Recent Exposures

Today I drove out through Bend to Devil’s lake near Mt.
Bachelor to start my climb up South Sister in the beautiful Sisters
Wilderness. The weather had been cloudy
and rainy all week so I was hesitant about going but it is the last free day I
have for about 2 months due to the GSY-USA consulting job I have taken for the
rest of the summer.

I got
to the mountain around 11am and started hiking up the beautiful trail. In under a mile I found myself in open
meadows with wildflowers everywhere and alpine lakes all around. It was absolutely beautiful . In the distance I could see Broken Top
and
behind me loomed Mt. Bachelor with streaks of snow still left on it from the
ski season. As I scrambled up the
footing became very loose, almost to point of sandy. It was all light weight ground up pumice left
over from previous eruptions ages ago. I
crossed
several snow fields left over from the winter on the way up. Finally I got up to an alpine lake and
followed a ridge above a glacier up to the summit bowl. It was amazing slowly climbing above the
height of jagged Broken top. Looking up
at the mountain you could see snow fields, glaciers, and various colored
volcanic rocks from yellow to orange to dark red.

When I
got to the top I was pretty tired and feeling the altitude because I
had
climbed to over 5,000 feet to get to 10,000 in just over 3 hours. It was beautiful out – 70 degrees, a little
breezy and sunny with a few clouds. On
the way up through the pulverized lava rock I could see and smell sulfur coming
out small vents in the side of the mountain which along with the salts in the
area had attracted millions of butterflies. They were literally crossing my path in a clouds of wings. Look closely at the picture to see
them. At the top I had to walk around
the rim of
the caldera to get to the true summit. The caldera was filled with snow and a small
glacial lake lay in the middle of it. At
the summit there were even more butterflies! The views from the summit were amazing. Middle Sister, North Sister, Three Fingered Jack, the side of Jefferson
were all to the north while Broken top,
Bachelor, and Crater Lake lay off in
the distance to the south. The
colors of
the rocks at the top were amazing. I
stopped for a good hour to enjoy the views, take pictures, and scarf down the
Tupperware container of leftover bbq wings from the night before (one of the
best lunches I’ve had at the top of a mountain). After
hanging out and playing with some dogs
that made it to the summit I climbed down to the top of the glacier where I had
seen two guys go down on their butts in goretex pants
earlier. I took a deep breath thinking it was stupid
and then jumped into their ass-tracks and skied down their tracks standing up
keeping my balance with my
ski poles. Other than falling once briefly on my butt I made it all the way down
the face of the glacier standing up in my leather Asolo boots much to the
amazement of several parties below who thought I was nuts and told me so J. From there I could see the valley below and
where a
large lava field had sprouted from
the earth hundreds of years
ago. It was an easy decent from there
and before I headed home I took a couple minutes to soak my sore feet in an ice
cold stream at the base of the mountain. 12 miles in 7 very wonderful, beautiful, relaxing hours on my
birthday. Definitely one of my favorite
hikes.

