Sebastian’s Quiver

I know what you’re thinking.  “ANOTHER hike?!?!  All these people do is hike hike hike.”  Well, that’s pretty close to true.

Juliann, Sebastian and I took off to Multnomah Falls, the biggest, touristy falls in the Gorge by a huge margin.  The reason why we chose to do this hike was twofold:  1) The guide books said that the hike behind Multnomah Falls was one of the best waterfall hikes in the Gorge, and 2) it was cold and rainy and we knew few, if any, tourists would be clogging up Multnomah Falls.

We were right.  Few people were there.  Halfway up the very steep, mile long ascent to the top of Multnomah Falls (where the real hike begins) it really began to rain pretty hard.  Luckily, it let up and we got the top, though it was a tough uphill (1 mile with 800+ feet of ascent - that’s a lot).  Up behind the Falls it turned from a plain old uphill slog to a beautiful, verdant wonderland of cascading falls, rocky overhangs, and tall, old trees.  Juliann carried Sebastian most of the way in the sling, though I took him for about a mile in the middle and the last half mile out of the total 6+ miles.  We desperately need an Ergocarrier.

I’d like to point out how wonderful Sebastian was on the hike.  There was a short time when he was getting a little cranky, but that didn’t last long at all.  He slept for the beginning of the hike, but he was awake for most of it.  He was looking around at all the trees and water and falls.  When he was awake he never stopped gazing at everything around him.  We (i.e., Juliann) did a great job of keeping him dry when it was raining, but when he did get drizzled on, he didn’t mind it at all.  The only thing that he didn’t like was when his view of the scenery was blocked by the raincoat.

I’m not sure what else I can say about how beautiful this hike was.  I think it was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on.  Oh yeah, did I mention that this was about a 30 minute drive from our house?

I posted about 45 photos on the photoblog with additional comments for most of the photos, but here is a taste of some of the better shots:

Multnomah Falls - this is what everyone comes to see.

Faerie Falls - this is one of the falls that is way back on the hike.

I know this looks tilted, but it’s really not.

The end of the hike!  We made it!

Another week, another hike.  This time, we took to the hills, or, more accurately, the Columbia River Gorge.  There are a ton of hikes and beautiful places in the Gorge to go hiking, but we chose to hike to Elowah Falls and the Upper McCord Creek Falls, both located in John B. Yeon State Park, about a half an hour drive east of our house along I-84 (no relation to I-85, for you curious Atlantans out there).

The hike was wonderful, if a bit close to the highway.  The highway noise disappeared as we hiked in a bit closer to the waterfalls.  Unlike last week’s hike to Sauvie Island, Sebastian was awake for the entire hike (he slept most of the Sauvie Island hike).  He really enjoyed looking around at all the wonderful scenery, and especially the waterfalls.

One thing that I noticed him doing today: his manual dexterity seems to have taken a leap.  He can now sort of maneuver things around with more accuracy.  As I type this, he has managed to get his bunny’s ears into his mouth a couple of times.  He loves Bunny-foo-foo’s ears almost as much as he loves Abima’s head nipples.

Below are some photos of Sebastian a day before the hike, and some I took during the hike.  As usual, please visit the photoblog for even more photos

Sleepy baby:

Classic Sebastian look:

And now for some more Oregon beauty.  Read it and weep, east coast chumps!

Idyllic setting in the woods:

Ooo, a babbling brook:

Elowah Falls:

Great view across the Columbia into Washington:

Upper McCord Falls:

A slightly blurry photo of us (notice how nicely dressed they are in Nau gear):