I got together with friends to do a walk along the Hood River Penstock Pipeline and the Mosier Twin Tunnels. Each walk was 2.5 mile long.
Penstock Pipeline & Twin Tunnels Walks
Hardy Ridge Trail
A hike in Beacon Rock State Park up to Hardy Ridge. The ridge had great views of the Gorge and lots of wild flowers in full bloom. The hike was about 9 miles, 2300 elevation gain and on the trail for a little under 6 hours
A hike to Hardy Falls
This time out I was with Jeanette and Sylvia. We did a short hike (5 miles, 900 ft. gain) to Little Beacon Rock and Hardy Falls at Beacon Rock State Park. Afterward we went to Puffin Café, a place truly on the water.
Cast Creek Trail Hike
Cast Creek Trail has become a trail to return to for me. It is basically a walk in the wood trail with some great views at the end. It is a good conditioning trail for the elevation you gain and because it is a horse trail it is an even up hill to it. It also has a subtle beauty to it as you pass through woodland. This time I made it up to the summit of East Zigzag Mt. and had a chance to walk around Cast Lake. By the numbers: 14 1/2 miles, Total Elevation Gain 3965 ft. and 8 hrs. 15 min. on the trail,
Exploring some trails in Forest Park
My original plan was to start at the Tolinda Trail head and hike up but bridge traffic was so bad I could not make the turn. So going to plan B I went up to the Leaf Erikson Parking lot and started there. I have no memory of hiking the Tolinda Trail or the Waterline Trail before so those were the main objective of this outing. So I was going to have hike down the Tolinda trail first to get my plan back on track.
The Tolinda trail starts on an old road bed that climbs up to a flat area that was planed to be for housing that was never built. Form there it converts to a dirt trail that clearing has been altered for mountain bikes to sail down even though it is mark for no mountain bike. After getting back to Leaf Erickson walked a short ways and started up the Waterline trail. I was surprise find towers and a large grass meadow at the end of it. After exploring these new trail I head on some standard trail to get some mileage in. The hike was 8.3 miles with 1150 total elevation gain in 3 1/2 hours.
