Winter Falls Birthday Week

It is birthday week! My birthday is on Wednesday (August 27th) and anyone who knows me just a little knows that my birthday is my FAVORITE day of the year! So naturally, I like to celebrate in a variety of ways and for a week at the least, if not a month! :)

To kick of my birthday week, my sweet mama drove down for the day. She also brought a delicious Peanut Butter Cheesecake she made, so thank goodness we went hiking! Guilt free birthday cake! :)

We headed out in the morning to hike at Silver Falls State Park. I tried to tailor the hike to my mom's level, since she has not hiked as much as I have. I challenged her with the 5 mile loop to Winter Falls. It was as beautiful as always, as I have done this hike many times.  My mom was definitely challenged by the hilly terrain, but she was a total rockstar and did an amazing job.

The hike was a little more challenging for me this time as well! I was on day two of soreness from a workout at the Courthouse Performance Center. As much as I complained, I know it was good for me, and my legs were definitely thanking me for it! Especially going downhill!

I was hoping to get a cute picture of the both of us in front of Winter Falls, however, because it is summer, Winter Falls is more of a little trickle off a cliff. That, and, I ran into one of our patients from work and got distracted in conversation! Oh well!

• Date of hike: August 23rd, 2014
• Distance: 5 mile loop

• Elevation gain: 670 feet
• Hiking Time: 2 1/2 hours

• Difficulty: Moderate 
• Miles thus far: 147/200 miles this year

 At the top of Winter Falls

Also a quick note: This shirt I am wearing I got at the Pendleton Round-up back in 2011. At that time I was the smallest I had ever been. They only had a size Large for this shirt but I wanted it anyway. It fit at the time, but very snugly and was not super flattering because it was tight. I put this shirt on this week and was pleasantly surprised to have it fit just right! I have passed my size in 2011! :)

 My mama and I! :)

 Isn't my mama the cutest? So proud of her for going hiking with me, she hates hiking! :)

Just being silly... :)

Triple Falls to Horsetail Falls and the Oneonta Gorge

This weekend was a little girls weekend up to the Portland area, firstly to visit with one of my best girlfriends, Katie, who was visiting this week from Boston, and secondly, since I was already up in the area, to hike in the Columbia River Gorge!

So Saturday afternoon we took the beautiful scenic Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Byway. This highway is quite narrow but passes by the Vista House at Crown Point and several waterfalls, including Multnomah Falls. There was a bit of congestion at Multnomah Falls since it is the biggest tourist spot. It was also a very popular day to be out in the gorge.

We finally got to the trail head for Triple Falls, and luckily got a great parking spot!  We hiked up to Triple Falls, which is a good steep 610 foot gain in about a mile and a half.  Just past the turn off to Oneonta Falls, keep going up to Triple Falls. This last spring the land suffered from erosion. The trail is open now, but not as secure as in the past. There was a challenging, loose dirt, narrow stair set with a loose dirt, narrow path edging along quite a drop off. Be careful here, especially on your way back down.  

After a good climb (your butt and calves will thank you later!) you'll come to Triple Falls, an incredible waterfall splitting off into three, hence Triple.  Here there is a great spot for a little rest, water, and a mini photoshoot.  You could keep going up to Larch Mountain, however that's another 6 miles. Instead we turned back down to the trail split and veered off to Oneonta Falls.  All of these trails feature my favorite type of hill climbing (that was sarcastic): Switchbacks. And again, your butt and calves will thank you for it later.  We descended down into the Oneonta Gorge and crossed the bridge that overlooks the Middle Oneonta Falls.  Climb back up out of the Oneonta Gorge and the trail winds another mile to Ponytail Falls. If you remember back in April, my mom and I hiked up to Ponytail Falls, well now we are connected back with that same area.  Winding around behind Ponytail falls and descending back down to the road, we arrived at Horsetail Falls.  This would be the end of our hike... mostly.  

Instead of walking back up the road to the car, we stopped halfway through at the entrance to the Oneonta Gorge.  Here, the hike is not on a trail, but the trail is the creek! So very skillfully, I changed my pants into board shorts and changed from my tennis shoes to creek walking shoes.  We climbed down into the water and creek walked up the beautiful Oneonta Gorge.  This was heavily crowded. We attempted to climb over the dam to get to the other side of the creek, but there were too many people to worry about it.  I would love to go back and just do the gorge creek walk with a good group of us, and perhaps go earlier in the day.

• Date of hike: August 16th, 2014
• Distance: 4 miles round trip

• Elevation gain: 610 feet
• Hiking Time: 3 hours

• Difficulty: Moderate (easy for me, but I know my mother would never do this one!)
• Miles thus far: 142/200 miles this year

Beginning of the Oneonta Trail

Beautiful view  looking west down the Columbia River

Trail split off going to Triple Falls, back down to the road, or Oneonta Falls

Triple Falls

Triple Falls with Caitlin

Triple Falls

Caitlin at Oneonta Falls

Oneonta Falls

Caitlin and I at Horsetail Falls... you could say there's three of us, if you include Nanny! (remember when my mom and I threw her ashes into the falls?)

