Hidden away in the Coast Mountains of Coos County is a small state Park preserving two of Oregon’s more spectacular waterfall treasures – Golden and Silver Falls. The two falls are among the highest and most dramatic found west of the Cascades. Hiding at the end of a long road which gets narrower and wilder as you travel back into the mountains, the park is one of Oregon’s lonelier state parks. Drive to the road’s end and magic begins.
Continue readingMany waterfalls await discovery in Oregon. Some of the best are found in the Columbia River Gorge. Some are out there obvious to all while some like to hide away from prominent view. Multnomah Falls is the tallest and one of the most majestic. A large car park built in between the lanes of the freeway tries to accommodate the many who come for a visit. It is a standard by which others are measured. The Northwest Waterfall Survey rates Multnomah at 89.92 points. The falls are enchanting, but some of the magic wears off with the crowds you endure to witness. McChord Creek calls.
Driving up the Gorge on a Thursday in April, the car park at Multnomah Falls was, as normal, completely full. Five miles further east on the freeway, I-84, there were two cars parked at the Yeon State Park lot just off the freeway. Granted, two of the three trails leading out from here were closed – one from a fire in 2017 and another from a recent landslide this winter – but the one trail still open was pure enchantment.
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A new year, a new season to get out once again and explore. While the Covid pandemic lurches on, people have begun to venture out again to discover what lies beyond their living room. Vaccinations are reaching into ever greater numbers of folk. Hamilton Mountain was calling to me.
This hike was special to me on several counts. First, having hiked many of the trails in the Columbia River Gorge, I never walked this path. Second, a new mountain corgi to introduce to the mountain terrain. Third, Hamilton Mountain was the first moderately serious hike I attempted after suffering ruptures of both anterior medial collateral ligaments in a knee already arthritic from years of heavy use following an ancient football injury. So, knee brace in place, with trekking poles in hand along with one leashed mountain corgi, it was time to climb high once more.
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The last post covered waterfalls I enjoy in southwestern Washington, mostly outside of the Columbia River Gorge, so now we move south of the River to waterfalls in the Coast Range of northwestern Oregon. Again, no way these lists are anything close to comprehensive and others may have other favorites. Plus, we have the two hour limit from Portland to help limit the waterfalling excursions. So, off we go to the Coast Range of Oregon to visit our first waterfalls. Links take you to the Northwest Waterfall Survey pages which give the waterfalls ratings 0-100. The highest rated waterfall in Oregon is Multnomah Falls with a rating of 89.92, so you have something to compare other waterfalls here to.
Continue readingThe best visit to the Olympics goes on high. Olympic National Park, much like North Cascades, is a climber’s park. Standing atop one of the many peaks gives you a true experience to the wild wonderland.
Barrett Spur is one of my favorite places on Mount Hood. While some prefer Cooper Spur and others Cathedral Ridge, for me, it is the Spur.
The Spurt is a little bit difficult to reach both due to the altitude you gain and the route condition near the top. But your jaw drops with the incredible views of the glaciers pouring down off the north side of the old volcano.
Continue readingOriginal Timberline Trail was to cross to ridge on right – Yocum – from here.
I had been up to the base of Cathedral Ridge once before, but that was many years ago. With my new little toy – a 360-degree camera – it was time to go up for another view of Hood.
I lived on the west side of Portland for many years. A definite advantage of living on the east side is the commute time to the mountain is so much shorter. In no time we were at the big parking lot at the Tip Top trailhead with maybe about nine other vehicles.
This is the easiest access to some of the best parts of Mt Hood and it can get crowded. It was only 8:30 in the morning when we got started, so we did not run across very many people before reaching McNeil Shelter. The rest of the day was different as we passed almost 200 people. Maybe at half of those folks backpacking the Timberline Trail.
Continue readingWe met an aspiring couple on top of Cathedral Ridge training for longer distance events. They mentioned for their money the views from Cooper Spur were the best on Mt Hood they had seen. I have been past the Cooper Spur shelter several times as well as playing in the crevasses of Eliot Glacier, but have never gone up on the top of the Spur so, with a friend in tow, off we went. Thankful it was his car taking the beating on the washboarded road up and not mine.
Continue readingWritten after a hike to Mount Margaret on the Boundary Trail in 2019 from a series of hikes up into the Cascades. It was a very good summer in there were no complications from forest fires which seem to mar things in August and early September in recent years.
Save the best for last? Mount Margaret lies along the Boundary Trail, the 53
mile trail running from Johnstone Observatory in the Mt St Helens Volcanic National
Monument to Mt Adams. The trail was built in 1910 to service fire
lookouts on the border between the forest reserves of the Cowlitz – to the
north – and the Lewis – to the south.
“Build it and he will come”. So, intones the voice of Shoeless Jackson to the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. The quote often remembered wrongly as “Build it and they will come”. The film was a version of W.P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Jackson. In this case, we will choose the more popular interpretation which better describes this Hindu sanctuary high in the Tualatin Mountains just north of Portland. A retreat pointing towards a universal message of different paths leading to the same goal.
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