Treks and Adventures
Normally I don’t post my training hikes or walks but this one had some special spots thank to the record rainfall we had. I have never seen Balch Creek with so much water coming down it. All other times it has had just a mild low water flow but this time it had white water rapids. I also came across a mud slide just below Pittock that blocked the road and left a house on the edge. I had plenty of wet muddy trails. My hike was 9 1/2 miles, 1800 ft. gain, about 450 stair steps in 4 1/2 hours.
We had one of our members with a minor injury so it ruled out walks or hikes this time so went for a cultural event. We started with with a brunch this time at the Cornell Farm Café and went on to a self guided tour of the Pittock Mansion.
There was a break in the rain today so I went over to Forest Park for a hike. From Germantown Rd. Parking I did a route of Wildwood Trail south to Waterline Trail and went down Waterline and Tolinda Trails to Germantown Rd. Then back up Tolinda and all of Waterline up to Skyline Blvd. Then back down to Wildwood and hiked it over to Springville Rd. and down to Leaf Erikson Dr. and back to my car. Manage to cover about 8 miles with a 1700 ft. of Elevation gain. Tolinda and Waterline Trail area more rustic and more interesting to do. Wildwood and Leaf Erikson you can pick miles but are boring. There is a nice large grass area at the top of Waterline Trial by the water tower but there is no parking for it off of Skyline.
This was one of our cultural walks with Lori, Jeanette, Sylvia and I to the Clark County Historical Museum. We gathered at the Pearson Air Museum and wondered the streets of Vancouver to the Museum. After our visit to the Museum we wondered down to Brothers Cascadia Brewing Evergreen pub for lunch. We manage to get 6 miles in with all of our wondering.
Back to Beacon Rock State Park for a hike up to Hardy Ridge. I loop back by way of the Equestrian trail this time. By the Numbers: 10 mile, 2200 ft. elevation gain and 5 1/2 hours on the trail.
