A Trip Down the Gorge

We have a little list of hiking/camping destinations picked out for this year (there's never enough time to do everything we'd like!). First up was a trip down the Historic Columbia River Highway. We drove up to Sherrard Viewpoint, which we had never been to before. From there you have a 360 degree view of the Gorge and (sometimes) five mountains. Today Mt. Ranier and Mt. Jefferson were hiding. We'll have to go again on a totally clear day.  

Mt. St. Helens on the left and Mt. Adams on the right. I'm sorry they're not that easy to see. I'd like to experiment with using some filters to get clearer mountain pictures. 

Mt. Hood.

 Mt. St. Helens.

Looking back toward Portland.

 

After we came down from the viewpoint, we drove up the old highway to the Latourell Falls trail.

Lower Latourell Falls. 

To see Upper Latourell Falls, you have to hike about a mile up from the lower falls.

Another view of Upper Latourell.

The old highway crosses Latourell Creek on this neat bridge.

Lower Latourell Falls again.

We were going to visit some of the other watefalls, but by the time we finished at Latourell, things were getting really congested in the waterfall corridor! The parking for every waterfall--Shepherd's Dell, Wahkeena, Horsetail was close to filled to capacity. And of course, Multnomah was very busy. It took us quite a while just to drive by, because it was so congested. So, we didn't end up visiting any other waterfalls. Sigh. But there's always another time! Maybe this fall, when there aren't as many people. 

All in all, though, it was a great little excursion! 

Autumn Waterfall Sampler

I've been wanting to take some time to go out and "just take pictures." Mom graciously accompanied me on a trip this past week into the Gorge to do that. The day we picked turned out to be quite rainy (really not a surprise, considering the time of year), but we decided to go anyway, and I'm so glad we did. We stopped at four waterfalls around Multnomah Falls. It's really not fair--Multnomah gets so much more attention than these beautiful waterfalls that are just a few miles from it! So, I decided I would not go to Multnomah and instead spend my time on these less-famous waterfalls.

First stop: Wahkeena Falls. I don't know if you can see it, but there's water on the lens. It was really wet out there! I had a makeshift cover for my camera, though, so I could keep shooting.

Wahkeena again

Horsetail Falls

The fall colors were so lovely!

Shepperd's Dell

Latourell Falls

Driving down the old highway. I had fun taking "intentionally blurry" pictures. :-) 

Wet as it was, it was nice just to be out there--it's so beautiful in the Gorge! It's truly a wonderful part of God's creation. 

Gillette Lake

For Memorial Day we joined some friends on a hike to Gillette Lake in the Gorge, not far from Bonneville Dam. It was a fun day! The weather was fairly good, and it was just fun to have some time to catch up and hang out together.

The wildflowers were blooming and everything looked so lush and green! I generally just take pictures of the flowers, without considering what they are, but I thought I'd mention their names this time. (Thanks to Caitlin, who identified most of these for me.)

Salal flowers

I love ferns!

Caitlin and Christina coming down the trail. 

Red columbine

Stonecrop

Our destination--Gillette Lake! It's a fairly small lake, but has a nice greenish-blue color. We had lunch on that little beach you can see on the back left side.

The creek that feeds into Gillette Lake.

Random. I know.

Honeysuckle

Our whole group--fifteen in all.

Looking down on Gillette Lake from the trail as we headed back to the cars.

The northern inside-out flower. I like the pearly sheen the flowers have.

The view from the back of our long line.

A train tunnel near the parking lot.

From the Mountains to the Beach

It's high time for another blog post! Before I get started, though, a little side note... Some of you have mentioned not knowing when I had a new post up. Now, I know this is really my fault, because when I don't post very often, frequent visits to the blog aren't worth it. However, did you know that there's a handy little service that will send my blog posts to you by email? Just enter your email address into the "Follow by Email" box on the right, and you'll be signed up for updates whenever I post. That way, you'll never miss them. And of course, you can unsubscribe if you get tired of the updates (it's okay, I'll never know!).

Okay, now on to the fun stuff. August was full of lots of opportunities to get out and enjoy the beautiful place we live in. We have my cousin Amber to thank for a lot of those opportunities, because she came out and visited us. We wanted to take her to all our favorite places and in the process had a nice week-long "staycation."

Anyone who comes to the Northwest has to see Multnomah Falls, so that was our first stop. It was very crowded. I guess that's to be expected for a Sunday in August!

Crown Point, on our way home from Multnomah Falls.

We also went on a hike in the Gorge around the Cape Horn area. It was a lovely hike, even though the weather was a little cloudy.

Wild Columbine.

Fireweed?

The Gorge again. Such a lovely view!

Cigar Rock. Appropriately named, don't you think?

This thin, misty waterfall was a highlight of the hike. The trail passes behind it.

We also took Amber to Cape Disappointment State Park for a couple days of camping.

The moon rises as we get ready for our first night.

Amber, Christina, and Mom, with North Head Lighthouse in the bakground.

Pelicans

North Head Lighthouse in the morning

The North Jetty on the Columbia. We walked out on it a good distance. It was fascinating to see how the water was rough on the north side, but very calm on the south side. There were lots of birds and a few sea lions around it.

See-sawing on the beach.

  

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Another must-see for anyone visiting the Northwest is, of course, Mt. St. Helens, so this was our last excursion with Amber. We were really thankful that although it was a cloudy day at lower elevations, the clouds weren't too thick at Johnston Ridge.

Wildflowers! Still blooming in August.

We were so glad Amber could come out and stay with us, and it was very fun showing her around the area. The week after she left, we got to go to the Coast again, this time to visit the folks at our church's annual camp-out at Cape Lookout State Park. Again, we were blessed with gorgeous weather.

The beach at Cape Lookout, looking north.

Starfish!

Looking south toward the actual Cape Lookout.

It's been an exciting summer, and it's not quite over yet. Stay tuned for more. :)