Hike Leaders hike to Forest Park, March 15th

This is a hike that I wasn’t going to mention for several reasons. For starters, it was a fairly short walk we did on Saturday afternoon. In addition, we were just hike leaders and the reason for the hike, was to discuss certain club matters. In fact, I had my camera but did not use it and ended up snapping photos with Marci’s camera. Since the pictures came out pretty good, I decided to share the experience. That morning, Jeff, Marci and I did the CPR/First Aid training curse, which Marci and I needed to have to begin organizing events. After the class, we met the rest of the leaders at Forest Park to do a short hike to the water tank and then rest for a while discussing in the Saloon. Arriving in Forest Park, it started hailing which almost made us cancel the hike. As almost always, hail stopped as soon as it started. The walk was short, but with very beautiful views. With the cool mist and fog, the brightness of trees and views of the woods were just beautiful. When we got to the tank, we took several pictures of the group and enjoyed some treats. From there we went to the Saloon where we spent some time discussing group issues. Upon our return, we went to the Lucky Lab, our place of choice, to continue the meeting and have dinner.

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Celebrating my birthday at Tyee Lodge, March 8th

This weekend, which coincided with my birthday, we went to Tyee Lodge in Mt Hood to spend the night. This stay was originally planned by the Trails Club together with the Hiking Group. From the beginning we knew that there would be a good amount of people and that we (at least Marci, Jeff, Lisa and I) had to help with household duties and take care of one meal. For some time I had offered to make Arepas with Perico (a Venezuela dish), and that was the plan for Sunday. As it was a relaxed trip, we went on Saturday morning without much trouble. Upon arrival at the Lodge, we chilled for a while before going out to enjoy the spectacular day. First we started digging three snow caves with the idea to connect them in the middle. We thought about spending the night in them but since the temperature was rather high, there was the possibility of high humidity, so the plan was scrapped. However, we managed to dig three caves of considerable size and joined them. All that digging made us spend a lot of energy. We then went in to enjoy delicious pasta with Pesto that Marci and David made. The afternoon went by with more playing in the snow. Just about when the sun started going down, I decided to climb for a while to enjoy the sunset up in the mountain. I took the Alpine Trail along some of the ski routes that go down to Government Camp. The climb was somewhat steep but the views were incredible. As you will see from the photos, I had the opportunity to enjoy the colors of the sunset and be above the clouds, all accompanied by silence. A unique experience. Going down was as entertaining while it was getting dark. Coming back to the lodge, I found a couple of very interesting views of the snow in front of the windows. Once inside we sang and ate birthday cakes. Apart from my birthday, we were celebrating Jeff, Mike and Lisa’s which are also in March. Marci’s cake was delicious as well as the cupcakes that Chris brought. The next day, we woke up early to begin with the task of preparing breakfast. The first was cutting onion which Jeff and Mike did while I started working on the Arepas. Marci helped, first preparing a fruit salad and then with the Arepas. After cooking for 30 people, we enjoy a delicious breakfast that apart from having fruit salad, Arepas and Perico, had avocado and cheese. After cleaning the kitchen, we went on a hike quite similar to the one I did the previous day; this time under a hot and radiant sun. The views were equally amazing with very interesting shadows and clouds covering the top of the mountain. You’ll also see in the pictures that we encounter some rabbit tracks. On our way, almost getting to the lodge we finally got the opportunity to see one. I think this weekend could redefine the concept of birthday party. The last photo was taken on our way back when the clouds made a quite peculiar shape.

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Backpacking at Herman Creek, February 23rd

