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Trip: Portland 2005-A (P05A)
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Portland, August 5 - August 7, 2005
I try to get to Portland at least once a year. This was the weekend in 2005. This would give me a day of hiking and exploring in the Mt. Hood area, a couple nights of Portland nightlife, and visits to Mount St. Helens to check out the recent steam eruptions and Mt. Rainier for some hiking on the way home.
I have created some entries on Worldisround where you will find pictures from my trip:
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Friday August 5 -
I headed on down after work, checked into my standard Portland hotel (Marriott City Center), and then took advantage of the late day sun for a more extensive walk around the city center than I usually take, turning up some of the quirkier sights and businesses of downtown Portland. I got some dinner, prepared for my Saturday plans, and then headed out for some nightlife - my usual stops at Three Sisters Tavern and Silverado.
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Sign on building: "Frigidaire Building, 1929-1934, Northwest's First Appliance Showroom" | ||||||
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Signs at Fairly Honest Bill's ("Just Good Used Stuff")
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The "Das Gutte" exhibit at one business is "Celebrating the Life of Steve Guttenberg" | ||||||
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Name of business: "Hung Far Low" |
The Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood
Saturday August 6 -
I spent more of the day driving than I had figured on, but it proved to be a good day nonetheless. I wanted to revisit the various waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge area en route to Mt. Hood, and then take a couple hikes there.
During the Ice Age, ice jams in what is now Idaho would back huge amounts of water up into Montana, creating Glacial Lake Missoula. When the jams broke, all that water drained out in just a few days, scouring the landscape of what is now eastern Washington, flooding Oregon's Willamette Valley, and deepening the Columbia River valley. East of Portland, the Columbia River valley was deepened into a gorge, and a number of streams that once flowed into the valley were turned into a cluster of waterfalls that dropped into the gorge. In fact, those streams now form the biggest cluster of high waterfalls in the U.S.
The two-lane Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway leads to parking areas at the base of a handful of falls, as well as to Crown Point and Oneonta Gorge. I headed east along this route, making a handful of stops. I had hoped for sunny skies, and I had them in Portland, but the Columbia Gorge area had a fair amount of morning fog when I got there, so I didn't get all the views I had hoped for.
My first stop was at the Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint, whose views from Chanticleer Point of the Columbia River can be outstanding on a clear day. The view of the Columbia River Gorge from here provides a nice perspective on how powerful the Ice Age floods were. Vista House at Crown Point, just to the east, provides additional views of the river and gorge.
I then made a handful of photo stops at some of the falls - Latourell, Shepperd's Dell, Bridal Veil, Wahkeena, and Multnomah (the highest in Oregon) - as well as Oneonta Gorge. At Mitchell Point I headed uphill on a hike, although I didn't head all the way out to the point. I'm not sure where the morning went, but this trail was longer than I had expected and I really wanted to take the Hidden Lake trail today, which I had sampled last year.
So back to the car. I drove around the north, east and south sides of Mt. Hood to get to the Hidden Lake trailhead. To get to the
Pacific Crest Trail would be a 9-mile round trip, and it was already after 1:30PM. It's a nice hike, enough uphill to know that you're hiking, but not so much to make it a chore, and virtually no loose rock. On the way back down, I cooled off for a bit at Hidden Lake. It was 7:30PM by the time I hit the road to head back to Portland.
Silverado for nightlife.
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At the Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint honoring road builder Samuel Hill. I doubt he's the "What in Sam Hill?!" Sam Hill, but I could be wrong. |
Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier
Sunday August 7 -
Like last summer's visit, I took the back way around Mt. St. Helens on my way back to Seattle, but this time I headed straight for Windy Ridge. Shortly after last year's visit, Mt. St. Helens began erupting. Not fountains of lava or anything as dramatic as the 1980 blast, but steam eruptions and the slow, steady creation of new rock as the mountain begins to rebuild itself. Alas, from this angle it didn't look appreciably different from last year, although I did catch sight of the steam eruption.
From there I headed to Mt. Rainier NP. After checking out the scenery at Reflection Lakes (too much breeze for any reflections), I headed over to the Paradise area for three hours of hiking on a gorgeous day with spectacular views of Mt. Rainier and a landscape covered with wildflowers.
Combined with yesterday's Hidden Lake hike, and this was one of the most perfect getaway hiking weekends I've had.
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I love taking back roads. Well, except when other folks are taking the same back roads. And drive slow. It is hard to pass folks on winding mountain 2-lane roads. While I can understand some people are just out for a scenic drive, there are usually plenty of turnouts to accommodate both them and the folks are have other sightseeing plans. But the worst offenders seem to be indifferent to the backup of 5, 10, even 20 cars stuck behind them. And to the law that requires them to use the turnouts when they create such backups. |
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