Today was one of the most physically challenging days of my life.  After I dropped my mom off at the airport last night I drove two hours north across the Columbia River to the South Climb trailhead of Mt. Adams.  I organized as much as I could, set my alarm for 3am, reclined my seat back as far as it would go and fell asleep at around midnight for a 3 hour nap before climbing the third highest volcano in the lower 48 at 12,276ft.
    I woke up at 3am and after packing and eating some left overs I was able to hit the trail at 4am.  I had forgotten my Forest Pass but luckily didn’t get a ticket for it.  I filled out a climbing pass at the register and with my 20lbs of downhill ski gear strapped to my tiny Mountainsmith Day pack I headed up the mountain.  The guidebook says it takes 6-8 hours to climb the mountain and I was hoping to make the summit by noon because weather reports said the weather was going to turn nasty by mid-day and I wanted to be headed down at that point. 
    The south climb trail turned to all-snow at around 7,000 ft and by 8,000 ft I had put on my crampons permanently to the summit.  I started off in the dark but by 5am I was able to take off my headlamp and could see dawn shining on Mt. Hood to the
south and Mt. St. Helens to the West in a reddish
glow.  By the time I hit the lunch counter rock area the sun was fully out and I had put sun tan lotion on my scars and face (missed my left side apparently as I’m now so sunburned that my nose is blistered).  The route to the summit from here was a steep climb up Crescent Glacier.  Many others were already on the climb because they had stayed overnight at 9,500 ft to become acclimatized to the altitude.  I on the other hand was not used to
the altitude and it really slowed me down as I got above 10,000 ft.  I was running on nearly no sleep, carrying 20 pounds more than anyone around me and was not acclimatized at all so I was really struggling.  I ended up climbing with a nice guy named Rob for that section who also had skis but by the time we got to Pinnacle Peak, the false summit, he decided to bail and ski down some chutes from there as I kept going towards the true summit.  I was hoping that the sun would soften up the snow but it was about 20 degrees and very windy at the top leaving the snow pretty much boilerplate ice.  I had promised myself that I would ski from the summit though and that is exactly what I intended to do. 
    I got to the top at 11am just in time to see a couple getting married at the summit (seriously, with a priest and witness).  I was able to snap a few pictures of them and get some video at the top while I took a much needed rest.  To my great
dissapointment all of my video from the summit and pics of me at the top got erased from my camera but one picture of the couple at the top with Mt. Ranier behind them was preserved thankfully.   I’m not too upset though because I know that I’ll definitely be back to the summit again once I get a more lightweight ski mountaineering set up next winter.   
    At over 12,000 ft my head was beginning to throb from the altitude and I was feeling a little dizzy so I geared up, strapped on Chris Holm’s helmet cam, squeezed my cold feet into my frozen downhill boots and headed down the sheet of ice I had just climbed.  From the summit I had to cruise down and then slightly back up the
shoulder of Pinnacle peak to head back down Crescent Glacier.  This required some speed and speed required balance and strength on top of sharp glacial ice and my legs were already rubber.  I took a few moments to rest then pointed em’ down the face of the summit into the saddle and then up the shoulder of Pinnacle peak reaching a max speed of 40mph (according to my GPS) which took all the strength I had to maintain my balance.  From there I carefully made my way down the sheer ice face of Crescent Glacier all the way to the lunch counter rock area using all the strength I had in my legs to not fall down.  If I had fallen at the top it was a good quarter mile slide all the way down to jagged volcanic rocks at the lunch counter below.  Check the picture with the clouds below to get an idea of the height and distance I had to ski down. 
    When I got to the bottom the snow became pitted with too many "sun-cups" for me to ski it so I changed back into my plastic mountaineering boots for the descent.  I ended up hiking the rest of the way down with two older men Doug and Ken (twins) back to trailhead.  I got a few more pictures on the way down that unfortunately got erased somehow as well.  If I ever find them on my computer I’ll make sure to post them here but it doesn’t look good… I guess I’ll have to wait until next year.  By the time I got to the parking lot my knees were beginning to really hurt and my shoulders were so numb with pain from supporting all the weight of the ski gear on the way down that it was extremely painful to even lift the cell phone to my ear to call my mom and let her know I was ok.  It was a 13 mile trip with 7,000 feet of elevation gain and my first ski descent of a cascade volcano.  Can’t wait to go back!

Before picking my mom up at the airport I decided to go for a hike in the Columbia River Gorge up Wahkeena Falls.  The trail I took climbed steeply up to the top of
Wahkeena Falls and then up to where the spring that feeds the falls comes out of the ground.  It was amazing to see a decent sized creek simply come out of nowhere in the ground.  The trail crossed above the stream but there was simply no water up the hill, it simply just poured out of the ground… The trail then followed the shoulder of the mountains to the Larch Mountain trail which I took down to the top of the 600 foot Multnomah Falls.  Looking down from the top of the falls was certainly a new perspective and you could get a much better feel for the height of the 2nd largest waterfall in the U.S. from there.  I bet someone could easily base jump it…. hmmmm…… From there I simply followed the trail down to the bottom and took an
easily trail following the historic highway back to my car.  Unfortunately for my pride the Multnomah trail is a very popular trail and I got a lot of pity looks by everyone who passed by me and saw my face…  Other than that it was a great hike and I can’t wait to get back and explore the trails around there further!

