Usually in April/May hiking destinations seem to move east on the Gorge. Most people start with routes like Coyote Wall, Katherine Creek and others and the reason is that spring tends to arrive there a couple of weeks or even a month sooner than closer in the Gorge. If you time it correctly, you can be welcomed by amazing wildflowers displays. Being close to that time, Carole and Mark planned to do this hike and invited Brian and me. The sky had a pretty homogeneous cloud cover which made the temperature and weather perfect for hiking the area and for taking pictures. Knowing we would get flowers and maybe a couple of small waterfalls I packed my tripod, just in case an opportunity showed up. Besides, there was a new photography technique I wanted to try. We started going up a small hill from the parking lot and right there and thee we could see that flowers were out. Maybe not all of them as the Balsam Root only had buds, but all the others were out already. Most of the hike goes over grasslands with some rock formations here and there but the trail is easy to follow and not too hard. We had a wonderful display of shooting stars, Avalanche lilies, paintbrush and many others that I can’t name. AS we hiked, we took our time to enjoy the views and the company we good conversations. We made a quick detour to check the top of Marsh Hill which opens views to the south. Is not a very high point but the views are worth it. After that, we continued the trail up to Chatfield Hill which is the highest point in this loop. From here you get both. Splendid views of the eastern Gorge and south towards Mount Hood and the valleys bellow. We stopped thee for a quick bite and while there I grabbed my tripod to focus stacking, a technique were the camera takes a certain number of pictures at different focal distances to then be combined with editing software. Being my first try, either I got lucky or I got lucky. The picture looks almost 3D!
On the way down, we retraced our steps to a point where a fence marks the boundary of a property. Instead of continuing back to the car, we took this route, off trail, to explore some more. The goas was to get close to a small creek that runs towards the river and enjoy the changing scenery. Along the route we found Middleswart Spring and followed it for a bit until we found a foot path leading down to a hole where a small water fall was washing the roots of some trees above. It looked almost like a scene from a fantasy movie. Mark, Brian and I could help ourselves but to go down and explore this little hidden gem. From the going got tough as we were bordering a cliff and could see an easy way down. Finally, we got into the heavy bushes and bushwhacked our way down without being able to avoid ticks, Poison Ivy and a face plant. But we made it out in one piece. Very rewarding (not the poison ivy part)
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