slr2moons | Tromping through the woods: yay! XD

Yesterday, knatsymike and I visited Multnomah Falls. For those who don't know, that's a tourist attraction 30 minutes east of Portland. A gorgeous two-tier waterfall with a bridge across its gorge and footpaths leading all the way up.

I visited once before, with my cousin R-chan, but we had other things to do and didn't want to blow all our energy on hiking to the top. But yesterday, that was the goal!

So up we went. ^^ 11 switchbacks, only to find--the spur to reach the top tear viewing section of the waterfall is closed, do to a landslide. Kinda hard to navigate across a 10 foot gap in the ledge-footpath, huh?

So...we kept going! In the end, we hiked up for an hour and 10 minutes total. Probably only about a mile and a half to two miles...but it was all UP. Almost the entire path runs next to the stream and other falls that feed Multnomah Falls. I took my camera and snapped lots and lots of pics. I also make knastymike a little nervous at how freely I touched plants. "This ferny-thing is fine, not poison oak!" *touch touch*

There were all these little feeder streams and tiny waterfalls perpendicular to the path that flowed into the big stream, and you had to step over the little ones and outright ford the big ones. I stuck my hand in two of the bigger ones--COLD! XD

Of course, the farther you go up, the worse the path gets. Once you pass beyond the large area with the currently closed top-tier spur, you can forget any hand rails or fences. The only thing keeping you on the path is your own balance. FUN TIMES!

We turned around when we reached an official map nailed to a tree and realized we'd far outwalked the official top of the falls, and there wasn't really an end to the path. However we DID see the path branched off into a biiiig loop that connected with the next waterfall tourist attraction to the west. We both want to hike that one day, but we're gonna have to work up to it. And take food.

We made it back down in another hour and ten minutes--but without me stopping for all the photo ops. It was amusing how often people hiking upward asked us about the trail (two sets turned around after hearing our answer), and how the number of people increased again the further down we went. The people were really thick again when we reached the large area with the closed-off spur again...and we side-eyed the really dumb parents who let their two boys perch on a couple SLIPPERY ROCKS IN THE MIDDLE OF A RUSHING SNOWMELT AND RAINFALL STREAM!!! D= There were a couple other dumb adults in similar situations, but ugh! Darwinism is just waiting for the chance to work, there!

I am now quite sore, particularly in the calves and butt. I have to wonder how much more sore I would be, if I hadn't been doing all my butt-and-core exercises and jumping jacks. We did keep up a pretty good pace, particularly going up. We were only passed by one faster person, a whip-thin college-aged guy. I'm quite proud of our pace.

We finished with a huge and delicious dinner at Chang's Mongolian Grill. ON NOM NOM. I then went home, took a shower, a looooong nap, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

It was a good day! I didn't go crazy at Powell's, which we hit b/c knastymike had a gift card, and we needed to wait for the restaurant to open at 5.

I'm hoping I can get the pics off my camera without too much hassle. Sometimes Usagi's data card drive can be...persnickety.

And now, back to work finishing up Natsume 13. ^^V