Today Jason, Kristen and I headed up the Oregon Coast with McKenzie to Cape Meares and Cape Lookout for some easy day hiking on the coast.  It took us nearly 2 hours of driving to get all the way to Tillamook where we headed West onto the scenic drive around the state parks past Oceanside and other cute little Oyster towns around Netards Bay. 

Cape Meares was really beautiful.  When we first got there we went over to the wooden viewing platform above the cliffs where we met some Audobahn people who
were looking at Black Cormorants through their telescopes.  The birds were pretty far away but you could see their nests due to all their white shit dripping down the rocks around them…  The three of us and dog then hiked down a little ways to the lighthouse where I climbed inside to check it out.  They are all pretty much to the same when you are in them I’m learning.  After the lighthouse we took a walk around the park and came across a giant sitka spruce tree called the Octopus tree which had a circumference of about 50 feet!  It basically looked like a
giant end
of a sprouting potato sticking out of the ground!  Check out the picture and read the description in it.   After hiking back out to the road we came upon a path down to the beach which we decided to check out.  After descending about 2 miles we came to a very eroded beach which McKenzie had
a blast running around in.  I also found a live small mother dungenese crab to check out that was protecting a huge sack of eggs with it’s hind legs.  On the way back up the trail we found some pretty huge red raspberries to eat.  I’m not sure what variety they were but they were pretty tarty… maybe not ready to eat just yet.

After climbing back up the trail we headed south down the coast towards Cape Lookout.  On the way I stopped at a skeevy looking R.V. park to buy some local Netards Bay Oysters.  24 for 9 bucks!… ohhhh yeah.  We through them in Kristen’s lunch bag where she conveniently had ice packs as well!  I had no idea how I’m going to get them open when I got home.

Cape Lookout was fantastic.  We basically followed a path that led out to the end of
the peninsula.  The trail followed the upper edge of massive cliffs that plunged into the ocean hundreds of feet below us.  The picture in this paragraph I found on the web to show you what we were hiking above… We were so high that we were stuck in a pretty neat fog the whole way out with strong winds.  When we got to the end after hiking through a bunch of mud, covering the dog, the fog
began to lift and we could see the beaches and shore to the south.  There was a cool looking coastal squirrel who was curious about us as well.  On the way back I spotted some more cormorants on the rocks and got some better pictures of them then I’m sure the Autobahn guys where getting at Cape Meares. 

It was a beautiful day on the coast but Jason’s and Kristen’s Knees had enough after the 10 miles so we decided to call it a day and head back to Corvallis through Lincoln City where we got some DQ per tradition of weekend hiking return trips.

Today after we left Shilo’s Eleanor, Chris, and Toshi and I headed down 126 to south of Florence on the coast to the Tahkenitch dunes for a 7 mile hike.  Eleanor was in a little under the weather from last night but she decided to go along which I thought was great.  The hike took us over some dunes to the ocean where we walked down the beach for a few miles and took naps under the sun.  On the beach we
encountered the carcass of a huge fish that Hodak decided to lie down next to for a size comparison photo.  I also found tons of mole crabs (sand crab) on the beach.  I had not noticed them before but on this beach there seemed to be hundreds of them
scurrying about when water washed over them then quickly digging themselves back into the soft, wet sand when the wave passed.  A simple scoop of the hand of the sand would bring them out of hiding and if you’re quick enough to grab one and wash it off it was cool to look at.  Check the photo. 
    After napping for a littel while and watching jeeps and 4×4’s rally up and down the
beach (It’s open to vehicles) we headed back inland to the freshwater Three-Mile Lake.  We walked around it a little, lost the trail and had to climb a steep slope up a dune to get back on the trail again.  There were numerous places to set up camp on the dunes which may be a possibility later this summer if we come down to the dunes for "Guys Weekend" which I’ll be setting up soon.  The trail then winded through a large forest back to Toshi’s car. 
    We then spent the rest of the afternoon driving up the coast back to Corvallis.  We stopped at Waldport for some seafood after the hike for dinner.  I ordered the Clam Chowder for 8$!!!, 6 oysters for 10$!, and a milkshake.  After realizing that everything was wayyyy over priced I was thankful that they completely forgot my oysters.  Even the "bowl" of chowder I got for 8 bucks was in a little styrofoam cup… not to pleased with the meal there or the prices… oh well.  Hopefully when my mom comes in a month we’ll be able to stop at some cool seafood places on the coast for fresh oysters on the half shell!

