Catherine Creek Hike and Driving East

After Mom got all settled in our first item on the agenda was a hike. I chose Catherine Creek in WA for several reasons. Firstly was the difficulty level, various sections are 1- 3 pies, the 3 pie part is an incline that sucks, ask mom lol. The effort would pay off with a view of the east end of the gorge and a slew of native blooming wildflowers. She did really well, I personally think it makes the sense of accomplishment greater when you finally do reach the top if you had to work a bit to get there. I think/ hope she agreed lol. She really got into it, even found herself a hiking stick! She had been asking about the frequency of snake sightings... We've ever only seen 2 and they were together on a completely different trail in OR.. Leave it to the most snake phobic person I know to almost step on the only known one in WA! It was a little garter snake but by her reaction you would have thought it was the worlds largest rattler! Once she spotted it she was off and running faster than I've ever seen her move. I felt really bad for her in the situation but I think it's comical it retrospect (she probably wouldn't agree lol). When we made it to the top we found ourselves a place to sit and take in the view, sun, and breeze. The wind was blowing the tall grasses all around and I was inspired to make a crop circle while Mom laughed at me.

After we hiked back to the car we set out for Goldendale with plans to see the Marryhill Art Museam and the wind turbine fields. Before going too much further we stopped at a the only place to eat in miles, a cute neighborhood mom n pop place that served Americana on a plate. Yummy Americana shaped like the most beautiful lemon pie you've ever seen. I though pie was quite appropriate beings that mom had gotten her first taste of our hiking pie rating system:

Bellies full we hopped back in the car and proceeded East. Mom got to see the awesome topography changes as you leave the Gorge. Tall green mountains giving way to large sloping grass covered and arid hills. The sky gets bigger and bigger as do the views. You feel like you can see forever when you look towards the horizon. It all looks rather fake and is truly hard to grasp the scope of.  We arrived at the museum, took a look around the beautiful property and sculpture garden, admired the peacock/peahens and saw what we could of the exhibits before it closed. From there we proceeded to drive north into Goldendale where we got our first view of Mt. Rainier and Mom marveled at the huge white spinning wind turbines. I enjoyed watching her go on and on about how huge they were. We ate at dairy queen in Goldendale which is about the only thing there is to do in that town, then back home we drove only stopping to eat mexican food in Hood River.
We did see by far the most spectacular sunset that evening. Mom's visit was off to a nice start.



CLICK HERE FOR PICS
.
.
.
.
.
.

Almost a month

Wow, I've really been slacking in the blog department.. Sorry! Lots of things have been happening around here, mainly revolving around the preparations for Mom's visit and the week that she was here, but more on that later. First I want to share with you a photo of a sunset that I too here recently, it was a pretty nice one:

Ash has been busy workin' hard but during one of her days off (I had to work) she decided to go on a solo hike of Falls Creek. She wrote a blog and took photos. Here is her experience:

