Oregon Country!

Some pictures from our trip to the region surrounding Portland! Picture don't do these places justice. You should go...

First we made our way out to the Columbia River Gorge which starts about 30 minutes or so outside of Portland. It separates Oregon and Washington. A popular place for hiking, windsurfing, and kite boarding. We decided to hike one of the most popular trails in the Gorge, Eagle Creek Trail. Normally I like to hike somewhere a bit more remote and less populated but the sheer number of waterfalls (at least 6!) on this trail made it hard to pass up. Unfortunately we started out on what was to be an almost 8 1/2 mile hike at noon on a very hot day. Kinda stupid, but we had plenty of water and more than enough places to cool off and take it easy when we needed to.

Two miles in is Punch Bowl Falls, a popular place to day hike to and hang out. The first pic is of the upper falls and it's pool.

This is the lower falls where you can cliff jump from various points and heights. To the right are the highest points. Everything from 10-15 ft to it looked like 65-75 ft! And that's the lower falls. The upper falls goes from 80-95 ft! Here's a video I found just to get an idea. Some locals flung themselves off the top of the lower falls. Insane. The water was ice cold and even on a hot day it was a shock to the system.

A lot more along the way including a high bridge that spanned a deep chasm. The highlight of the waterfalls had to be 120 ft Tunnel Falls. No jumping here! This first pic is the trail as it comes to the falls. The trail continues through that tunnel, hence the name.

The trail itself is blasted out of the rock behind the falls!

Leaving the tunnel...

It's a bit slippery and a long way down so they have a cable bolted into the cliff face.

The falls itself...

It's so tall that it was hard to fit it all in the frame...this is from the next day's hike out.

After that we were almost to camp. On the way we passed by Twister Falls...

We lucked out and found a sweet campsite all to ourselves, right next to the creek. It doesn't get any better than this.

Even with plenty of water we were wiped out from the heat and the hike.

The next day's hike out was half the time and started much earlier. A relief!

We decided to continue east away from Portland in order to make the loop that takes you to Mt. Hood before heading out to the coast later in the day.

A picture of the Gorge...

And of Washington from across the Gorge...

We stopped for lunch near the Bridge of Gods for some pizza and some badass regional beers.

Such a great name!

We walked around town a bit and caught a few pics of a passing freight train while we picked fresh blackberries off the vines lining the tracks.

Back in the car and on to Mt. Hood...

This is on the back side of the mountain, opposite of the direction you would come from if you were driving from Portland. Way more majestic looking. Those are vineyards in the foreground!

Never been here during winter yet, but I'm definitely going now. This place looks so sick! Right in the middle about half way up is the summer snowboard camp.

A view from behind the world famous Timberline Lodge.

Next we made our way to the coast. We were rushing to get there before the sun set and like an asshole I almost got in a wreck with an elk trying to pass some slow driver. Sorry! And in the end, as I'm sure is par for the Oregon coast, there was nothing but clouds. But nothing a bottle of wine after a long drive couldn't fix especially with a view like this...

We were going to camp again but with two days of hiking, fading light and the cozy beach town of Cannon Beach within our sights we decided to skip roughing it and find someplace to eat and sleep. Not much open past 8 but we found a brewpub with decent grub and suds and lucked out with the Cannon Beach Hotel that had a sick suite that they gave us for 1/2 off cuz they were about to close up the office for the night. Fireplace, separate bathroom with a claw foot soaking tub in addition to the shitter and shower in another room. A little too cottagey for my tastes but luxury is luxury! The next morning we walked a few blocks to the beach...

This is Haystack Rock, at 235 ft, it is the 3rd largest freestanding rock formation in the world and is a protected marine preserve, home to many species of aquatic and feathered life. Surprisingly the water wasn't cold at all. Not sure if had something to do with the heat wave that the area had experienced the week before. Some surfers out in the water as well.

Decided to wait and fill up on gas outside of town, thinking that there was a gas station right outside of town. Of course there wasn't so a bit of concern naturally set in as the miles clicked by. The gas station itself was something else. The sign said "Gas, Food, And Much More" the much more turned out to be a small arsenal of crazy knives thrown onto a shelf near the register and a bunch of guns behind the counter! Everything from shotguns and hunting rifles to some semi auto handguns and lil' pea shooters. In addition there was a newstand full of porn and High Times. Everything for the paranoid pot farming redneck! Pretty sweet.

We drove past this area of clear cutting which can just break your damn heart...there are a few more like it on the way back to Portland. Sad, indeed. I actually drove back the 7 or so miles from the gas station once we had fueled up because I had to get some pics of this. Figure it might make for a sick black metal album cover in panorama.

We stopped at a couple of wineries Elk Cove and Lange on the way back to Portland that day. Excellent wines, great people and fantastic countryside.

Thus ended of foray into the Oregon wilds! We headed back to Portland for one more night of good food, tasty beer, new friends, and some titties! Ah Portland!