Nova and I have hiked up and down the Columbia River Gorge on almost every trail…the well-known and the unknown. But there was one we always avoided because it was too close to home and a popular one for humans. Weird, I know. Well, we finally did it in 2022 and then ended up doing it twice because it was pretty fun and had some great views. Popular hikes are best to do when the weather is terrible as that keeps others from the trails. The first time we did it is pictured here…when the sky was open and fairly clear and the views were vast. It was of course cold and windy as it was January after all. We could hear the trains moving far below us in the gorge along the Columbia River. They looked like tiny toys from our vantage point. We got to look at some pretty great rock formations along the Columbia River.
Then we admired some ferns...one of my favorite plants!
All in all, we loved the views and couldn't believe we had never done this trail before.
The second time we did this hike, we were hammered with a combination hail and snow storm just as we hit the summit and this viewpoint. We were eating our hot chili from our thermos while being pelted with hail and watching it bounce off everything around us. Our views disappeared and we were closed into a circle of dark clouds. This was almost the sign of how the year would go for us. In 2022 we faced so many wild storms. My favorite was in July 2022 which I will tell you about when we get there. But in the meantime, Nova was catching snowflakes on her tongue and posing for the camera in her snow suit.
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