Vacation Photos, day 4

August 7th
12 miles combined. Lewis River (Lower, Middle AND Upper Falls), Ape Cave, Trail of Two Forests.

Lewis River - Lower Falls/Daniel.

Lewis River - Lower Falls/Alex.

Brady, Jonah and Daniel sitting just above the Lower Falls.

Trail of Two Forests/Alex.

Trail of Two Forests/Brady

Trail of Two Forests/Daniel.

It's really too bad I didn't get a picture of Jonah here. This was his favorite place of the whole week, and he was the fastest tunnel rat. He was able to get through the tunnel in 17 seconds. This is where being the smallest really came in handy.

Vacation Photos, day 3

August 6th.
13 miles on the Eagle Creek trail to Tunnel Falls. My personal favorite hike of the week.

And a little child shall lead them....Jonah gets his turn to lead out.
Yes, the trail is narrow with sheer drop offs in places, but we all made it just fine.

Taking a little break along the way.

Yes, those are the falls next to Daniel. He is standing just outside the tunnel.

Alex and Brady at the falls. We didn't linger here very long.

One fine day.

Vacation Photos, day 2

August 5th.
9.2 miles on the Historic Columbia River Highway (near Hood River).

Yup, that's the Columbia River behind them.Viewpoint inside the Mosier Tunnel.

A little more shade would have been nice.

Danny on the mid-point gate.

At the 4.6 mile turnaround Jonah exclaimed "this was an awesome hike!" Then he found out we were only half way done.

Have rocks, will climb.

Warning, Vacation Photos Ahead.

August 4th.
Hiked from Multnomah Falls to Triple Falls. And back. 9 miles.

Jonah and Daniel. Lunch "on the rocks".

Alex. Eating cheese.

Brady. This was Brady's 10th birthday. Happy Birthday Brady.

Alex, Jonah, Brady and Daniel.

The boys at Multnomah Falls (before the hike).

A Bridge Too Far.

Interstate 5 bridge (Vancouver, Washington - Portland, Oregon)

Astoria, Oregon

Bridge of the Gods (Columbia Gorge)

Hood River Toll Bridge

I've been traveling back and forth over the Columbia River most of my life. When I was a kid we used to drive up to Renton, Washington to visit my great-aunt Vi. We must have gone over the bridge at Portland - but frankly, I don't remember it well - I was probably busy trying to hold my breath all the way over (and not succeeding). As an adult I've crossed it at many different places. This week I got to try a new one.

Before I tell about it, I must first explain that I have an irrational fear of long, tall bridges - especially if they curve, and extra especially if they have a metal grate instead of cement for the decking. I really, really hate metal grates on bridges. Really.

Two years ago I was terrified as we traveled over the Bridge of the Gods. I had no idea ahead of time that it hit the trifecta of fear for me. This last week I was more prepared for it. I knew it was longish, very high and that the center section was metal. So far, so good. Monday afternoon we crossed the Columbia River on it. I did okay. Tuesday we were going to Hood River - and I noticed on the map that there was a toll bridge there. I figured "Hey, it MUST be better than the Bridge of the Gods. How wrong I was. It had only one advantage over the Bridge of the Gods. It was much closer to the water. That advantage was completely outweighed by the fact that it must have been 3 times as long, the ENTIRE length was metal grate and the two lanes that crossed it were very, very narrow. Very. I ended up crossing that darn bridge 3 times this week. I hope I never have to drive over it myself. Give me the I-5 bridge any time.

Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

Obligatory MTC Photos

Quick and dirty. Instead of scanning the pictures - which sometimes works great and other times works not at all, I just took a picture of the pictures Andrew sent me yesterday. Please refer any complaints to the management.

If you haven't written to Andrew this week - well, get busy.

A Camping We Will Go

We're leaving tomorrow morning to go on vacation. Like childbirth I forget how hard it is to get ready to go camping. As a kid we just threw stuff in the car/van/trailer and off we went. We never had to worry about the menu/tent/flashlights/dishes/etc. All we had to do was get a change of clothes, maybe a sweatshirt and a sleeping bag. That was it. We didn't have a bunch of air mattresses (I think we had one - and it leaked) - we didn't have a bunch of flashlights - and if we did have more than one, the odds were that at least one didn't work.

Nowadays I pack for camping like I am going to be under siege. Extra flashlights, extra batteries, extra food, extra etc... I think that's part of the reason I'm disappointed not to be going on the 50 miler this summer. That's one kind of camping that I am totally able to simplify. When I'm carrying everything I need for a week I really take a good hard look at how much I really need something. Extra clothes? Not too much. Extra food? No way. Extra flashlights? Nope. Extra moleskin? Absolutely.