Today Brendan and I drove south down the coast to Sunset Bay and Cape Arago to
hike along the shore in the state parks there.  It was a beautiful
day in the sun and I think Brendan really enjoyed getting out of CorVegas for the weekend.  We stopped at A&W for a burger before starting our hike because we were on empty stomaches.  The ocean was blasting the cliffs all day which made for some unbelievable pictures.  We also saw hundreds of Sea Lions
lying on the beaches and out on Simpson’s Reef getting trashed by the surf.  We came upon really neat terraces of sedimentary rock
that were eroding around more resistant clusters of rock  in them leaving the land looking like something you’d see on another planet.  Check out the picture.  We ended up hiking a strange trail inland out to Cape Arago and then followed the Oregon Coast Trail along the shore back to the truck at Sunset Bay. 
    After Sunset Bay we drove to the Umpqua Sand dunes.  I can’t wait to come back here in a month or two with my buddies from Corvallis for a weekend of ATV rentals and bbq’s.   There are also shops for sandboarding, a new sport that is blowing up on
the coast and on sand dunes around the U.S.  There are actually boards made specifically for the sport with special slick coatings on the base to help them rocket down sand dunes faster.   We stopped at one store and heard about some local guy named Josh that throws 50′ backflips in the dunes.  Crazy!  Anyway, Brendan and I
found a cool trail that took us over some of the largest sand dunes in the park.  We climbed up the first one and were amazed at the site from the top.  It really did look like we were suddenly in the middle of a vast desert.  We took off our shoes and started hiking over the dunes towards the sea but it was 8:15 already so we decided to head back so that we could leave before the gate was locked and we were stuck in the parking lot.   Before we left the dunes we got some funny videos of me cartwheeling down them and then climbing up the steep slopes.  We had a long 2 hour drive back to Corvallis from the coast and I don’t plan on doing anything tonight besides writing this blog…

Today I summited Mt. Hood, the highest point in Oregon at 11,240 feet.  My climbing partners were Matt, Jason, and Drew from CMRU and Justin Broderson from OSU.  It was a first summit for Drew, Justin, and I while Matt has been up several times before. 

We drove up late Saturday night to camp overnight in our vehicles in the Timberline Ski Area Parking lot.  We arrived to find ourselves nestled among news vans and search and rescue buses.  Apparently a team of 5 guys got themselves lost in a whiteout up on the mountain and called for help.  This news of course went across the country and caused all of our poor mothers to go into panic mode on Mothers Day of all times because we were also a party of 5 climbers!  At about midnight all of our pagers started to go off letting us know about a possible rescue mission on Mt. Hood which we conveniently were sitting directly under.  Luckily the Portland Search and Rescue Unit found the lost climbers and were able to pull them off the mountain in the middle of the night. 

We woke up at 2am to check the weather and see if we could start climbing.  It was
still a complete white out and we could barely see 20 feet outside
the truck due to the strong winds and blowing snow so we decided to stay in the vehicles another 2 hours and get up at 4am and at least hike to the top of the Palmer Chair lift to check the weather.  When we got up the weather had not changed but as we got dressed and signed the climbing book a miracle happened…. the clouds disappeared in a 15 minute flash to open up blue skies and the morning sun rising behind the mountain in the East.  We quickly got started up the mountain leaving the parking lot around 5am. 

The parking lost was at about 5,500 feet in elevation and by the time we reached the
top of the Palmer Chair lift we had gained 3,000 feet (about the
elevation gain of a peak in the Northeast).  Jason wasn’t feeling top of his game so he decided to hike around that level and then return down the mountain while Drew, Matt, Justin and I charged on upward.  We followed a clear "highway" of tracks up the Palmer Glacier towards Crater Rock where we stopped for a break and some food right next to Devils Kitchen and Steel Cliff where
large "puffs" of sulphurous gas were spewing out of the rocks.  The air stunk of sulphur so bad that I think it was actually starting to hurt my throat!  Matt, who had been carrying skis, decided to ditch the skis at this point so he wouldn’t have to carry them up the Hogsback, a steep and narrow ridge at 10,600 feet leading up the "Pearly Gates" entrance to the summit ridge. 

