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I’m hiking now too.  Hiking is one of those things that you’re pretty much required to do if you live in Portland, besides getting a tattoo and recycling.  The Portland area has so many great places to go on a hike.  There’s also some great sites to see if you don’t mind driving 2 or 3 hours.

I lived in Portland for a couple of years before I went on my first real hike, and it didn’t even take place in Portland.  The hike actually took place when I went to Hawaii last year.  I went to top of Diamondhead all by myself.  It’s not that long of a hike, but it gets really tough close to the top.  There are some really steep stairs and I was carrying a lot of weight on my back.  Also on that trip I hiked to Manoa Falls.

Fast forward to the next summer when I went on a couple of hikes in the Portland area. One was to Angel’s Rest and another to Horsetail Falls, both in the Columbia Gorge area. I even went on something of a hike in Washington during the Twin Peaks festival. I have a book which lists 50 hikes within 50 miles of Portland and maybe one day I’ll do them. I already have my next location picked out.

My friend Dan is trying to talk me into climbing to the top of Mt Rainier in 2017.  Since I moved to Portland, I’ve always said that I would never try to climb a real mountain (Diamondhead doesn’t count).  Every winter I heard stories about people getting lost or stranded on our local mountain, Mt. Hood.  I say that you have to be crazy to want to climb a mountain.  This does sound tempting, though.  I’ll have to think about it.

Hiking has been fun, especially when I’ve gone with friends.  I hope to be able to go more frequently.  A friend of mine goes hiking almost every weekend during the summer.  It’s good exercise and I get some great photos along the way.  Maybe I’ll do some winter hiking. Maybe I’ll get in good enough shape to climb Mt. Rainier.