Wind Mountain Hike, Gifford Pinchot, Wind Mountain, March 9th, 2015 (followed by Carson Hot Springs Soak!)

http://cascadiablog.com/2011/09/23/take-a-hike-wind-mountain/
Above link is to the Wind Mountain Spirit Quest Hike page.
This hike is just east of Carson, turn north on Wind Mountain Rd, and east on Girl Scout Rd, and park in the gravel pull out, walk down the road 100 yards and you will see the trailhead. This trail is pretty much straight up for 1 1/4 miles, and back down. It is 2.5 miles round trip. With amazing views at the top. Wouldn't be a bad idea to bring your poles on this one! Make sure and catch a soak and a wrap at Carson Hot Springs after your hike for well deserved relaxation.

http://www.carsonhotspringresort.com/
Carson hot springs is a historic resort with lots of amenities including a fancy pants golf course. They have extra long soaking private tubs and other spa treatments. Get a 30 minute soak and 30 minute hot towel wrap for 25 dollars, plus unlimited sauna. I promise it will be worth it!

This was a specific location for Natives going on spirit quest, they ask that you please do not disturb the area, stay on the trail. And pay respect.

taken from the cascadiablog.com "After taking in the view, examine the talus field around you. This site was once a place for Native American spirit quests, where young men would isolate themselves and wait for messages from their guardian spirits through visions or dreams.  There are “walls” built within the talus field here that form little divots in the chunky blocks of stone. These were built by native peoples between 200 and 1,0o0 years ago. Please respect the history and don’t scramble over them or deconstruct them". This was my favorite things about this hike. All the beautiful delicate walls and shelters built in to the rock. It is a good place to be silent and take the beauty and history in.

Pretty ladies at the top.

Breathing her in.That is dog mountain just on the other side of the canyon. And the river just outside of the photo's edge.

Looking east at the summit.

Up and up!

Gorge Trail #400, Middle/Upper Oneanta Bridge, Horse Tail Falls

We are so spoiled living this close to the Columbia Gorge, but we find that the trails often have too many people for our liking, so we don't really end up there too much. We decided to check out some trails here that we've not done, and found some pretty cool spots!

Searching for Eagles. Haven't seen many at all this year.

Another sunny Portland winter day. We're getting used to it this year.

View of the the Columbia from a low point on the trail

Skeletor

EAGLE CREEK: Spawning Chinook: October 2014

Over the past few months, we've been on a quest to find the the best spots to catch the salmon running. We have taken family and friends to the ladder windows at  Bonneville Dam, as well as the Bonneville hatchery to catch a glimpse of the hard working fishies. We visited Eagle Creek in late October to find a massive amount of very tired, and very determined, mostly Chinook, salmon. 

(and also several very dead, if you can't handle heavy smells maybe this isn't for you, or at least just stay further down the creek towards the river).



Flying Salmon!

Chanterelle Hunt November 2014: Gifford Pinchot/Panther Creek Wilderness

A few of us from work went Chanterelle hunting last weekend, we pulled off on Warren Gap Road in the Panther Creek Wilderness, and walked down a trail for a quarter mile, we found several magical spots filled with Chanterelles as well as other beautiful mushrooms. It was my favorite mushroom hunting trip to date.

We came back to carson via a loop to Panther Creek Road. We decided to sneak in a trip to Panther Creek Falls. This is very hard to see if you have never stopped before, above is the only sign at the trail head on the north side of the road, but it may be easier to look for the gravel pull out.

Rob with his treasures.

 Lower Panther Creek Falls

Photo Credit: Dale Davis, Lower Panther Creek Falls

 Daydreaming in fairy land.

 Dale looking adorable as ever.

INDIAN RACETRACK HIKE: Falls Creek Horse Camp Trailhead

LINK FOR DIRECTIONS: http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Indian_racetrack_hike

Not too much to stay about this hike. We had a great time, but we zigged where we should have zagged and did a completely random trail that ended nowhere. Read your directions/map! This time of year the whole Indian Heaven area is loaded with mosquitoes, so beware of that as well.

Note: Park your car at the trailhead sign, then turnaround and cross the forest road and enter the trail that way. If you go straight into the forest from the trailhead, you end up with a nice jaunt in the woods, but I'm sure the other way is better!

Wildflower!



Cicada and former Cicada! 



The Girls!

PANTHER CREEK FALLS: Skamania County, Washington

Click the link for directions on this secret magic beauty.

http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/nws/falls.php?num=5248

So we've been on a losing streak trying to get to high-ish elevation trails lately. We've been getting turned around by snow on a pretty regular basis, as is pretty common this time of year. On this particular day, we were heading for some hiking in the Indian Heaven area, but got turned around well short of our goal (miles before the trailhead, even!). So we took the hounds on some forest roads to stretch our legs. On the way back down Panther Creek Rd., Virginia noticed a deck that appeared to be hanging over a bluff in the middle of the woods. We were unfortunately out of time for the day, so we had to split. When we returned a week later, we found the very short trail down to the Panther Creek Falls overlook. What a great spot! There are two trails, one very steep descent to get down to the bottom of the falls, and another well-maintained and very east stroll to the overlook.  

The steep trail down to the base of the falls. Someone has tied off some climbing ropes to assist with the descent.

One of several roads we ran in to that were snowed in. We will have to come back later in the spring to hike Indian Heaven.

Bat-dog.

Cape Horn overlook. The first time I've ever actually stopped to snap a photo of this view of Hwy 14, so "gorge-ous", get it? OK OK, lame I know.

A few photos from our first attempt to find Panther Creek Falls. We ended up driving up a random forest road and taking a long walk in the rain, then stopped by the still-closed Panther Creek Campground.