When we got to the Hogsback we could all tell that Justin was having an extremely
painful time with his knees but he kept pushing himself onward and upward

overcoming the pain that told him to go down with every
step.  The Hogsback has moved north this year and without sufficient snow fall the entrance to the Pearly Gates was deemed unsafe so the route shifted north to a narrow, steep ice chute leading to the gradual summit ridge.  We climbed up chute without ropes utilizing our ice axes and happy to be wearing our helmets with the icefall danger. 

Once through the chute we reached the summit and celebrated
there for about 20 minutes before we all got cold and decided to head back down.  The views from the summit were amazing.  We were easily 5,000 feet above the clouds and the only land we could see north and south were the massive Cascade Volcanoes.  Visible to the South were Jefferson and the Sisters while to the North we could clearly make out Adams, Rainier and St. Helens.  I got some great hi-def footage with my camera from the summit and the zoom was able to capture some great photos of all the volcanoes.  Check the photos and use some google skills to try to figure out which ones are which.. :) 

We headed down from the summit at around 2pm.  I descended down through the icy chute unroped because I felt confident with my ice axe skills and balance.  The altitude gave me a slight headache but nothing too serious. Justin, Drew and Matt roped up and met me at the top of the Hogsback where I was "boiling" in the sun.  After descending the Hogsback and down the Palmer Glacier and ski trails we made it back to the parking lot at around 5:30, a good 12 hours from when we had started.  After just 3 hours of off-and-on again sleep, little breakfast, little water, and a day of hot sun that led some of us to viscious sun burns and partial snow-blindness we were happy to be down after a very successful summit. 

Mad crazy props go out to Justin who finally accomplished a life-long goal of summiting a big climb and for doing it under extreme pain.  I haven’t seen that kind of determination and will power in a very long time.  No words can describe how impressive it was.  Because Drew, Matt, and Jason were on the climb it also counted as the Unit climb for me that I needed.  It also meant I had knocked off another state summit - the first "class 4" summit that I have done yet.  The ice chute that we climbed at the top was pretty technical and it reminded me of the
Hillary Step I’ve read about on Everest where climbers have to wait in line to pass through it.  We passed over large glaciers with open cravasses, steaming fumeroles on the active volcano dealt with the sun that made us dehydrated, burned, delirious and exhausted.  It was an epic day with a great group of climbers in beautiful weather on a fantastic peak. I can’t wait to go back and climb it again on a different route for something new! 

    After the helicopter training yesterday I decided to go exploring MacDonald Dunn on my bike again.  This time I rode over Chip Ross Park up Dan’s Trail over to the Oak Creek trailhead from my apartment.  The Loop was about 10 miles and was awesome.  I got home and  ate a burger… not really a burger  because I couldn’t find a bun to go with it.  I spent yesterday evening trying to plan out about 5 hikes/bikes/runs in Cape Perpetua State Park to cover all the trails in that section of a guidebook I have of the Pacific Northwest.   
    Today I woke up around 9am and drove to coast without grabbing breakfast, although I did grab a Snickers Bar from the drawer and the other half of the huge
burger I couldn’t finish last night.  I started off my day hiking chowing down the rest of the burger and hiking along a short trail on some cliffs above the ocean in Cape Perpetua.  It was amazing to be so high up above the ocean and the very old stone structure at the end viewpoint was cool to stand in as it seemed to teeter out over the cliff face.
    I then went down to the ranger station and picked up an annual parking pass so
that I would have one for the rest of my hikes this summer.  I then proceeded on my marathon of a day first running 2.5 miles down a trail along a river to a giant spruce tree that was about 8.5 feet in diameter at it’s base.  It even had a whole straight through that I was able to walk through!
    After running down Giant Spruce Tree trail I stopped briefly at the truck to grab my backpack and video camera before heading down to the ocean to check out the Restless Waters Trial, Cape Cove, and the Captain Cook Trails.  I
walked around the rocky beach at Cape Cove then re-joined the Cape Cove trail to the Restless Waters Trail where I came upon a chute of churning waves that exploded when they hit the volcanic rocks of the shore into huge sprays of water.  I climbed down with my camera and shot some video of the waves coming in.  I got a little too close because one of them caught me off guard and soaked me pretty well.  Luckily I was able to cover up the camera lens before it got me!  I then walked around the shore to the south and
checked out some tide pools with critters in them.  There was a rotting carcass of seal bones as well which was
interesting/gross to see.  I then came upon "spouting horn" which was neat to watch.  As the waves came in they were funneled into a narrow chute that focused the waters energy into a tall spout of water that blasted out of the rocks if the waves hit it just right.  I’d say that those trails along the shore were some of the coolest ones I’ve been on yet in Oregon and I was lucky enough to hit them at high tide to really see the power of the ocean waves against the rocks of the shore!

