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Hiker

Friday, October 30th, 2015 No comments

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.

Diamondhead

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.

Angel's Rest

Horsetail Falls

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.