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Tag Archives: hike

Snapshot 8

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by loreeharrell in Beauty Be Us, Snapshots

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bridge Of The Gods, Cascade Locks, hike, moon, night walk, Sandy River, snapshot

Cascade Locks from the Port;  Loree Harrell, 2012

The dogs and I hiked to the river tonight.   In truth, I wouldn’t have gone if the dogs weren’t promised a daily run down the trail – it was a long day and my head was tired, my body was junk, and all I wanted truly was to curl up in a warm bed and sleep.  But as soon as we started the hike down, I was glad I was there walking in the cold in the dark in a circle of light .

And then, two miles later, we walked out of the forest onto the beach by the river, and it was one of those moments when delight and peace are real things that you can feel in every cell of body and heart.  The mists of the morning had left tiny sparkling jewels all over the sand and the rocks and the bare branches and the brown leaves, the crescent moon was low over the river and dancing the water in light, and the stars were brilliant in a sky that endlessly black velvet blue that only a crystal night sky can be.

We sat by the river for a long time, and, once,  I wished for a camera and the skills to show you.  And then was glad of not having them.  Sometimes it’s enough for something to exist just for one person.

We stayed for a long time,
and then walked back up a hill through a winter forest with star-laden branches,
and went to sleep.

LLH;  01.05.14;  7:00p
Sandy River
Corbett, Oregon

Image: Bridge Of The Gods from the Cascade Locks Port;  Loree Harrell, 2013
Image related to the words only by virtue of a sparkle on the water, but it seemed the Snapshot series should have a snapshot.

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Snapshot No. 2

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by loreeharrell in Snapshots

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

dogs, gorge, hike, Sandy River, snapshot

WP_20130401_021

The dogs stopped and turned into the last sun through the trees towards the long low growl across the river, and listened.
It faded, and they stood another minute and returned to the trail.

The growl came again, in the distance on the other side of the gorge, and, once again, they turned to the edge of the bluff and waited to know, then continued up the trail.

WP_20130401_020

The third time the growl echoed through the trees, both turned to listen, then one turned to the woman, a clear question in his eyes.

WP_20130401_019

She laughed and said, “Crotch rocket”.

Both dogs turned and continued uphill towards home and dinner, the next growl unheeded.

Trail in the Sandy River Gorge.  Max and Ebb listening, King ahead on the trail, being old enough to know better.
Cell phone pics at dusk.

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Columbia Gorge Flower Frenzy!

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by loreeharrell in And Around, Day Trips, Events

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

columbia gorge, event, flower, frenzy, friends of the columbia gorge, hike, nature, oregon, walk

Friends of the Columbia Gorge
Flower Frenzy Challenge 2013!

March 1 to July 31, 2013

FriendsoftheColumbiaGorge_FlowerFrenzy2013

What a great reason to get boots on the trails, and experience the spring and early summer in our beautiful Columbia Gorge!  Every year, I intend to get out to Dog Mountain in the spring, and every year, I miss the window.  Rain or shine, I am going this weekend – mark it.

Friends Of The Columbia Gorge has put together a treasure hunt of 25 beautiful flowers that appear briefly in the Gorge in the spring and early summer, and the challenge is to get out there and find as many as you can, with the shyer of the bunch being worth more points.  There are prizes, although I would suggest the treasure, in this case, is in the finding more than the winning :).  The log has great information on each flower, like:

Bitter Root

Bitter Root _ Lewisia rediviva… This flower was found in the Bitter Root Mtns by Lewis & Clark (state flower of Montana). The speciman they brought back had a viable root and bloomed years after the expedition. Hence the scientific name. American Indians valued it highly as a food, and although it is nutritous, it tastes bitter. According to tribal myths, the plant grew from the tears of a starving old woman, and its roots are bitter because of her sorrow. The large, fleshy roots were harvested just as the blossoms began to bud, and, after being boiled, became jellylike and less bitter.

Register at www.gorgefriends.org/flowerfrenzy , print out your log, and go find some beauty you haven’t seen before.  Even if you’re not going to play this time, become a member!  Memberships start at 35.00, which is a killer deal and gives you access to great inside information and resources.  I also see that if you register now, you get a free copy of Ross Jolley’s “Wildflowers Of The Columbia Gorge”!WildflowersoftheColumbiaGorge_RussJolley

Some of the early ones will be disappearing soon (or you’ll have to hike up higher to find them), so start this weekend and I’ll see you on the other side of a cluster of Dutchman’s Breeches!

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So there’s a football game on?

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by loreeharrell in And Around, Day Trips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

forest, hike, Larch Mountain, quiet, Ravens

Some sort of big deal I gather, by the Sunday crowd at the Pub when I drove down the hill.

In other news, it was perfect on Larch Mountain tonight.  A car was at the river trail, so the dogs and I went to our Milepost 4 trail gate.  Six miles further up, the road is closed for snow, but at that (relatively) lower elevation, it was perfect hiking temperature and, bless the slightly lengthening days, light enough at 4:30 that I almost forgot the flashlight.

Great hike in.  We hadn’t been there in several months, so the dogs were both excited, and yet not so much in their element that they would go on a run without me.  We got down to the creek, and the bridge that was already altered into a deep V by a large tree falling on it, had been pushed in by another log pummeling it from upcreek in high water and now had water running over the low middle of it, and the surface was moss-slicked.  After watching Ebb slipslide across, and King and Max decline to follow down the steep near side and up the steep far side, we came to a collective decision to skip the far side trail (Ebb didn’t concur, already being over and not being enthusiastic about crossing immediately back, but he was overruled).