    After getting back from the shore I grabbed my bag to go on an 8 mile hike into the interior of Cape Perpetua by first following the Oregon Coast Trail to the Gwynn Creek Trail to the Cook’s Ridge Trail back over through Discovery Loop for an 8 mile loop hike.  The hike was actually pretty uneventful but I’ll always think that the Oregon woods are a beautiful area to walk through.  The trees are enormous and with wild flowers now out and small cascading waterfalls even a mediocre hike like this blows most of the East Coast hikes I’ve done away.  I actually think my years of hiking in the Adirondacks and Northeast below treeline has really made me appreciate the landscape and forests out here so much more!  My return through Discovery Loop was neat as there were signs posted all over telling about the flora/fauna around me.  It was more of a self-guided nature walk at the end.   

    When I got back to my truck I grabbed my Kona and headed to Cummings Creek to bike up to 1700 feet on a 12 mile trip, which turned out to be an awesome loop.  As I was nearing about halfway up the trail according to my GPS I saw a small herdpath leading to the left into the trees so I wandered in to check it out and mark the location with my GPS.  As I was there a really awesome downhill mountain biker almost ran into me and told me all about some hidden single track trails that weren’t listed on the map.  Awesome!  I actually was going up the hard way to get to the ridge where the trails began as biking up the forest road to the north was easier but I didn’t know.  So, I trudged on up the trail, walking my bike over the very rugged, very unused top portion of the trail to the ridge where I saw the single track discreetly duck into the trees from the marked trail.  The ride down was absolutely amazing and I could tell that it was cut by locals and not the forest service as I had many small trees to hop, or rocker over on the way down.  It was great to be able to hit up a "locals only" trail like that and when I back to my truck I can honestly say I was very exhausted… but not done yet…

    My next and last stop of the day was a hike along the coast to the Haceta Head Lighthouse.  It was a 6 mile hike and it was 6:45pm already… this was gonna be tight.  I parked my truck in the day-use area at the beach then
headed inland south for a while past some small ponds where I came across some cool looking newts in what appeared to me to be a tiny newt orgy… ha.  After about 30-45 minutes I crossed back over the road and headed up the trail towards the lighthouse which was
a modest ~500 foot climb, but at
this point I was exhausted.  I had eaten my snickers bar before I started the hike but I could tell my body had pretty much used all its available energy.  The lighthouse was really cool to see and in
the distance I could even see the Seal Caverns that Emily and I had explored just last week.  By the time I hit up the lighthouse and made it down from the head of land it was sunset which worked out perfectly for me.  Instead of heading back into the woods I ventured down to the beach and hiked the last 2 miles from the lighthouse down the beach watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.  It was the kind of moment that I really wish I could have shared with someone but I doubt anyone I know would have been crazy enough to follow me on my marathon adventure on the coast. 

