. It is also a fairly steep trail, but boy the views at the top are well worth the hike.

Horsetail Falls Loop

This could easily have been title Waterfall Porn since this hike takes you past several incredible falls. It is a short hike, 5 miles or so, about an hour out the Gorge from Portland. You can park at Horsetail Falls and start the hike, but we chose to park a little closer to where we would be ending the hike and walk the short distance down the road to the start.

McCall Point / Rowena Crest

This hike is out the Gorge, outside of the bustling metropolis of Mosier, Oregon, pop. 430. It starts at the Rowena scenic overlook off of historic Highway 30. After a short climb it reaches the meadowed slopes overlooking the Rowena Plateau. Here, you'll have your first view to the west, including the arched highway bridge,and Mount Defiance. Looking north, Mount Adams appears beyond the town of Lyle. From here, the trail gets steeper as it switchbacks, alternating through forests of scrub oak and open grassy areas. This part of the trail is populated with poison oak and ticks.

Coyote Wall - Labyrinth loop

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.

Eagle Creek

Mother Nature, or climate change, or a freak occurrence in our natural weather patterns, has been wreaking havoc with our winter. Our long, dark months of drizzly rain have been replaced with sunny warm days in the 50s. Now, I’m not one to complain, but we will rue these days come summer. However, when life gives you lemons, you make lemon meringue pie, so with the the sunny days, Adriane and I decided to head out the Gorge and go for a hike. An, as happens in Portland, so had everyone else. We got to the Eagle Creek parking lot and could not find a space.

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