Silver Star: Grouse Vista – Sturgeon Rock loop, Jun 30th

I have to say that Silver Star is still one of my favorite hikes near the Gorge. Not only any approach you take is challenging and beautiful but it’s also a very rewarding hike. From the summit the views expand 360 degrees and can include several peaks in the cascades. This time Val and I lucked out with a perfect day and vistas extending all the way to Mt Rainier on the north and Jefferson to the South. The hike from Grouse Vista is one I’ve done several times before as it’s the closest to drive to. The first part though just traverses thru forested areas but soon, after you pass the Pyramid Rock everything opens up. I recall last time I was in the area on a very cold winter day that ended up obscuring everything. Even like that it was beautiful. This time though, we had a marvelous display of wildflowers all the way with clear views of the summit and Sturgeon Rock. We made it first to the summit and visited the north side for just a minute to take a picture or two. Since there was a big group resting there, we went to the South side of the summit to enjoy a more peaceful lunch with open views towards Mt Hood. On our way back instead of doing the longer ridge trail and descending to the Tarbell trail, we did the shorter Sturgeon Rock trail instead. On the way down, we found a foot path leading up to the rock so we veered of trail and went up to check it out. The views from up there are something I’d never seen before. Been able to see the south side of the summit, at almost eye level was pretty interesting. Also, the view south that glimpsed over the Gorge toward Mt Hood was also very interesting. From there we continued on the trail towards the Tarbell trail and then closed the loop returning to the car. Needless to say it was a marvelous hike in the company of my sweetheart



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Puppy Dog Mountain, Jun 9th

This is what happens when you’re just lazy. You go out to do a known hike, a trail that you could do with your eyes closed and then, half way up you decide to turn around and go back down…. So instead of doing Dog Mountain, probably the best known hike in the Columbia Gorge next to Angel’s rest, we did Puppy Dog which is the exact same trail but just to the first view point where the trail turns back on a switchback and climbs to the top of Dog. We did the hike with Ramon, Lisa and Marcel who proved to be a great hiker and very nice company. It was a beautiful day with splendid views of the Gorge and plenty of wildflowers blooming all around.



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Rock of Ages, Jun 1st

Val and I wanted to go for a good, close by hike with good distance and elevation. Looking at different possibilities, we picked Rock of Ages since none of us had done it in a while. So we went along with Mark and Carole with the intention to do the normal loop. We got there pretty early and where on the trail real quick. Without a lot of complications, we found out way to the arch where we made a quick stop to catch our breaths and take some pictures. Then we started the real climb. We followed the devil’s backbone up all the way to Benson Plateau which went without a hitch. To this point, we were on track for timing so we stopped at the junction of Rock of Ages and the Horsetail Creek trail. The idea was to take this trail and then descend towards triple falls but that’s where things didn’t go as planned. By mistake, instead of continuing on the Horsetail Creek trail, I turned on the Bell Creek trail thinking it would go straight to the bridge and then down… Big mistake. The Bell Creek trail took us for a spin thru the forest with lots of ups and downs and beautiful scenery but clearly way out of our way. At last, we found the junction with the Oneonta trail which we knew would eventually join back with the Horsetail Creek trail. We took that path down which seemed endless. Several switchbacks and miles later, we were back on track descending towards Triple Falls. By then it was later than expected so we didn’t make the accustomed stop to check out the waterfalls. Instead, we rushed down to the car completing a bit over 14 miles.



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