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.
Taking advantage of a string of days of nice weather I did another training walk up to Pittock Mansion. Today was a blue sky day with clear views of Portland and the mountains. I also got better number on this walk. I did 4.8 miles with about 900 ft of total elev. gain and did 513 steps in an hour and fifty-eight min.
I had not done the stair route to Pittock in many years. Include a couple of short ones I did 10 flights of stairs total. The mansion was in a heavy fog so no views but the fog gave the place a feel of mystery. On the way down I found Balch Creek was running higher then I had ever seen it.
A New Year morning walk to get the year going. This was a standard Ramble route that I have done many times so it felt like home. This trail gives good elevation gain but there is a lot of wild to enjoy on the route. The walk was about 6 miles in about 2 1/2 hours. I was on the trail at 7:30 am with very few folks around. By the time I was doing last section down Balch Creek the trail was loaded with folks. Lots of stopping and waiting for families to get by. A cold clear morning and a nice way to start a new year.