Our first backpacking trip of the year! This trip was organized by Linda from the Trails Club but also included people from the Hiking Meet up group. The group was rather small, only 6 people, but perfect for a backpack trip. Herman Creek is a route in the Columbia River Gorge just past Bridge of the Gods. This route offers several camping sites at different altitudes and different trails to hike during the day. On Saturday morning, we met under the bridge. Although the weather forecast was not very good and promised rain, the day was completely clear and cloudless. After arriving to the trail head, we began our ascent. About an hour in, we came to a fork with the first camp site on the trail. The original plan was to camp further up, but not knowing if we would find snow, we decided to stay there. We unpacked and set up camp. After that, we went on a hike to Indian Point. This is a point in the trail where a rock comes out with a view of the Columbia Gorge. The road was somewhat tortuous especially with the snow. Although it was not too deep, it was soft enough to sink in it. That wasn’t much of a problem but it was laborious. For Shia was somewhat more problematic. Every step she took on soft snow would make her sink to her chest making it very difficult to walk. Despite that, she kept her good attitude and energy. Reaching Indian Point gave us mixed feelings. Yes, the views are fantastic (as you will see in the pictures), but the famous rock was unreachable and very unsafe given the conditions. The wind at Indian Point was strong enough to not let us get close to the rock. Upon our return to campsite, the first thing was starting a campfire. Drying wet boots and socks was the first priority. Then followed dinner where we shared the food we had. Linda and Glen offered ribs, Blake offered beans with rice and I offered a cucumber salad with some Tandoori chicken. There was no reason to eat badly. The night ended with us playing around with fire and flashlights. Since I learned how to do these tricks, you will see long-exposure photos in my albums more often. The next day, after a rich breakfast, we went on a different hike. This time, we took the Casey Creek trail, which took us to the campsite we originally thought of using. At that point, there are several trails to different places. We did a backcountry hike descending to a point were both creeks come together. This portion of the hike ended being very difficult and steep. There was more snow and it was deeper than on the way to Indian Point. After descending for a while, I realized that Shia, even though was not complaining, was not doing very well. As she was climbing down and sinking in the snow, she was getting snow between her toes. Seeing that it was getting worse, I decided to leave the group and return to the campsite where Glen was waiting. The climb back was really incredible, not because of the climb itself, but because of Shia. As soon as I told her to go back, she turned around and went ahead as she always does. The incredible thing is that she took me back, retracing every step back to the upper campsite. As you will see in the pictures, there was no trail or marks to follow. Even at a point where I took a small shortcut, she stayed back looking at me as if asking "so, where are you going?” When she saw I got back on track, she took the original route back and continued up. When we got to the upper campsite, we found Glen starting a fire to warm up a bit before returning. That’s when he taught me to use Pitch to start a fire! After a short break, we returned to campsite to pack up and head out. It was a great weekend with a lot of activity.

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Lunar eclipse at Powell Butte, February 20th

This wasn’t really a hike, but since the pictures came out nice, I am sharing them with you. On February 20th, we had a total eclipse of the moon. Hours before the eclipse, Marci, Jeff and I began to discuss the possibility of going somewhere to take pictures. We decided to meet in Powell Butte, a park on the east side of the city. In the park, we climbed to the top of the hill, where we found an excellent view without much light. The perfect spot to take pictures of the moon. The first 20 minutes were devoted to the eclipse, but then, we begun experimenting with long exposure photography. The results, besides fun, were very interesting.

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Snow Shoeing at Yellowjacket, February 17th

This was a beautiful and very entertaining hike. Yellowjacket is a trail that starts from the Snow Bunny snow park in Mt Hood. Snow bunny is a park with slopes where families with kids can slide down in tubes and spend the day having fun in the snow. We were supposed to do some snow shoeing, but since it hadn’t snow for about two weeks and temperatures were higher than usual, we found the snow to be really packed. Luckily we brought Yaktraxs with us just in case we found ice. As we started our hike we noticed that Yaktrax was going to be the better choice for the conditions. Marci, using them for the first time, tried to put them in reverse which ended up launching them to the trees. Luckily for her, they didn’t land so far away but it was still entertaining watching her go rescue them. After that we continued on the trail with Chris leading us. Thru the whole hike we saw incredible shapes and forms in the snow. With the high temperatures in recent days, melting snow started to form holes and crevasses. All this plus light coming thru the trees created very interesting shadows, giving us a variety of textures. The hike continued ascending until we came up to a beautiful view of Mt Hood. After a photo shoot, we continued up until we crossed a snow covered stream and went up a hill were we decided to stop for lunch. The fun part started right after that. Having a nice slope in front of us and great snow conditions, sliding was the logical thing to do, so that’s what we did for a while before heading back. As you’ll see in the album, conditions where perfect for photography. On our way back, with the sun in the opposite side, we had completely different views than the morning. As we were getting closer to the parking lot, we crossed with a family with three dogs. I would not comment about this if it weren’t for the hairy German Sheppard and the two Belgian Sheppards they had. Spectacular dogs. On our way back, just to avoid all the traffic from returning skiers, we took the long way around the east side of the mountain going to Hood River. On this route we enjoyed a beautiful view of Mt Adams in front of us during sunset. The day ended with a very nice meal in Hood River before heading back home.

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