Wednesday I read an article in The Statesman Journal that I had been waiting for. My waterfall was finally open from the COVID closure that had kept it from us for too many months.
We moved to Portland, OR six years ago this fall and I was not an outdoors person. I have always been a reader, an artist, someone who stays inside with inclimate weather (moving from Oklahoma where it’s nearly all inclimate, and Missouri before that where I lived until I was 12). I have scoliosis and had believed that my pain wasn’t going to get better as my doctors had told me it wouldn’t and being in pain certainly didn’t make me want to be outside and active. I would ride my bike across town with my dad but wouldn’t play sports, hike or run. Moving to the Pacific Northwest changed some of that.
One of my favorite trees, my favorites are all on this trail.
My sister and her husband were visiting us in 2017 and I was playing tour guide and taking them to the must-sees. We went to Multnomah Falls and took the old highway in getting there. I hadn’t really been that way and so noticed Multnomah was just one of many waterfalls on this road. There were trailheads everywhere and views I had no idea existed. I made a mental note to come back and soon did with my husband. We went each day over a three day weekend and haven’t stopped since. I discovered hiking was an exercise I could do that helped me maintain my scoliosis and was also something I really enjoyed. My chiropractor was actually happy with me and my results, confirming for me that what I was doing was helping. Since then our hiking has become a lifestyle. We go at least each week and often multiple times. Last year for 2019 we decided to have a goal of going on 150 hikes for the year. Cory made 150 and I hiked 157.
Myself with my watercolor of Latourell after getting it printed for the first time! (a couple of years ago)
All of the hiking has really given me a love for landscapes as I think of them as savoring the place in the way someone else might with a scrapbook, I just paint them. The waterfall I go to most is Latourell Falls. It is the closest, has great elevation gain in comparison to the trail length (a 2.4 mi loop) and is near enough we can hike there when Cory is done at the office. We consider it our backyard. In August of 2017 the Columbia River Gorge was on fire. A huge forest fire burned for months and the Gorge was closed. The day they closed the I84 Cory and I were hiking at Latourell in the smoke for one last chance as we thought it would burn. We prayed standing at an overlook that this pace would somehow make it when the air was yellow and full of ash. They were closing the highway as we left. Late November that year Latourell reopened and we could go there again while so much of the Gorge remained closed. We went all the time. Every week we would go and hike it to be active and to see our favorite little spot. Corona virus has restricted our access to these trails in a similar way, closing them indefinitely and leaving us to wonder about when life can get back to normal. So many trails have since reopened from the fire or have been worked on to where we anticipate them reopening soon, and now with this pandemic it really shows you how there are no guarantees of tomorrow.
Holding up a print of my watercolor of Upper Latourell Falls.
I was writing this post earlier and learned that the Columbia River Gorge has a fire burning right now that started Wednesday I believe, only reinforcing the wonder of when can we safely go back? I am so thankful for Latourell having reopened and for being able to hike there again. We went the day I read the article and largely had the place to ourselves. It felt like getting an old friend back.
