Columbia Gorge to Portland Cartopia

We drove out to the Columbia Gorge this morning, to the Eagle Creek trailhead. The idea was to hike early and beat the heat. Not many cars were parked at the trailhead when we arrived, but as the day progressed, more and more hikers showed up.

The trail runs through a canyon cut by Eagle Creek, and in parts the trail has been blasted out of the canyon walls. Steel cables help to stabilize hikers in some areas, with extremely steep dropoffs and narrow trail sections. Anara had some difficulty at first, but her dad coached her a bit with advice about holding on to the cable and keeping your eyes on the trail and not the dropoff.

The section of the trail we hiked leads to Punchbowl Falls. We all sat down on the rocks and enjoyed a picnic lunch in this beautiful and peaceful spot.

Punchbowl Falls

When we returned to the trailhead, we drove to Sandy Riverfront RV Park to pick up the chair and small table we had left to guard our campsite, one which we will not return to on this trip, since the work on the rig has been delayed.

Back home, we regrouped and rested before heading out to meet Shawn at the Ladd's Addition circle. We stopped on the way to pick up Talulah (Shawn's dog, a Treeing Walker Coonhound). When Shawn arrived in the circle, we all walked to Cartopia, the Hawthorne and 12th St. food cart pod.

Pyro Pizza--some of the best pizza in town

Food cart pizza oven! Hot work for pizza chefs...

Shawn got some french fries with rosemary catsup and some Poutine--a French Canadian treat, french fries with cheese curds and gravy (usually beef gravy, but in this case the vegetarian version, with mushroom gravy).  After we all ate our selections, we walked back to the Ladd's Addition circle to sit and listen to the musicians.

Chris and Talulah

Shawn had to leave early because of her work schedule, but we wished a happy birthday and gave her birthday cards. Chris gave her a book of the 60 best hikes in the Portland area. Her birthday is August 30. Wow, the month is almost over.

After listening to the music for a while we walked over to Palio Desserts and Expresso. They sell JacIva's cakes. Ken and I shared a slice of bittersweet chocolate cake. Yum!