Trip Report

The Obsidians’ spring trip to the Columbia River Gorge has been one of our most popular Extended Trips since it was initiated a few years ago by Lana Lindstrom. This year’s version was no exception with a total of 17 participants attending for three days of superb hiking in the gorge.

As usual, we stayed at the Menucha Conference Center just off the old Columbia River Highway at Corbett, which is convenient to most of the trailheads in the gorge. We met at Menucha on Wednesday morning and, in what seems to have become a tradition, hiked up to Angel’s Rest for lunch, stopping at Bridal Veil Falls on the return to our base camp. On Thursday, one group climbed up Dog Mountain on the Washington side of the gorge, another group hiked Eagle Creek as far as High Bridge, and another group hiked the Larch Mountain Crater loop, stopping for lunch at Sherrad Point with all the major mountain peaks in view. Others opted for sightseeing in the area. On Friday, many hiked the Horsetail Falls-Ponytail Falls-Triple Falls loop, others went to Eagle Creek, and some went sightseeing, before returning home.

Perhaps because this trip went later in the spring than in previous years, the weather was just about perfect for hiking, with cool, cloudy skies on Wednesday, clear and sunny on Thursday and Friday. The views of the gorge from Menucha, set high above the river, were magnificent. Rumors of a pagan ritual dance one evening at the newly constructed stone labyrinth at Menucha have remained unconfirmed. The happy hour each evening before dinner, after a day of hiking, proved to be a very popular get-together.