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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