A Pedestrian Pause

 

All that outdoor beauty and fresh air is great and all, but the urban scene here in PDX has some interesting things to offer as well. During the time of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade there is a noteworthy nocturnal affair called the Starlight Parade. It is two hours long and draws crowds of 250,000 people annually. We got an amazing spot to watch from 3 stories high in a parking garage overlooking the street. It was chilly and windy, and to be honest we didn't dress all that weather appropriately. We still had a great time watching all the twinkling decked out floats and bands pass by. There were so many marching bands I lost count, all with glowing doodads hanging from their outfits and instruments. There were giant inflated character balloons ala the Macy's parades. We also observed much money was made by rolling street vendors selling light up toys, necklaces, and wigs. 

Most of the photos were blurry because my camera is for crap int he dark. Here they are anyways: 

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Tall Tails

One of Shaun's good friends was up visiting from San Francisco for their Birthday. To celebrate, we all descended upon Ponytail Falls. At only 2.5 miles and a book rating of "easy," we were hoping for a walk in the park. It was. An enjoyable 1 pie experience no one should miss out on. The awesome main attraction to this hike is the fact that you can actually walk behind the waterfall. There is an amazing natural cave that's quite large seated behind the downpour. If you felt like getting the beating of your life, you could even venture out onto the rocks and really experience the falls first hand (this is of course, not recommended.)You can still get pretty wet without being directly underneath, the mist it was pumping out was soaking anyone who stood in the cave for a length of time.  From this distance the falls are deafening. It's hard to describe the sheer volume of water one of these wonders can produce. While it's not the largest waterfall I've seen in person, it's one of only ones I've experienced this close up. Amazing.


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We had our hands full

  

 A picnic, we decided, was the plan. The hike was an ad-on adventure. We got two fabulous healthy meals boxed up from Whole Foods, and drove out to the gorge. We chose the scenic destination of Tripple Falls, a 4.3 mile loop hike, with 740' elevation gain and a rather impressive trifecta waterfall as the focal point. Two food boxes, backpack, and dog leash in hand we set out on this "moderate" hike. Maybe it would have been moderate on any other day when we weren't trying to juggle all our "luggage." It was a very Up-Down kind of hike, the kind where you are going up and down hill repeatedly all while continuing to climb into the sky. Several "what were we thinking"s later and a brush with almost getting very lost, we arrived at the falls. There was a lovely picnic spot across the gorge with the best view of the rushing water and the.... people? Yes, in the photo above you can spot 3 very small people standing treacherously close to the edge of certain doom. Watching them jump over and around the peaks of the falls made for suspenseful, if not amusing, dinner entertainment. I kept envisioning a wrongly placed foot and sudden catastrophe. My camera was poised and ready to capture the events for one of those reality TV shows about stunts gone wrong. But alas, the sun was quickly retreating and it was time head back to the car. I'm gonna assume, by the lack of their faces in the news, that the dare-devil family made it off the rocks unscathed. This hike, if carrying your pies in hand, rated 3 1/2 to 4 pies.

Mirror Mirror on the ground

 

This hike was quite the hidden jewel. Well, not too hidden as there were several groups of people camping around the lake, but it was pretty far out off a moderate (3 pie) trail that we thought might never end. At one point we thought maybe we had found the wrong trail, but soon after that it opened up into a meadow with Mirror Lake at its center. Mirror Lake was a small, calm, clear lake (you could see the fish from yards away) with amazing views of Mount Hood. The water looked so nice to swim in but was FREEZING. The hike up had some nice openings that looked out over a mountain landscape painted gold by a beautiful sunset. Around one side of the lake there was a neat narrow boardwalk traversing over a swampy area. It was cool because it reminded me of some of the swamp areas back in FL. I am excited to go back and check the patches of wild strawberries that should have fruited around now. 

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Pleasant Surprise

    *Knock Knock Knock* -Opens door slowly and peers out- "Oh, hi Ash!.....What are you doing here? "Lets go hiking!"she says. Never ones to turn an offer like that that down, we happily obliged throwing on our boots, and grabbing the dog. Fifteen minutes later, Ash and Misha's dog in tow as well, we arrived at Hopkin's demonstration Forest, a 140-acre privately-owned forest open to the public for self-guided exploration, tours, workshops, and education programs. Ash had hiked here a few times before and knew the best trails to take. It was a lovely moderate level (2 pie) hike through some pretty younger woods. This place was created to show how sustainable forestry should be done, as well as to teach people about Oregon's native flora.

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Everybody loves a good hiking blog right?

   I have five posts about new hikes I've done recently. I figure I'll start us off with the most exciting: Mt. St. Helens. Little sister to Mt. Hood on the Portland skyline, this notorious volcano has been a must see destination ever since I moved out west. Our whole household went the 2 hours journey up to see her. Two of the roomies were beginner level hikers so we chose an easy trek (only one pie rating for those who remember the pie system) around a picturesque lake, and did a lot of automobile exploration. We came across an interesting visitor center with a museum dedicated to the volcano and it's history. While we were driving we saw a heard of elk... they ran into a wooded area but I managed to capture a photo of one's rear end. The mountain itself was being unfortunately shy the day we visited. Most of her top was obscured by thick cloud cover but she was magnificent and breathtaking nonetheless. The sheer scope of the landscape was hard to take in. When surrounded by such a large vista I feel infinitely small, and I like it. This is definitely a place I will have to return to many times in the future.


The highlights in a video: 
Just a reminder (this goes for all the videos to follow), make sure your speakers are turned up to hear the music (I spend alot of time choosing music for my vids, I think it adds interest) and also to make sure you load the video in its highest quality by clicking the gear shaped button in the lower right area of the movie and selecting the topmost number. You may need to pause the video to let it load fully before you play it so it doesn't skip or lag.  CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO 

There are many photos that didn't make it into the video:CLICK HERE FOR PICS 

Procrastinators unite.. Tomorrow!

  Welcome back everyone. I've managed to go another 5 months without posting huh? I see a trend emerging LOL. At least this latest batch of blogs will keep you busy for a while.... I've got a whopping 16.. or more posts in store for you, dear readers. "What could she possibly have been doing all this time?" you ask. I'll tell you! I've been hiking, schooling, farming, foraging, making, showing, and selling art, dancing, growing and organizing my already ridiculously huge music collection,  relaxing, doing hair (more on that later,) going vegan with Casey, and traveling ALOT.  I'll be releasing these posts in smaller more manageable batches of 4 at a time, so stay tuned!