60 in 60, Take 18 & 19

#18: Wilson River, the Coast Range, (one Sunday in June)

Awhile back I was feeling desperate to get outside in spite of the fact I was in an "I can't believe it's June and still raining" malaise. I probably should have just stayed home and napped on the sofa, but instead we found ourselves on the Wilson River trying to find some trail worth hiking. This hike left a little to be desired. Well, that statement isn't entirely fair since it's 21 miles worth of trail and we only explored a mile or two...but it was raining and we couldn't be bothered.

So we went to see Wilson Falls...

Obviously this isn't it, but trust me, it's just as interesting.

And we sat along the river, visited the nearby State Forest Visitor Center, and called it a hike...a bit of a dud but probably better than being a zombie in front of the television.

#19, Salmon Butte, Mt Hood National Forest, (07/04/11)

On the fourth of July {wasn't that just the other day...seriously, where has July gone?}, after returning from our Washington road trip, I decided it was time for a serious hike near Mt Hood. We opted for Salmon Butte, which is south of the mountain and is about 8.5 miles in length. We managed to turn it into a 10 mile trail, hiking part of the way up, then deciding we weren't on the right trail, hiking back to our car, only to realize it was the right trail after all...so back up we went. This trail is a gradual uphill for about 4-5 miles. After the third mile you start to feel it. By the time we were at the top, my legs were slightly Jell-O. But the views were amazing and the weather phenomenal {This was one of maybe three sunny days this month. A guy on the elevator today said that sometimes summers can be a bit of a dud here and this was going to be one of those summers. As you can imagine, it was a very uplifting conversation.}.

We did a major hiking no-no with this one. I took the same amount of water I would take for a 3-5 mile hike, our usual distance lately, instead of what we would need for 10 miles of sunny, uphill walking. I just wasn't thinking. At the top we had almost nothing left, but a lady, a solo-hiker, gave us a bottle of water for the trek down after seeing we didn't have nearly enough. Then she left four more bottles on our car {this is why you should talk to people, tell them what state you're from, and never bother to change your tags so they can easily find your car in a gravel lot}. She actually waited for us to reach the bottom before driving off. I'll never forget this lady. She saved us from a very uncomfortable case of dehydration.