Thanksgiving 2015: The Columbia Gorge

November 24, 2015

My brother joined me and Pongo for an adventure in the Columbia Gorge on Tuesday.  It was a rainy, cold day.  We had hoped to go camping but the cold and the rain put an end to that idea.  I can handle cold and I can handle wet and I can even handle cold and wet on a camping trip, but I don't know how to handle a cold, wet dog on a camping trip.

Eagle Creek, OR

Chad took us to the Eagle Creek trailhead.  We hiked up to Metlako Falls, which is about a mile and a half hike along a trail that rises five hundred feet above the creek.  The trail was blasted out of the cliff side over one hundred years ago.  It's a dramatic hike, a bit scary with Pongo in tow.  He had a great time walking right on the cliff edge of the trail.  With the exception of one narrow section, he wasn't the one that was nervous, it was me.

I read about a hike to Scissor/Twister/Crossover/Eagle Creek Falls and I decided this was one hike I wouldn't take Pongo on before making this trip.  I didn't want to deal with Pongo walking along a steep cliff.  Well, this is that hike.  Part of it, anyway.  There's a stretch known as "The Vertigo Mile" between Tunnel Falls and Scissor/Twister/Crossover/Eagle Creek Falls, that's actually the part I didn't want to take Pongo on.  We'd have needed to hike for another five miles or so to get to that stretch.  There's a campground just past that.  Another time, I think.

Eagle Creek, OR

Metlako Falls, Eagle Creek, OR

It felt like we were a thousand feet above the creek.  My brother estimated we were only a couple of hundred feet high.  He was a heck of a lot closer than I was.

Eagle Creek, OR

I took my little pocket camera on this hike.  I certainly missed the power of the big camera, but taking the little camera was the right choice.

I took a number of panoramas on the hike.  I might not have had my nice lens and DSLR but I was able to make up for it with this panorama from one of the steeper sections of the trail.  I sure would have liked it if Pongo had stuck to the wall side of the trail. though.  That dog made me nervous.

Eagle Creek, OR

Pongo didn't know what to do with my brother until he made this move to clean up some garbage on the trail.  I don't know if it was the fact that Chad left the trail or that he hauled out this really cool broken shopping cart with two squeaky wheels from behind the rocks, but from this point on my brother was alright in Pongo's eyes.

Eagle Creek, OR

Coho Salmon

The coolest part of the hike wasn't actually the hike.  As we were leaving we stopped to look at a couple of mergansers in the creek.  Chad noticed a fish and then we realized that the creek was full of salmon.  They weren't going anywhere.  They were spawning.  Holy cow.  I've seen salmon swimming up stream a number of times, but here they were actually laying and fertilizing eggs.  I've had a number of great wildlife sightings this year including grizzlies, a wolf and humpback whales, and this ranks right up there with those.  Spawning salmon.  Holy schnikeys.

Coho Salmon -- Eagle Creek, OR

We had lunch in Hood River then stopped for a few pictures at Multnomah Falls before heading back to Salem.  It's hard to drive through the gorge without making at least a quick stop there.

Multnomah Falls, OR