Mother's Day Weekend - 2006
Eagle Creek Hike

It was that time of the year again to make plans for Mother's Day Weekend. Michael and Sylvia invited us to have a cookout at their place in The Dalles. We were also going to work in Sylvia's rose garden and get in a hike on Mother's Day weekend. Rocke and I were looking forward to the weekend as we always have a great time with Michael and Sylvia.

Traffic is really bad in the Portland area, worse on Friday afternoon, so Rocke and I decided to beat the traffic rush Friday evening, the 12th of May, and left for The Dalles around 4 pm.

After arriving, Michael and Sylvia treated us to a a delicious dinner at Romuls Italian Ristorante. Located downtown, The Dalles, in the Historical district, Romul's provided an elegant, yet casual dining experience. The food was delicious and it was fun spending time with the kids and catching up on what had and has been happening in each others lives.

On Saturday morning, we got busy to get Sylvia's rose garden in shape. She had planted some rose bushes along the fence and grass was growing around them and about to carry the rose bushes away. We didn't want this to happen, so we went to work digging out all the grass and putting down some bark dust. We also decided this would be a good time to put in a couple more rose bushes. Now that the weeds are not choking the rose bushes to death, Sylvia should get some nice blooming roses.

With the work done on the rose bushes and enough time to shower and relax before the guests arrived for the cookout, we enjoyed drinks while waiting for the food to cook. Michael and Sylvia had gotten up around 5:30 a.m. to get the turkey in the smoker and it was smelling good! Michael also smoked a roast and some smoked baked beans. The smoked baked beans are the best beans I have ever had. Great job, Michael & Sylvia! Getting up that early to get the food in the smoker paid off . . . it was delicious.

On Sunday morning, Mother's Day, Michael, Rocke and I took the Eagle Creek hike in the Columbia River Gorge. Sylvia decided not to go on the hike with us because she stands on her feet all day at work and didn't want to walk another 13 miles! Eagle Creek is a very popular hike and can get very crowded during the summer months. We decided we wanted to do it before it got too hot and too many people were on the trail. Some portions of the trail are very narrow with a long drop down to Eagle Creek in the canyon below.

We figured Mother's Day would be a good day to take the hike because most people would be at home or doing something with their Mothers and not out on the hiking trail. Wrong! In the afternoon, on our way back down the trail, we passed "tons" of people out getting their exercise on the trail..

Built in the 1910s to acompany the opening of the Columbia River Highway, the Eagle Creek Trail was blasted out of the cliffs with dynamite by Italian engineers. It is one of Oregon's most spectacular paths, passing half a dozen major waterfalls. This trail is also something of an engineering marvel. To maintain an easy grade through this rugged canyon, the builders blasted ledges out of sheer cliffs, bridged a colossal gorge, and even chipped a tunnel throught solid rock behind the 120-foot Tunnel Falls. The area above the 800-foot-elevation mark was officially designated Mark O Hatfield Wilderness in 1984 for the Oregon Senator.

The many layers of columnar basalt exposed in the cliffs of Eagle Creek are all part of the massive lava outpourings that inundated 50,000 square miles of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Idaho to a depth of up to a mile 10 to 17 million years ago. These rock floods surged down the ancient Columbia River to the sea, pushing the river north to its present location.

We "hit" the trail around 8 am, to beat the crowd and heat. The trail started out along Eagle Creek and soon climbed well above it along a slope of cedars and mossy maples. Not too far up the trail, it started to traverse a cliff where cables are used as handrails, first constructed in 1916, and we carefully made our way along the cliffs overlooking Eagle Creek. Pacing ourselves, we continued until we came to Punchbowl Falls. We stopped long enough to marvel and the power of the falls and get a few pictures.

We continued about another mile or so on a steady climb to High Bridge, a metal footbridge across a dizzying, slot-like chasm. Here the creek has exposed a long crack in the earth, the fault along which this valley formed. The water rushes cool and clear 50 feet beneath the bridge. What an awesome spot to take a few minutes to enjoy the beauty of hiking on this lovely trail. At this point, we were starting to pass many backpackers who were coming back down the trail.

Just past High Bridge, we stopped to take in the beauty of Loowit Falls. This pretty falls is the first major tributary waterfall along the Eagle Creek trail that can clearly be seen. The falls are viewed from a stretch of the Eagle Creek trail that crosses an open catwalk-like section, blasted out of the face of the gorge wall. Below the trail, the gorge drops 100 feet straight down.

We climbed and crossed several more bridges before reaching Tunnel Falls. We could hear and almost feel the thunder of Tunnel Falls before reaching it. What an awesome sight and sound. Sometimes I find myself calling Tunnel Falls, Thunder Falls. The trail continues on through the tunnel, which is exhilarating to walk through and to feel the power of the water falling down so close to you. What an awesome feeling! The roar of the falls is deafening from inside the tunnel, while water drips from the roof incessantly.

From Tunnel Falls, we continued toward what most people refer to as Crisscross Falls. This waterfall doesn't yet have an official name, but rather several widely used names of local origin. The most commonly used names are Crossover Falls, or Crisscross Falls. A third, less used name is Twister Falls. All three names originate from the distinct form of the upper tier of the falls, as two segments of the falls cross over one another.

We edged our way very carefully around the very narrow trial using the cable handrails along the cliffs overlooking Eagle Creek. One wrong step or a slip of the foot would land a person at the bottom of the canyon, over 100 feet below. On reaching Crisscross Falls, we took off our packs and enjoyed our lunch. Michael noticed some Harlequin Ducks swimming in the water and pointed them out to Rocke and I. We had fun watching the ducks dive under the water and swim to the bottom for something to eat. After eating, they all seem to pop back up out of the water at the same time.

It was time to leave the ducks to their eating and playing in the water. We put on our backpacks and headed back down the trail to our cars. The sun had came out and the temperature had risen to about 80 degrees, so we were anxious to reach the other end and air conditioning. By the time we reached Punchbowl Falls, streams of people were coming up the trail (probably just to Punchbowl Falls). Finally finishing up our long, 13-mile hike for the day, we were hot and tired, and glad to be back at the cars.

Before returning home, Michael, Rocke and I talked about where to take our next hike. Michael wanted to climb Dog Mountain and get some pictures of the many beautiful wildflowers on top of the mountain. This would be a very steep climb, 2820 feet elevation gain in a little over 3 miles. Rocke and I were not sure if we were ready to tackle the Dog.

Would we or wouldn't we go along with Michael and tackle this difficult climb?? Keep an eye on your e-mail to see if we took the challenge!