Portland, OR - Eagle Creek Hike

Another absolutely beautiful day which we don’t want to waste and we’re off - for a new hike, a popular one but it’s a Monday and we don’t expect so many here. We emptied our car of anything valuable because we heard that there were lots of break-ins at this trailhead since it’s close to the interstate. We were also cautioned to leave the car unlocked, the glove compartment open and the way-back also uncovered. We did lock the car and did not leave the glove compartment open. In the end, we had no trouble and didn’t hear of anyone else who did - today.

Great view of Mt Hood on the way.

The trail was 3 people wide, especially in the beginning since it was so popular but it narrowed as it wound further into the forest. It was lined with trees, ferns and bushes all wet with dew and glistening in the sunlight. Eagle Creek rushed over rocks and fallen branches as it careened down the canyon. Cool trail, no wonder it is so popular.

We walked along the narrow ledge covered with slippery mud from the water seeping out of the cliff above. Luckily there was a cable alongside the cliff for us to hang on to. We were here on a weekday and there was little competition for the use of this cable. We could walk along the inside edge of the ledge holding onto the cable if we wished with no problem. Imagine a sunny weekend with dozens of hikers meeting on the ledge all wanting the inside track where the cable was. No one wanting to walk along the outside of the ledge where there was a 10’ drop followed by a 40’ drop. Here I am carefully finding safe footing amidst the mud and the rocks. Where’s that cable? They promised a cable. Yeah and the tooth fairy comes in the evening.

But the importance of being careful is paramount here because people have fallen to their death on the trail here. On a really sad note, the same day that we were hiking here, about 10 miles away a 37-yr old woman fell 70’ to her death trying to save her young son who had slipped on some rocks on the edge of a cliff. Both she and her son fell but her son survived the fall.

Trails can be mighty dangerous and both Gary and I are quite aware of that. It’s not a walk in the park and we are never complacent. We watch our footing, sometimes at the expense of watching the beauty around us. (Well, maybe I don’t always watch my footing as I should - there was that stepping off the dock incident in Sausalito a few months ago.)

Beautiful hike surrounded by tall trees with the sun filtering through the branches.

This hike has some nice stream crossing. But, we’re not going to take this one. A huge tree had fallen into it and the rangers hadn’t gotten out here to repair the damage. But, hey, someone had found a work-around to the left and we bounced over some boulders in the stream, a log that spanned a rock to the other side and we were there.

Some of the trees were tall. Witness this one which fell down. This tree extends from the upper left corner to the lower right corner and that’s not the half of it. The other half is on the other side of the trail.

There are two major waterfalls on this hike. Here is the first.

The second takes a bit of hiking to find. We missed it on our first time. through and had to circle back. But, we enjoyed the trail so much that we didn’t mind.

This one, called the Punch Bowl, was harder to see. I had to get out on the furthest rock towards the middle, balance there and shoot through this crevice in the wall. Gary, waded out as far as he could without getting his shorts wet and peered around. I read that sometimes people swim in the punchbowl right under the falls, but this is very early May and NO ONE wanted to be in that water very long. Did Gary lose feeling below his ankles? Almost.

Cute scene here as a mother helps her little hiker walk on the rocks. He loved it and will be a real hiker as he grows up.

Then it was back to the car.

At the car, I was taking off my hiking boots and realized that my little fitness gadget had fallen off somewhere on the trail. Oops. Am I going to go back to find it? Not a chance. It could be 4 miles in. Shucks.

Cool hike, no wonder it’s so popular. We’ll start earlier and go further next time.

Oh, yeah, the canopy shot. Is this cool or what?

Portland, OR - Gorgeous in the Gorge

“Come visit us again and again. This is a state of excitement. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live.”

                                        Oregon Governor Tom McCall (1967 - 1975)

80° and sunny. Whoo-eee, let’s do the Gorge. Along with several thousand of our new best friends. Well, you know, Oregon gets so few sunny days that everyone in Portland is heading down the road to the Gorge today, a Sunday. And, I don’t blame them. It’s us for the Gorge too.

We started at Panera for a light breakfast treat. Now, if you’ve read this blog you know that we like Panera but we actually haven’t been in a Panera since we left Altoona, IA in October so this is a real treat. While we were there Cathy and Tom, Gary’s sister and brother-in-law, called and we had a lovely talk: relatives who turned into best friends. The most fun we ever had on the road was when they had an RV and were traveling too. We talked and texted every day and met them for a few weeks in Sedona. Fun, fun, fun.