"On a day that I had off I decided to find a hike. Sadly Kris could not attend. I settled on a hike just up the road from our house in Carson in the Gifford Pichot National Forest Area. Lower Falls Creek Falls is about 3.4 miles round trip and is rated easy. I would give this hike 3 1/2 pies. Originally I thought I would only give it two but there were some obstacles. The trail is not one of the more maintained trails in this forest system. There were a couple of trees that were downed and I had to crawl under them. It's fitting because it seems I cannot go into the forest without bringing back all the dirt. I started the hike and it was mostly flat. A little creek flowed along the trail and the sounds of the water gently flowing over the rocks was tranquil. As I looked around I noticed some Ponderosa Pines and dense fern ground cover. Ironically, the sun at 8am over this setting reminded me of places in Florida. As a result I thought about family for the entire trip. I continued to walk along the trail and crossed a small cable suspension bridge. Precarious but I forged forward. At this point the trail began to ascend. I was the only one on the trail and in some places it was quiet. I could hear myself breathing and hear the wind as it brushed through the trees. The further along the trail I hiked, the louder the water became. It was a slow build. Halfway through it sounded like static. I had read a little about the trail before going on it and had read that the reward for this hike was  3 tier 250 foot waterfall. I continued to walk contemplating that this fall would probably only be marginally different from other falls hikes I have done in the same area. I was wrong. At times on the trail, I felt so alone that I could have been the only one around for miles. I was comforted by the isolation. Trekking forward the creek became more like rapids and the water was rushing in volumes. I hiked to the sounds of dull roar and I appreciated the white noise because I was unable to think. I was unable to think about how much I missed my family or how I wished Kris were with me. I was unable to think about how I was a little cold from the shaded trail and how I really wanted to get to the end so I could turn around and go back. I just kept walking until the white noise turned into  what sounded like a rock concert. I rounded a corner and caught a glimpse of the falls and I had to grasp my chest because it took my breath away. I stood there for a moment almost afraid that I wouldn't be able to handle getting close. A few hundred yards more and I arrived at the mouth of the beast. The only other person was a photographer and his dog. I stood behind him on large moss covered rocks and he didn't even notice I was there. The sound of the water was so loud and powerful it was reverberating through my chest and the forest floor beneath my feet. I craned my neck so I could gaze on the expanse of how tall 250 feet really is. The water was falling fast and hard and it was plentiful. I sat eye level with the falls and ate an apple. The noise was intense and it drowned out even the sounds of my eating. Shortly after my snack I headed back and was left awe stricken all the way to the car. I couldn't wait to go home and tell Kris about it and I hope to take her on it soon. The pictures do the trail no justice as with most places here, but the images are forever ingrained in my mind and I know if you hike it the images will be with you forever too."


CLICK HERE FOR THE PICS

.
.
.

Surprise! More Flowers

I swear every time I walk outside something different is going on with the flora.. It's amazing.... many of the flowering plants shown in previous pics have dropped their petals and new green growth is taking its place... but the color show is far from over it would appear.. Here's some new stuff I saw while out refinishing the new bed for the spare bedroom (pics of that to come):

Since the weather has been so nice, I've been outside quite a bit and this is one result... a new fire pit! (that huge tree trunk in the background is large enough to seat 3 people):

And here's another quick wire commission I did recently.. photographed TERRIBLY:

More wire stuff, these were inventory I had to retrieve from Bahma, the coffee house I was selling my work through as they have closed down :( So now I have to find another place to sell them:

 The "hope" and "peace" candle lanterns are made from recycled pickle jars. Will ship if you know anyone who might be interested in them.



Craigslist deal of the day: Got a aquarium, a bit larger than a 55 gallon, for only 20 bucks! As I assemble all the parts to get it set up (filter, plants, fish etc..) I'll put up some photos.


Craigslist deal of a couple weeks ago: our new groovy retro double oven stove (I picked it out, can you tell? LOL) .. it was only $50 and works perfectly.. our landlord bought it, picked it up, and delivered it for us!: 

Well that's all for now folks....

Warmth

A sunny spring day means so much more now than I ever knew it could. I can feel and truly appreciate the radiant warmth of the sun on my back as I muck about in the garden. I have both doors open on the house now and the sweet smelling breeze is coming through bringing a little of that beautiful outdoors in. I was communing with the earthworms earlier today... we have so many in the veggie garden, no matter what spot you turn up you find them. While weeding the veg patch I realized the tomato cages I had put over the pea plants weren't gonna do so I walked to the hardware store and got some bamboo stakes and built pea trellises. Ash bought me some seedling plants to put in the garden (squash, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, & romaine lettuce) and now I'm out of space! I had to dig up one of the planter beds beside the house to have room for the squash.

I started eyeballing other parts of the yard to dig up to house any other veg that we start inside. While surveying possible new garden locations I checked on the lettuce boxes. I'm coming to the realization that I put them outside too early in the season. One box didn't make it. I'm guessing the cold got it. The other box is doing swell though!  In case you are wondering why I've no photos of the garden yet, it's because I've been saving them up to make a little movie/ slide presentation. I want to be able to show the growth progress all the way to harvest, so stay tuned for that.