    On the way home I was dead tired and hungry so I stopped for a burger at the
Micky-D’s Lounge in Newport before heading back to Corvallis. All told, according to my GPS since last night after my SAR training I
had hiked, biked and ran a total of 44 miles, running only on the energy of a one pound slab of 80% beef and a candy bar… not bad… Let’s see vegetarians do that!  haha.   Anyway, it’s 10pm now and I’m beat… Laters

Got up around 10 today and decided to go for a nice ~10 mile hike in the very scenic Silver Falls State Park just east of Salem about an hour away.  When I got there I realized the ticket machine for the parking pass couldn’t break a ten so

had to beg for a buck from passing motorists in the parking lot.  The first guy I asked, a nice looking older guy, happily gave me a buck (I love the friendliness of people in Oregon - especially the outdoorsy types).  After parking I got started on the hike which was very well maintained.  So much so that I saw elderly people walking it with canes and families with young children as well.  It was more of a very well built and well maintained walkway path through the woods than a trail.  It led past well more than the ten waterfalls the book wrote about although the others were smaller ones. 

I can’t say enough about this hike.  It starts off walking behind South Falls which is easily 90+ feet tall and drops to a gorgeous pool below then continues for 5 or
so miles along multiple streams and rivers past many more enormous falls.  I believe I literally walked behind 4 falls in total.  When I mean behind I mean you
can literally follow a path underneath the falling water cascading off the cliff above your head.  I took lots of pictures and stopped multiple times at each waterfall but I have run out of picture space on this blog to post them unfortunately.  Click Here to see the full set of pics from this hike as well as many others from my travels in the Pacific
Northwest so far.  When I got to the end of the Canyon Trail I turned around and literally ran the Rim Trail so I would get home in time to go to Kristen Splinter’s Easter Pot Luck.  Awesome hike.  The 10 mile hike took me about 3 hours and that was with a whole ton of stops for pictures as well.

On Saturday morning after waking up and a great breakfast from Eleanor at the Cabin, Chris, Toshi, Emily and I headed around Mt. Hood down to the Columbia
River Gorge for a hike I had found in one of Jason’s books up Eagle Creek to Tunnel Falls.  Chris had done the hike several times before and knew some secrets the book didn’t tell so he was to be our guide.  We got to the trailhead around 1pm and to
my amazement I found that I had forgotten my approach running shoes…. This posed a HUGE problem.  Nobody else had a size 10 shoe and I only had my Mick Fanning Reef flip flops or my ski boots… I chose the flip flops.  It was about 50 degrees out and rainy so I made sure Emily wore my REI gore-tex jacket and I through on my old EMS one as well.  The hike was a 12 mile round-trip hike out to Tunnel Falls and back. 

As we continued on the trail become a lot steeper and elevated above the river
which funneled through a chute that kayakers were taking.  We stopped several times to check out the kayakers from a bridge
up the trail.  We were also trying to determine how high of a cliff jump I would be from where we were standing.  I was estimating 100 feet but I couldn’t tell for sure.  Check out the picture here, blow it up, and look at the top right corner to see a man standing on the trail for a reference scale of how big the
area was.  The kayakers looked like they were having an amazing time running the rapids.  One flipped his boat and almost got pulled back but righted himself just in time. 

We continued on and after a while of sludging through the rain we came upon Tunnel Falls.  There is absolutely no way for me to justify the beauty of this place in words.  It was absolutely amazing.  Due to spring snow melt and the rain all morning the
raw power of the water pouring over the edge 50 feet above you
to 50 feet below you was amazing to behold.  The best part is the “tunnel” part – a hole blasted in the rock for the trail to walk directly behind the waterfall.  Blow up the pictures again here and look closely at them to see how big the falls were compared to our
bodies.  It was absolutely nuts!  I actually got so close that I stuck my head into the falling water briefly for a few shots.  This is usually where people turn around and head back but Chris took us a little further up the trail to another awesome waterfall gushing over a ledge right next to us from a different tributary of Eagle Creek. 

After checking out the falls Emily and I thanked Chris and said goodbye to Toshi and took off to Portland for a wonderful dinner at Steamers (I’m in love with Pacific Northwest Oyster Shooters now) and overnight at a motel there.  In the morning we got a quick breakfast and I said a painful goodbye to her.  It really sucks living so far away from her but hopefully this trip led her to fall in love with Oregon and possibly visit again soon!