Trip Report: Mt St Helens to Hood River, OR

Mt. St. Helens to Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway to Hood River

Hold on tight this is a long day packed with lots of things we did, so it might get a little long.

Before we left Heart of the Hills, we finally gave up on our pan. Among the other camping gear that we bought at Walmart on the first day, we bought a pot and a pan. That pan was the worst excuse for Teflon the world has ever seen. Even bacon, with all that grease, stuck to it! We decided to just do an easy breakfast of poptarts instead of trying to clean it for camping. So we got up and ate poptarts. I had forgotten that I don't really like those. :) So we went to an espresso shak before we got back on the interstate in Castle Rock and had a nice liquid caffiene filled breakfast instead. :)

We stopped at the Mt St Helens visitors center for a short hike and to get a stamp. It's not a national park, but as a national volcanic monument, it does have a "a" stamp that they gladly put in my book. We also found a couple of cool tees while we were there. Alas, much like the Tetons on my trip to Yellowstone, I was doomed to not actually see the mountain from the vantage point because of all the clouds. At least the weather was nice.

We drove down I5 until we got outside Portland and then made our way to I84, jumping off it as quickly as possible onto the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway. It's the old highway that 84 now runs parallel to and as far as I can tell was meant to be scenic more than anything else. The start of the road is the Crown Point Vista Visitors Center. It's a rest stop like like a diamond is a rock. It was beautifully made and lived up to its name with a great view of the gorge area. After the rest area, the road has about 70 waterfalls within a day hike of it. Many of them are less than a mile from the road. So we went waterfall questing the rest of the day.

The first falls we got to were Latourell. It's a short hike that technically makes a loop, but would require walking on the road, so we went to the other end and turned around. We did get some nice pictures of the concrete bridge that the highway went over. We also laughed when I hadn't set the GPS on the right mode and Sarah (our GPS guide) kept demanding that we turn left on the road - which was 50' over our heads!

Bridal Viel Falls were next on the list. It's a fairly short hike, but the steepness isnt' insignificant. Unlike most falls hikes, where you hike upstream TO the falls and that keeps you motivated, this was downhill the whole way - leaving the less excited hikers in front of us wondering if it the falls would be worth the climb back out. Sadly for them, they turned back and gave up, not knowing they were just around the bend from the falls. Literally, 10 feet more and they could've seen them. It was sad. But the falls themselves live up to the name with good volume and lots of splashing.

The next falls were Wahkeena Falls. They were donated by the same family that donated the Latourell falls along the trip. It was just a mile or so hike to see the falls and they were beautiful. The next day, when we looked up from I84 on our way back into Portland we could see how much larger the falls were! But from close up, you only get to see part of them, but it was a lovely hike. After doing the loop we see that the next falls on the list are only half a mile away, so we get on that trail and leave the car parked at Wahkeena. After a half mile, we reach Multnomah Falls. The most famous of all the falls on the road. Actually after half a mile we reach the gift shop, restaurant, cafe, and all the goodies that come along with the falls. The falls are further up a paved path. Once we were there Brett talked me into a hike to the top. It was a one mile uphill-the-entire-way hike. I had seen a shirt in the bookstore that said "Got Oxygen? I climbed 260' to the top of the falls" so I figured, no biggie. We headed up. It was very, very steep and unrelenting. The farther up the trail we went the fewer people there were heading back down - people peeled off like flies. At one point, hopping over someone else's vomit in the trail I gasped for air and wondered why I was so incredibly out of shape. We finally made it to the top when Brett said "Congrats! You just did 15% grade for 1 mile and walked up 620'!" Uh yeah. Apparently I had a moment of dyslexia when I read the shirt. If I had to struggle up 15% grade, I'm not embarressed - if it was 260' - well, then that'd be another story. :D No matter how you dice it, it was a long hike and after walking back down, we still had another half a mile back to the car. We took our time getting back and got in the car and drove straight back to Multnomah Falls and made a beeline to the cafe and got ourselves soft serve cones to celebrate! Then we went in the gift shop and bought spoons and tees to further celebrate. :) All told it was about our 8th or 9th mile of hiking that day so even though there were 2 more falls to see within a mile hike of the road, we called it a day and packed it in and kept driving to Hood River with no more stops.

For our anniversary my parents had generously bought us a room at the Best Western - Hood River Inn for the night. We got an amazing room on the water with a fireplace. We went out for dinner at Full Sail Brewery in Hood River and watched the wind surfers on the river do tricks while we ate and drank and topped it off with a chocolate stout brownie with Tillamook vanilla icecream on top. Then we went back to the room and I slept for about 12 hours. Brett apparently called family and did early check in for our flights and all of those things that needed to be done. :D I just couldn't resist the comfortable bed and fluffy pillows!

Link to pics here.