A small victory that I will share as far as the garden is concerned, a sneak peek of sorts... we unintentionally grew some green onion!! I saw it popping up sporadically in the veg patch but I let it be, figured it wouldn't hurt anything, and today I felt it was large enough to take so into the house it went, and will be included in tonight's dinner:

Here's some other pics I snapped while out in  the yard today:

Friendly Faces

We've been on the friend hunt especially hard lately, as our Stevenson buddies have been busy with their lives or out of town. On our search for cool new people we've come across three particularly awesome gals..

Cassandra from Eugene is currently attending esthetician school and has been a great texting and phone buddy, even though she's 2 hrs away : (

Lauren from Gresham is a horse trainer/breeder and Saddlebred shower. We hope to be able to go hiking and kayaking with her and maybe trail riding too:

Roo from Portland  is a crafty chick like me and shares our love of hiking and chickens. She's gonna be coming out here tomorrow for a hiking trek to Catherine Creek (stay tuned for pics):

 She also gave us some wonderful eggs from her cute chickens, really love the banty and the green ones!:

Thunder Rolls

Heard the first thunder since we've lived here accompanied by a very brief downpour, then there appeared a huge double rainbow over the gorge. The rainbow only lasted about 15 minute and I may have missed it had I not been doing the dishes looking out the window. 

Fat Girl Hikes #1

 This is the beginning of a blog within a blog. While Ash and I have been scrambling up and down the western landscape we have come to the conclusion that the difficulty ratings given by most hiker's guidebooks assume that you are already in top physical shape. We have the mental ambition to be fit but we were, shall we say, behind the curve when we arrived here so we have decided to start a more realistic rating system of our own. This one will give you the skinny on pacific northwest hikes if you aren't.. well... all that skinny. The rating system we have is 1 - 4 pies. Yes, Pies. A 1 pie rating would mean the trail is "easy as pie". You will
hardly break a sweat and only have minimal calorie burning. A 4 pie rating would mean you will be gasping for breath, wanting to die, and wishing you could just go home and stuff your face with pies to make up for all the calories you just lost. There may be a rare 5 pie rating if we come across a trail that us fat girls can't make it up, but luckily we haven't encountered one of those yet.

Our first Fat Girl Hikes blog will cover Wind Mountain trail in Washington.
This 2.7 mile hike is short and be thankful, because you will be climbing up nearly 2000 feet of elevation. Basically starting from the base of the mountain at sea level, trekking all the way up to the top. This trail was built by the Girl Scouts but is currently unmaintained and one of the most overlooked hikes in the Gorge. The trailhead is unmarked and you probably wouldn't know it was there if you hadn't heard about it. We look at this mountain every day from our house, and had been itching to climb it from day one. Here it is from the office window:

                                       *Things in photo are much larger than they appear*


 Upon researching this hike, we found descriptions ranging from easy and kid friendly, to moderate. We here at the Fat Girl Hikes headquarters say "yeah right!". We give it 3 pies. As we were dragging our sizable behinds up the steep switchbacks, over the treacherous talus rock slopes, and through the beautiful but mostly unchanging forest we were debating on giving it a 4 pie rating but we changed our minds when we finally reached the summit and were rewarded with one of the most spectacular views of the Gorge we have seen yet. The utterly breathtaking panoramic view went on for miles through the clear sunny skies. Caution was required while navigating the summit due to the jagged and loose talus rocks covering the ground but the handy walking sticks we'd picked up at the beginning of the trail helped. Once seated on some of the larger stones we were able to see Dog Mountain, Mitchell Point, Mount Defiance, Table Mountain, Greenleaf Peak, and most spectacularly, the snow covered Mount Saint Helens. And if that wasn't enough there is a big shiny red cherry topping this pie.... the fact that Wind Mountain is a site of significant historical importance. It has been and is still used as a Native American spirit quest location and has at its peak several delicate archaeological areas that are up to a thousand years old. Delicious! We urge the rest of you big girls and boys out there to give this hike a try, just take it slow, bring lots of water, and maybe a *healthy* snack or two ;)

CLICK HERE for pics!!!

.


.



.