Eden Park via Vista Ridge, Aug 10th

Can a hike be both beautiful and eerie at the same time? Yes, this one is. For this weekend Brian, Mark and Carol had planned to go backpacking. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to do that as I was recovering from my thumb accident. Still, we though a day hike was something we could easily do. Knowing the route Mark and Brian where thinking of taking for the weekend, Val and I decided to hike in the same area with the hopes of bumping into them. The day was a bit gloomy but not bad to the point of keeping us away from the mountain so we headed out to the Vista Ridge trail. We didn’t realize beforehand that this trail borders the remnants of the Dollar Lake fire back in 2011. As we hiked up the Vista Ridge trail, we found a completely burned down forest that looked almost like an image taken from a Tim Burton’s movie. Seeing all the trees still standing up but completely burned was very eerie. Even with the amount of destruction, I couldn’t say it was ugly. The scenery was spectacular in its own way. As we gained elevation, we came out and went back into the fire boundary several times until we finally got a glimpse of Mt Hood. By then, the weather was turning grey. We continued until we found the junction with the Timberline trail and turned west towards Cairn Basin. From this point on, we completely left the fire area and entered a lush green meadow full of wildflowers and beauty. It almost seemed that we had been teletransported to another place. Closer to the shelter we found even more burned out sections but not as big as the ones on Vista Ridge. We got to the shelter and decided to stop for lunch just behind it where the flowers and views of the mountain were pretty incredible. Luck was not with me at that point as I opted for waiting until had finished my sandwich to take a picture. By then, the mountain was completely gone behind the clouds. We waited a bit to see if they would move but that didn’t happen so after a while we just took off towards Eden Park. It was pretty much downhill from that point on with more than a couple of stream crossings. We saw probably two more hikers but no sign of Mark and Brian. Finally we looped back to the Vista Ridge trail and hiked back to the car. The eerie part of this hike did not finished there though. Just coming out of Lolo Pass road, we decided to stop and get something to eat at Sky Wax. While there, weather turned bad incredibly quickly going from grey to stormy to lighting and hail. Back in the car and driving home we got an emergency message on the radio calling everyone to evacuate the area as there was a huge storm coming that way. We feared for Mark and Brian as we thought they were up in the area we hiked. Luckily we learned that they found out about the bad weather at the last minute and decided to change their plans and go somewhere else. They were ok although still got part of the downpour and had to cut the weekend short.



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Grassy Knoll and Big Huckleberry Mountain, Jul 13th

Located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge, Grassy Knoll is one of those hikes that are seldom overlooked. Getting there is part of the fun, in fact, the first time I went there; I thought I was in the right place only to find later I was a mile away from the actual trailhead. This time, knowing that good piece of information I was able to get the group to the trailhead without getting lost. Once on the trail you don’t have to wait long for the views. Soon after starting, the trail reaches the ridgeline traveling north. To the east the views are outstanding and even eerie as you see a big plain, all green, all covered in trees. It almost seems out of place to have an extension of land almost flat in the idle of the cascades. Looking at a map you realize that big expansion is the big lava bed, an ancient lava flow that leveled everything in its path. On the other side, far in the Distance, beautiful Mt Adams stands there looking at you. Not long after starting the trail makes a turn and you get some views towards the south that include Mt Hood and the Columbia River basin. And then, you get to the first destination, grassy Knoll. This flat area is where the old fire lookout tower used to be. You can still see some remnant of the tower as you enjoy the views around. From there, after a short break, we continued north towards Big Huckleberry, our second destination. The trail is not much different as it continues meandering thru the ridge until it gets to a point where a sharp turn right takes you to the summit. This summit is a bit less inspiring than Grassy Knoll as views are a bit limited. Still, it offers several spots where you can drop your pack and enjoy a nice lunch in the company of your hiking buddies.



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