Over the rivers and through the woods...Columbia River Gorge

There are some pretty awesome National Forest lands in southern Washington along the Columbia corridor. I hiked out to Falls Creek Falls in the wind river area, did a little exploring of ice caves, unsuccessfully hunted huckleberries and checked out lava beds in the Gifford Pinchot NF and had a real funny encounter while pursuing a geocache :).

The cache was hidden near a shelter and info kiosk out in the forest near a campgrounds. I had the whole place to myself (I thought), so I searched without regard to being muggled (caught in the search by a non-geocacher). As I entered the shelter, I heard the most unusual animal call ever! It took me by surprise and stopped me in my tracks. I started peering under benches and over walls for the source, while my brain slowly analyzed the sounds I had heard. Where had I heard this noise before. Ahah...Teenage girl giggles? What the hey! Just then, there it was again. Looking up, sure enough. They broke up at this point, having succeeded in scaring the dickens out of a stranger by hanging out in the rafters of the shelter and awaiting prey :). I guess you had to have been there, but it was immensely funny, and drusged up memories of some of the rotten things I had done during my teenage years. Mom showed up and was apologizing for the actions of her kids. I told her she had to be kidding, that was the funniest thing that had happened to me in days...

The absolute best part of exporing on the Washington side of the Columbia was rafting the White Salmon river. A nine mile run of perpetual 3's and 4's (rapids), culminating in a 8-10 foot plunge over Husum falls! The river is spring fed, so even a late season (late august) run is full of thrills. No pictures on the river (you gotta be kidding!), but some pics of others going over the falls. This was actually my first white water rafting, and I could not have picked a more exciting ride. The outfitters were trying to convince me I could do the run in my kayak, but I have no death wish...

I also scaled Beacon Rock, which stands 850' above the river and offers some pretty great views of the gorge. Crossing into Oregon, I decided to head up to Mt Hood first, but all I got there was two days of rain, and never even a glance of the mountain. Oh well, maybe next time around...

Mt St Helens

After leaving Mt Ranier, I made my way south into the NE entryway to Mt St Helens. A nice stop at Iron Creek Falls, Bear meadows and then out to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint. The view into the crater, and the spirit lake overlook were awesome! The lake still holds the tens of thousands of trees that were blown down by the eruption, and the dome inside the crater reminded me of the belly of a woman nine months pregnant! "Watch out, she's gonna blow" ;)

Plumes are visible, and I even saw a waterfall within the dome, either from the steam or late season snow melt.

You can hike up to the crater rim, but the details of the hike were not inticing to me. The bulk of the 4.5 mile, 4500' climb is above treeline. The cascades are inherently made up of scarp, and in conversation with a women who had made the climb, she described literally being on her hands and knees at times, working through the loose rocks...