Hiking back out, the forest went aggressively quiet.  It took me a few minutes to notice, and I don’t know what was there before that was different.  But, some days, the stillness finds you.

Congratulations, Ravens.

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The Dark and The Mud and the Sweet Spot

10 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by loreeharrell in And Around, Day Trips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Corbett, dark, hike, night, rain, Sandy River, Troutdale

064 source

It rained yesterday for a goodly part of the day.  Hard.  I know that because Rian and I were tromping around town in it, gathering up site partners and talking to good people.  Everyone here understands when you walk in with their informational packet wrapped in plastic, your hair askew, and your makeup running.

It quit, or more accurately slowed, early afternoon.  Late afternoon, clear of tasks for the moment, I headed for my daily hike in the woods with a van full of dogs (358.8 pounds in four black-and-tan bodies officially qualifying as a van full).  We got there just before 5:00 (the days are getting longer again, have you noticed?), in time to walk the first mile through the forest without a lamp.  And when we came out of the woods at the river a mile later than that, there was still enough light at the bottom of the gorge to sit on a wet rock by the river for a few minutes and enjoy the rampage before the late dusk turned to full dark.

It is a function of human, that when you’re in the middle of flourescent and traffic and phones and people all day, you don’t think about what that inconvenient rain and a relatively warm day means in the wilder parts of your world.

The Sandy was running high and loud and beautiful with rain and snow melt.  The huge sitting rock at the edge of the beach was six feet out in the river, the boulders at the bottom were gently knocking into each other, the air was crisp and clean and six kinds of jazzed up with ions, the sky had cleared enough to show a swath of stars sparkling in the cold.  It takes all of thirty seconds in that environment to wash out a day and drop you into sweet peace.  Try it some day, when it’s been raining all day and still might be a little.  Hike a muddy trail, get a little wet, take a happy dog, brave the dark.  You’ll walk out new, I promise.

LLH

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Borrowed From A Friend…

06 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by loreeharrell in News In

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

fall, hike, hotel, installation, leaves, Sandy River trail, The Mirror Project, walk

I borrowed this post from The Mirror Project page, because we wound up with a couple spots on the walls needing a sparkle after we installed the new art in the public spaces last week (math not being my very best thing) (don’t tell Jatin, I think he believed I could add before he handed me his hotel to run), and Mirror 539 was one of the eight additions delivered today.

I had to have Steph hold the print up and then back off ten steps to tell if it was upside-right or not, because, frankly, at 16×24 size on top of my desk,

it was just a bunch of leaves.

It’s not.  Can’t wait to see this one framed and hanging. : )

—————————–

Mirror 539 reminded me of how elusive / changeable / fickle the beings in the middle of The Mirror Project images can be. With the caveat that you are undoubtedly not going to see the same as I do, watch this…

I see a princess (lonnnng curly locks, slight 5:00 shadow, hint of a tiara) on the back of a possibly winged, and clearly friendly, lion with perfectly defined eyes and muzzle.

However, one click larger…

The lion is still there, but the princess has become a slightly crazed warrior-type.

One click bigger, and…

The lion has now become a rather handsome native in war paint and full regalia. The crazed warrior is still a crazed warrior (sneaking up on the rather handsome native and about to ruin his day). (No worries, the rather handsome native always wins.)

And, big…

It’s pretty much a bunch of leaves.

It’s a fascinating world, isn’t it?

[Sandy River Trail, October 31st, 2012]

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I Don’t Care What Anyone Says…

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by loreeharrell in And Around

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

color, columbia gorge, dusk, fall, hike, hotel, leaves, nature, oregon, Sandy River

… or how wet I get in the middle of it.  It is an absolutely beautiful fall.

Maybe it’s just some oddly skewed perspective on my end, but I don’t remember the color being quite this [abundant saturated almost iridescence] in most other years.  By the time I get out to the woods in the evening, it’s teetering on the edge of dusk, and still there is this…

and this…

Sandy River Trail, 10.31.12

and a bit of this.

Sandy River Trail just after the rain, just before dusk

Sweet.  Very sweet.  Don’t be put off by the rain – get out there.  It’s all lit up from the inside out.

– Loree

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Chestnuts roasting on an…

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by loreeharrell in And Around, Events, News In

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

fall, Halloween, hike, party, rain, Sandy River, walk

… no no no, you’re right.  Not just time yet.  But and still…

ummm... fire?

I know.  No chestnuts, the fire is behind glass, but and still.

The weather has (finally) officially changed to rain and cool enough to justify flames.  The pups and I got soaked to the bone on the trail to the river tonight, and fire is a nice thing to come home to.  There is a rumor of sunshine tomorrow, however, and I hope to complete my Duties in time to get out in it with the camera and snag another bit or two of Fall.

Lots going on at the hotel – Rian got to the Chamber meeting today to introduce himself in his official capacity as Lead Schmoozer [uhhh… Community Liason…], and is going to be out in the local businesses this next week to invite all to the Halloween Hanging next week.  Leamy Printing did a great job on the invites, and it’s going to be fun to have everyone in the house for the celebration.

Steph is doing her Steph-thing and getting all the goodies for the kids and refreshments dialed in [popcorn machine… hot beverage dispenser for the cider… if I could make her a job description comprised entirely of party planning, she’d be the happiest woman on the planet].

Yesterday I picked up the last batch of prints (selection and formatting was – as everything seems to be – a much larger job than I anticipated), and Bob is coming by tomorrow to pick them up for framing and drop off last week’s batch framed.  Finishing up the treasure hunt cards and will have them in production by Friday.  I’ll post a preview this weekend so you can get a head start :).

Speaking of which… I’d best go get those Mirrors signed and labeled.  See you next week!

– L

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