PNW Adventure ~ Central Oregon Montage

My apologies for a lack of posts this week, I was on a trip around Central Oregon. But the good news is, I documented it in a video montage.

The main “adventure” portion of the trip was Smith Rock State Park. It’s located just north of Redmond and has Crooked River running through it. This is the most famous view from one of the trailheads, meaning you don’t have to walk far for an amazing view. The hike wasn’t horrible, we only went on a short portion of it. We didn’t dare try Misery Ridge Trail (let the name of it be your warning).

From there we drove on to Sunriver Resort, where go every single year. It’s a good family vacation spot, but very crowded.

I made a video montage of the trip, here is the video on YouTube:

Please check out the video and subscribe to my channel (there are other adventure videos), as well as share it on social media!

From, The PNW

Kendra

 

PNW Adventure ~ Elowah Falls

Once again, I’m back with another hike to tell you about. Today I headed out to Elowah Falls, another one in the Columbia Gorge, ~1 hour east of Portland. The parking area is very small (maybe 12 spots) as all of them are. There is some room on the side of the road to park, but not much. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like a crowded hike. It’s only about 1.6 miles round-trip, an out-and-back type trail.

It’s a very tall drop, but at the time water flow is light. Either way, it’s still amazing to look at and the little canyon below is a great place to stop for lunch or a place to simply enjoy the view. It wasn’t very crowded at all, maybe three groups of people there at one time and we were even alone for a little while. The bridge (photo below) was my favorite part, it looks great with the waterfall and flowing water below.

I love this hike, again, because it’s short. There are some steep parts but nothing unmanageable. There are several other hikes you can take from here including Upper McCord Creek Falls. We didn’t have time to head up to that one, but it’s on the list of potential future hikes. Photos I’ve seen of that one look even more spectacular than Elowah.

Hopefully this short post was good enough, it’s pretty self explanatory based on the photos. Please take some time to share this post and / or my blog  on social media!

From, The PNW

Kendra

PNW Adventure ~ Wahclella Falls

This week’s adventure has been one of my favorites so far: Wahclella Falls. This place is located in the Columbia Gorge where you will find plenty of hikes, but I’ll go into the details about this one specifically. It’s about 50-60 minutes east of Portland, another easy one to get to and it’s very easy to find (right off the side of the freeway). Parking could be a tragedy though because the parking lot only has about 10 spots and there were way more than 10 groups there. There is parking up on the side of the road not too far away, but beware of the no-parking signs because as we were leaving a cop was writing tickets for those who didn’t listen.

I am not a super athletic person and this hike was perfect for me. It was a perfect distance- only 2 miles round-trip, and not too high of an elevation climb. The trail is pretty easy but be careful when walking on the edge (@Elise)! It’s a dogbone trail, AKA out to a loop and back, so it’s not too repetitive of a scenery on the way back. I really can’t express my love of short hikes because I’m only in it for the viewpoints… ha ha.

The waterfall was breathtaking and a lot bigger than I expected it to be. The mist falling from above felt wonderful on a very hot (for Oregon) day of 85º. There’s a few good spots to take photos of it: some from above and some down at water level.

From the waterfall you continue on the trail and the direction we went around the loop, we crossed a bridge and down to the stream below, heavily considering getting in the freezing mountain-water. The photo below was taken from on top of the bridge. It was a relatively crowded hike but I’ve definitely been on much worse ones. Especially for a hot day in Portland, it was not crowded at all.

If you couldn’t tell from this post, I am in love with Wahclella Falls and the hike leading up to it. If you haven’t already, go back and read my previous PNW Adventure posts if you’re interested in more things to do. Click here for another gorge hike, and here for a beach adventure!

Please share this post with your nature and adventure-loving friends on social media and follow my blog if you’re not already for more posts like this!

From, The PNW
Kendra

PNW Adventure ~ Cape Perpetua (Yachats, OR)

PacThis weekend I visited the Oregon coast with one of my friends that has a beach house in a town just south of Newport, OR. Although the drive is far from Portland, it’s close to a boatload of beautiful places to look at. In my opinion, there are more interesting spots to visit than anything on the northern Oregon coast. The weather was surprisingly wonderful during this afternoon, thus making all the photos a thousand times better.

This first photo is from the top of the Cape Perpetua hike, located in Yachats (30 min. south of Newport). However, we are cheaters and drove to the top rather that braving the hike. The incredible part is- this was taken on an iPhone.

This is also near the top of the hiking trail (taken with Nikon D3300):

The rest of these photos were also taken on my DSLR in the lower part of Cape Perpetua. I was thrilled with the photos of crashing waves I captured. I highly recommend Cape Perpetua as one of the coolest and most fun beach locations I’ve ever been to.

Processed with VSCO with g3 preset

Let me know where your favorite beaches are and if you’ve been to Newport / Cape Perpetua! I can’t wait to share more PNW adventures with you all!

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From, The PNW

Kendra

PNW Adventure ~ Rowena Crest & Oneonta Gorge

I’m very pleased with a new series I’m starting that will cover my adventures in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest from today on. I love to see viewpoints all over and would love to share them with anyone, but especially any PNW readers.

Yesterday, July 11, 2016, I adventured to Rowena Crest and Oneonta Gorge. I have been to Oneonta Gorge once before and let me tell you- it is a unique hike -I’ve never been on anything like it. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hike because it’s very short, but it’s surrounded by the multitude of Columbia Gorge hikes. Here are a couple photos from yesterday (the weather was not great, but what can you expect of Oregon?)

The thing that makes this hike so unique is that fact that yes; you must walk through the river to reach the waterfall. And this water runs from the mountain so it is cold. Like so cold that at the point where water was up to my chest, I felt my body going into shock and being short of breath cold. Not to mention, I brought a giant backpack with all my camera gear that could have all been destroyed with the slip of a shoe. So as mentioned, the water can get as deep as your chest at certain times of year.

The other interesting part of Oneonta Gorge is that you must also climb a log jam to reach the falls. I wish I had remembered to photograph that part, but it’s a huge pile of slippery logs up to 10 feet off the ground in some spots that has no way under or around. I’ve seen people try to bring their dogs and toddlers here, which I don’t recommend. It’s hard enough to keep your own head above water.

In the photo on the left, you can see how wide the area is that you walk through to reach the waterfall. It’s not too small, but it’s beautiful when the sun shines through. Oneonta Gorge is only 50-60 minutes east of Portland.

We also made our first visit to Rowena Crest. I had never driven that far east on I-84 and we reached a more desert looking area (although it was still in the gorge, so it wasn’t that dry). This is not a hike although there are trails that branch off from there including McCall Point. Here are the photos from Rowena:

The very reason we came here is for the infamous loop in the road. In fact, if you search this location on Instagram nearly all the photos include this loop. To get to the top, you must drive up this and several other steep, winding roads. The weather cooperated well while we were here, but I would love to see this at sunrise or golden hour.

Rowena Crest is another 30-45 minutes from Oneonta Gorge / ~90 minutes from Portland. It’s a drive, but a scenic one that was worth it. And hey, there’s no work involved in hiking this one.

Please click the title of this post to get to the direct page and use the sharing features below this post! Share with your adventurous friends and family. Also leave a comment letting me know what your favorite hikes & viewpoints are, whether they’re in the PNW or not.

From, The PNW

Kendra