Eagle Creek, Benson Plateau, Ruckel Ridge loop, Nov 9th

After all the hikes I planed in October, I was kind of tired so my original plan was to stay home for the weekend, but when Lisa called me on Saturday to go on this hike, I wasn’t able to say no. I think I needed a long hike like this with just a couple of friends. The plan was to climb Ruckel Ridge to Benson Plateau and come back down to Eagle Creek. In total this hike is about 15 miles and climbs a bit over 4000’. Lisa did mention that the original plan was the “easier” way to do it, but since we didn’t find the trail head to go up Ruckel Ridge, we did it in reverse, the hard way. As you may remember, I did Eagle Creek a couple of weeks ago and one of the nice things is that it climbs gradually. After 4 miles in, the elevation gained was not much but considering we were going to Benson Plateau, which could only meant that we were up for a steep climb. Once we got to the turn out, it was like going up a fire ladder. That climb took us about three hours almost non stop until we cleared the trees. We rested for a while and then continued back into deep forest. By then it was already getting dark so I didn’t take more pictures. Lisa did comment about a cougar sighting in the area so we did the entire Plateau singing and making noises. The descend on Ruckel ridge was as grueling as the ascend with the added bonus of darkness. Hiking back out in the middle of the night looking at the lights in the Gorge was simply magnificent.

Computer is back!

Finally my computer is back and running. For those of you that might read my posts regularly, you may have noticed that I didn’t post anything for about two weeks. That does not mean I haven’t been doing anything, I have. My computer broke down and it took me a while to get it up and running again. The process included changing a hard drive and reloading everything… not a lot of fun. But I’m back and there are, as of today, three hikes I have to tell you about. I’ll do my best to post the first one tomorrow, so until then…

Backpacking clinic at Nesika Lodge, Nov 1st

This was a great event planned by Linda from the Trails Club of Oregon which included people from TCO, our group and others. The idea was simple, hike up to Nesika Lodge in Multnomah falls, have a full afternoon with backpacking classes, tips and tricks, enjoy good food and good company, stay overnight and do a couple of hikes. I took a small group of five with me to the lodge on a very nice hike up the Multnomah trail, once at the lodge and after lunch, we started with the classes. First was Ron Moak, the owner and gear designer of Six Moon Designs, a company dedicated to ultralight backpacking gear. He showed us his line of tarptents and backpacks and talked about the materials he likes to use. After that, Laurie did a small presentation on Hypothermia and I followed first with proper clothing and then with sleeping bags. After a short break, we continued with some presentations on food and cooking tips on the trail which were very useful. Later in the afternoon we had a great dinner before calling the night and going to sleep. On Sunday I woke really early, in part because of the change in time and in part because it was my turn to cook breakfast. After that, Lisa and I took a small group on a hike to Cougar Rock and around where old houses use to be. We saw many areas where is easy to see some remnants of those. This short hike took us about two hours, just enough to get back to the lodge in time for lunch. Before heading out, we sat together and brought up ideas that we tried this year. The best ideas were awarded with prizes and all of us got a Tyvek suit that can be used in emergencies. All in all it was a great weekend. Did I mention it rained the whole time?

Coastal hike, aquarium Halloween party and kayaking, Oct 25th

If you got the idea from the title that we did a lot of stuff this past weekend, you are absolutely right. In the hiking group I lead, we encourage people to become hike leaders. Part of that process requires that they organize and lead a couple of events with our help. This time, I helped Laurie organize this weekend that she decided to pack with multiple adventures. First we drove to the coast and did a hike to Harts Cove. This is a promontory that overlooks the ocean. It’s a short/easy hike to a beautiful meadow where, weather permitting, you can sit, relax, have a bite and enjoy the view, which we did. She even opened this event for dogs so we had plenty of four legged friends. After the hike, part of the group headed back home while with the others we went to a nice restaurant to have diner. From there, Laurie took some of us (the overnighters) to the aquarium where she is a volunteer diver. She gave us a behind the scenes tour and took us up to the diving platform. That night was the Halloween party so not only visitors were dressed up but divers were also wearing costumes and diving in the tanks with all the little critters. Once Laurie went in, we went down to take pictures from the other side. It was packed with people but we had a great time. Later that night, back at the bed&breakfast where we stayed right in front of the beach, we got in the hot tub to soak for a while. I guess it doesn’t get much better than that. On Sunday we had a great breakfast and then headed out for another adventure. We stopped at a place to rent Kayaks and went paddling for a while. For me it was a real adventure. Although I’ve been in kayaks and canoes before, I’ve never done it with Shia. It took me a while to get her in the boat but after a while she was fine and even falling asleep while I was doing all the work. In the pictures you’ll see we had amazing weather conditions considering it’s the end of October, and we certainly took advantage of it.

Hike to High Bridge in Eagle Creek, Oct 19th

Being the leader of the Hiking Meetup group, I’ve been getting emails recently requesting shorter, closer to town, later, easier hikes. Knowing I was going to be a bit tired after the 25 mile bike ride on Saturday, I decide to finally go to Eagle Creek and take a group up to High Bridge. Eagle Creek is, next to Multnomah falls one of the most visited trails in the Columbia Gorge. Unless you do this trail in the middle of the night, you can be certain you will see other groups of people. Not only that, this trail offers the opportunity of making it as long or as short as you want and you still can get beautiful views. For this group High Bridge sounded like a perfect distance and elevation gain. So we started at around 11AM doing a nice stroll alongside the Eagle Creek. Soon after starting, we noticed that the trail is actually carved from the hillside rocks. As you climb, there are portions of it with a cable hand rail and sheer cliffs that overlook the gorge formed by the creek. One of the big features of this hike is Punchbowl falls which you can descend to. Once down at the creek level, you can admire the rock formations on both sides and the waterfall up ahead. This waterfall is also visible from above. Continuing on, you get to High Bridge which is a bridge (duh) that crosses the gorge. Once you look down from it, you’ll realize where the “high” comes from! It even makes you wonder how where they able to put it there. This bridge just hangs from both side of the gorge which is formed by two vertical rock walls that drop a couple hundred feet to the creek down below. In one of the pictures you’ll see the bridge on the top part and the creek all the way to the bottom. Really impressive. After a lunch break we headed back to the cars doing the same route.