We drove out of the Panera parking lot and turned onto the road to the Gorge: OMG, OMG, is that Mt. Hood? Oh, my, it really is Mt Hood off there. It’s not just a mirage. It’s not just a fable to get tourists to visit Oregon. Nope, it really exists. The last time we were here in Portland, we were here for a week and NEVER saw Mt. Hood. Oh, we glimpsed it one day shrouded in clouds, but no real sighting. We were sure it was just a story the Oregonians made up to draw tourist dollars. Today we saw that it really exists. I like this view since it shows you just what average Oregonians see every day - no big deal - just a mountain. Well, we Flatlanders think this is a really big deal.

Now the Gorge. First stop: the Women’s Federation Park where we get this cool view down the River eastward.

This huge river begins as snowmelt in the Canadian Rockies. Hard to imagine. Then it drains loads of other river systems in its 1200-mile run to the Pacific and is the nation’s 4th largest river. Right now we are 725’ above it. See those cliffs on either side, formed by an Ice Age flood scouring through the lava flows 18,000 - 13,000 years ago. Floods? Volcanoes? Snowmelt? Me, I just enjoy the views.

‘The most expensive comfort station in the world.’

That tiny little knob on the next cliff down the gorge is a building called the Vista House, built on a prominent promentory. It was built to give those traveling along the Gorge road a place to relax and refresh with its beautiful views. It was projected to cost $17,000, actually did cost $99,148 and was called: ‘the most expensive comfort station in the world.’
The restoration of the building was finished in 2005 and cost $4,500,000: half from private funds and donations and half from various state, county and federal sources.

From the Women’s Federation Park and from the Vista House the views are extraordinary in their scope both down the river and up.

Beautiful ceiling inside.

I found this cool truck at the Vista House. I’ll need a ladder to get into it. Maybe we can buy it to pull our motor home.

After the Vista House, the road along the Gorge winds its way gently down the cliff (picture couples dressed in their Sunday finery sitting primly in their black Fords)

to the bottom and then follows the river up the Gorge.

This is what the curves looked like before all the trees and greenery grew.

It winds past some marvelous waterfalls, absolutely stunning in their number, variety and heights.

The first one we hit was the Latourell Falls. Many of the falls along the road are very accessible to anyone. Some can be seen from the road itself. There are also trails around the falls if you want to get up close and personal with them. Many trails go beyond the falls lining the road to falls in back, further up the small canyons. We’ve taken many of these trails and they are pretty nice. Of course, on a sunny Sunday, they are packed. But, that’s some of the fun - seeing others out enjoying nature’s wonders. Of course, as we approached Multnoma, the most famous, the most visited and the most photographed falls, we had this scene.

And, our GPS showed this (red dots mean lots of stop and go traffic. The blue dot is where we are, right in the middle of it all.

The last time we had been in the Gorge, the most famous of the waterfalls with the most amazing fall, Multnoma, was being repaired and all we saw was this fine white tarp. Not much of a view. Looks like it was a cool day back two years ago.

This year the repairs were done, the bridge was open and the views up the falls were marvelous.

From the bridge down to where I took the picture of the whole falls we could see some of our dozens of new best friends. Nothing like a quiet contemplative day in the park.

But, since we could climb the trail up to the bridge, we could also cross the bride and hike to the top of the falls. Couldn’t do that last time. Here’s the first sign by the first switchback.

11? 11? You’re kidding of course. Nope, there were AT LEAST 11 and I counted 12 (we hit 6 of 11, turned at the next switchback and at the next one after that was a sign saying 7 of 11. Hmmm. What about that middle switchback? Was that not long enough, not high enough? Didn’t it count?)

We were so surprised to see so many on this hike. We really hadn’t expected so many. It was pretty long, steep and arduous. But the payoff was amazing, we could see the top of the falls - and the parking lots below. 2 huge parking lots and mostly full. We were actually in a third parking lot to the right that is not in this picture and then there were those parked along the road.

Fun fun hike but straight up those switchbacks. We were both surprised to see how many others were also climbing up them.

Back at the gift shop at the bottom I found this treasure.

Hmmm. At least it’s a small gift for someone back at home who has everything.
4 falls, 3 hikes, 2 vista points and 1 Mt Hood in our sight and we were ready to head home - at 7:30. Hmmm. How about dinner at Panera where we started out?

Then home. One last view of Mt Hood shrouded in snow at night.