Horsetail Falls

Tunnel to the Oneonta Gorge

The Oneonta Gorge

Caitlin and I log climbing!

Nice creek walk with Cait-lana

Thanks Caitlin for hiking with me!

Clackamas River Trail & Pup Creek Falls

The Clackamas River Trail has been on my hiking list for quite some time now, however I hadn't found anyone to go explore it with me! My stepdad, Butch, said he would go hiking with me and that he didn't think it would be too difficult for him.  So we set out up the Clackamas River past Estacada.  We got a late start so we ended up not hiking until about noon, when we planned to start a couple hours earlier.  My handy dandy hiking book instructs hikers to start at the Fish Creek Trailhead. However, when we got there and were about to set out, another hiker came up to us and told us that the trail was closed off two miles in from this side. We drove to the other end of the hike, Indian Henry Trailhead, and began there.

It seems like you go forever to get to anything significant, but it is an incredibly beautiful hike the entire way! The hike runs parallel to the Clackamas river and reveals some stunning areas of creation.  3-4 Miles into the hike you will come to a great spot to overlook the river. This spot is called the Narrows, where the Clackamas passes through a spectacular gouge in ancient lava.  About a mile to a mile and a half after the narrows, you will come to cross the pup creek on a series of stepping stones, go up a hill on the main trail and there will be another trail junction to your left. To get to Pup Creek Falls, take this trail! It seems like a normal trail at first, however it will prove to challenge you a bit! It's just .1-.2 miles in to get to Pup Creek Falls, but you must carefully climb over a fallen tree on the trail and rock climb down into the creek a bit.  The obstacle course of a trail is totally worth the work once you see Pup Creek Falls! It was stunning.

From this point, we headed back toward Indian Henry Trailhead and the truck. Our energy was depleating and the hills of this trail started to get the best of us. All in all it was an incredible hike, more difficult than imagined but totally worth it!

Thanks to Papa Butch for being a good sport and going with me!

• Date of hike: August 9th, 2014
• Distance: 9 miles in and out

• Elevation gain: not entirely sure, maybe 1200 feet
• Hiking Time: 5 hours

• Difficulty: Difficult
• Miles thus far: 138/200 miles this year

 Indian Henry Trailhead

 We took Miss Lucy on our hike and she was a good little puppy!

 View up the Clackamas Rivers from the Narrows

 Butch and I at the Narrows!

 The Narrows

 View up top above the Narrows

 Me and my handy dandy hiking book 

 At the Narrows

 Lucy is such a diva... she hates her picture being taken... but I don't care!

 One of the meadows we bushwacked through

 The incredibly gorgeous Pup Creek Falls

 From the base of Pup Creek Falls

Such a great hike! Love this puppy!

Drift Creek Falls

This weekend my mom came to visit! So naturally I forced her to go hiking with me! Now, here's the thing... my mother isn't much of a hiker. Her idea of hiking is driving through the woods... in the car. haha.  So I made sure it was a bit of an easier hike for her, while I strapped on a 20lb backpack to make it a little more difficult for me.

We headed over to the Lincoln City area to Drift Creek Falls. I have hiked this before but it has been 2.5 years since.  Finding the hike was easy enough. The hike itself was pretty good terrain. This hike goes down to Drift Creek falls and its downhill the way there, which means inevitably you must trek back up a bit to get back to the car.

I had remembered reading in one of my hiking books that there was another trail, like a scenic tour split off, that would add another half a mile to the hike and a little more elevation. What we didn't realize while hiking was that we missed the turnoff for this trail. We ended up hiking until we got to the exit of the trail as it meets back to the main trail. So what did we do? We took the trail thinking it was the first turnoff.  So we trekked uphill for half a mile only to meet back to the main trail closer to where we started hiking originally. Oh well! It added another half mile to our trip!

Back on the main trail, you will come to an area on your left, a divett off the trail, with small access to the creek and a nice resting log. Follow the main trail and you will come to the suspension bridge! And its not one of those tightrope type suspension bridges, so don't let that scare you away!

On the suspension bridge you'll be above the falls with a spectacular view! Go down the trail after the bridge just a little ways and it will end at the bottom of the falls!

Great little hike on the coast! We had lunch and hit the outlet mall afterward in Lincoln City!

• Date of hike: August 2nd, 2014
• Distance: 4 miles roundtrip

• Elevation gain: 800 feet

• Difficulty: Easy
• Miles thus far: 129/200 miles this year

 If you would like an extra half mile, THIS is the left path you take!

 Nice little rest area by the creek

 The suspension bridge was built dedicated to Scott Paul, who was a forest service builder and died in an accident during the construction of the bridge. Its thought that the trail was build just after the bridge, just to show off the bridge!

 See! A total, non-scary, type suspension bridge!

 The beautiful Drift Creek Falls