Camping on the Coast

I picked my sister up in Portland on Sunday night and we decided to spend all day Monday in the Columbia River Gorge, hiking with my friend, Karen. We hiked Larch Mountain. A nice little 6 mile loop can be had by hiking Larch Mountain Trail, Multnomah Creek Way and Oneonta Trail. Along the way, we saw lots of wild blueberries, but they were still not quite ripe. A little sour. I was able to pick up a couple of letterboxes along the way too! The view from Woman's Forum looking back along the river was lovely.

On Tuesday, we left Portland and headed for Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast. We stopped at Camp 18 on Highway 26. They have a little trail there called the Humbug Creek Trail, so I hiked it for a measy little 3/4 of a mile. We stopped at McMenamins Sand Trap in Seaside, OR for some of their terrific beer and pub grub. By the time we got to the Campground at Fort Stevens and had the tent up, it was almost sunset. We thought we could knock out the 1 mile trail around Coffenbury Lake before it got totally dark. So we are hiking and hiking around the lake and it gets darker and darker and I am thinking that this is more than one mile!! It turns out the lake is one mile long. The trail around the lake is actually 2.4 miles! So we got in more miles than I had planned for Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we visited Fort Clatsop and I hiked the Netul River Trail for 1 mile. We spent most of the day in the galleries and shops at Cannon Beach. It was raining most of the day and we didn't feel like slogging along the trails. We also visited the Astoria Column and saw the Goonies house!

Thursday, we got up bright and early to return to Seattle. Took some photos of the Wreck of the Peter Iredale on the beach at Fort Stevens and then headed back to Washington State and Cape Disappointment State Park. We hiked the Cape Disappointment Trail to see the lighthouse and also the McKenzie Head Trail for more views. (and letterboxes) On the drive home, we also cruised through Raymond, WA to enjoy their sculpture trail. And we were able to make another stop at Burgerville in Centralia this time, for their Walla Walla Sweet Onions Onion Rings! With the Garlic Aioli sauce they are awesome! My sister has already posted some of her photos from the trip on Facebook!

So I have a total of 37.5 miles and $783 for WTA Hike-a-thon. Many thanks to my letterboxing friends who have contributed so generously. You Guys ROCK! or is it SPOR? Don't forget if you are mailing a check to me to have it in the mail by September 3rd. Checks should be made out to WTA or Washington Trails Association. And my Fundraising Page is set up to take credit card donations.

Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page

I-5 Road Trip

Last Sunday, I packed up the car for a road trip south to Portland. I would be picking up my sister at PDX and we were headed for the Oregon Coast and camping. "No need to check the weather report!" Check out this link for the Pemco Insurance Blue Tarp Campers commercial. "We'll bring our blue sky with us!"



If you have driven I-5 south to Portland, you might have noticed that almost every couple of miles there is a sign saying "State Park next exit" I decided to check out some of those State Parks for a little hiking for hike-a-thon. I figured I could do a mile or so hike at each park.
My first stop on the ride south was Rainbow Falls State Park. I hiked along the Deer Trail and the Hemlock Trail and actually hiked 2 miles because I was hunting for letterboxes along the way.


Back to I-5 and Lewis and Clark State Park, (not to be confused with the Lewis and Clark Trail State Park near Waitsburg, WA) was my next stop. I hiked the Trail of the Deer (do ya see a pattern forming?) And the Old Growth Trail for a total of 2 miles.


Seaquest State Park was really nice, but the trails did not have actual names. So I crossed the highway to the Mount Saint Helens Interpretive Center and hiked theWetland Haven Trail for 1 mile. And I might have made a stop at Burgerville in Woodland for a Raspberry Shake (the last of the season, they switched to Blackberry this week!)


I also stopped at Paradise Point State Park, but I could not find any named trails to hike. This park is right on the highway. I have photos of the big rigs thundering by overhead.
　
My sister was due in to Portland in a couple of hours, so I skipped Battleground State Park and went directly to Beacon Rock State Park. I hiked the 1 mile trail to the top of the rock and then headed back to PDX to collect my sister.
　
That brings my hiking mileage to 26 miles and $733 raised for WTA!
Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page
Be sure to visit my WTA Fundraising page to see my progress towards $1,000!

Mooving on Up!

Most of you who have seen my boyfriend, Ryan stamped into a letterbox know that he signs his little Turtle with a Moo voice balloon. So that is behind the "Mooving on Up" of the title of this post. Silly, I know, but we have had a busy two days moving Ryan's gear from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA. From Storage to Storage. and I might be a little punchy.


It all started yesterday morning with a 3 hour drive down to Portland in my little VW. We stopped in Centralia for a Burgerville hamburger and shake. I love this restaurant chain and the closest one to Seattle is an hour and a half drive away in Centralia. They use all local ingredients in their products. So I had Walla Walla sweet onions on my burger (and fried up as onion rings too) And the cheese on the cheese burger is local Tillamook Cheese. The fruit for the shakes right now is Oregon Raspberry. This changes throughout the year with whatever is in season. Yum.


We arrived in Portland and Ryan picked up his rental truck. The 10 footer. "Perfect for Moving" it says on the side of the truck. I was envious, because Ryan would now have air-conditioning for the drive back to Seattle. Ryan had been storing his belongings in the basement of a friend's house in Portland, so we drove over to start moving his stuff out. It only took a couple of hours to get the stuff moved and then his friend Nancy made us dinner. She grilled steaks. After all, it was also a birthday celebration! Today, July 14th is Ryan's Birthday.

We left Nancy's house just as it was getting dark and drove back to Seattle. One of Ryan's birthday presents was a set of Walkie-Talkies for us to use when we are hiking. As most of you know, Ryan walks at a much faster clip than I do and often leaves me in the dust. This way we can keep in touch on the trail! We brought them along for the return road trip since we would be driving seperate vehicles. It was fun to keep in touch. I felt like I was in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. Running ahead of the UHaul in my little VW to distract the "Bears" from Ryan's Truckload of .....Stuff. :-)

The next morning bright and early we joined the rest of West Seattle and set up for a little yard sale. But in this yard sale we had more things for FREE than for sale! :-) It is amazing, but people sometimes don't want to believe that you are giving away something of value for free. There must be something wrong with it or some sort of catch. One lady took several free items and then insisted on giving me a dollar. "for my time" she said!

Mainly we had to get rid of stuff because we had to take a full 10 foot truck and squeeze everything into a 5x6 storage space. Ryan and I had lots of duplicate items. You really don't need two microwaves in a one bedroom apartment. Or even two spice racks. Also there were several pieces of furniture that we just did not have room for...some tables and chairs and bookcases. Other household items like blankets and even a lamp or two. We sold enough to buy ourselves lunch at the Charlestown Street Cafe a couple of blocks away. And the rest went into the 5x6 storage unit. There were still a few items left at the end of the afternoon, but hopefully Goodwill will take them. Many thanks to some of our letterboxing friends who came down to take some stuff off our hands!

For those folks looking for some hike-a-thon information in this blog, I have $350 in pledges from 11 people so far! Last year the flight attendants pledged more than the letterboxers, but this year I think the letterboxers are set to make up for it! I have had almost all the pledges from letterboxers so far. Hurrah.