Northwest Red Head

I guess it would be more accurate to say *I* fell down.  It hurts, looks awful and I'm not sure how I'm going to put on anything appropriate to wear to work next week.. better start digging in the closet for more skirts. It started this morning with us contemplating where we wanted to hike today. We had a plan when we went to bed, we woke up and didn't feel as energized to hike and with the forecast in the 90's we started looking for an alternative and decided to finish Sahalie and Umbrella falls since on our last attempt we lost the trail before we reached Umbrella falls and aside of an attack of some rogue asphalt in the forest it was a beautiful hike.  

Yesterday was Saturday and as is usual, we headed off on a hike.  We were planning on a trail in the gorge, as of Friday morning the forecast was for clouds and if I'm going to climb to the top of something it would be nice to have a view of something other than clouds.  As is typical here in the Northwest, the weather changed its mind and we awoke Saturday to a beautiful clear day so we decided to try another trail on Mt Hood, Mirror Lake with continuing service to Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain.  

Saturday we decided to try a new trail, I have a pile of trail books from the library to look for more ideas and found what looked like a manageable hike to Sahalie and Umbrella falls near Mt Hood so we packed our gear and headed off at an obscene hour on Saturday morning.  

Wow, trip down amnesia lane. Top of the Rock was the name of the underage night club when I was in high school. I only went a few times, the whole idea of applying make up with a trowel, cementing my hair with an entire can of aqua-net and dressing up to hang out in a night club where the music was just loud enough I couldn't have a conversation seemed pointless to me, or perhaps I was just that lame... Today the rock in question was Beacon Rock.  We waffled for a day and a half about what hike to do today, it's the hubby's weekend to work so he only gets one day off so there was the allure of a new fabulous trail and the hesitation of wanting something a bit lighter since there was no day to rest. When we headed out into the gorge the destination was actually Eagle Creek. We've been on this trail out into the Mt Hood Wilderness which put the total hike at approximately 12 miles round trip, total we've been here 5 times and after about a mile up the trail and seei

Since we started hiking this year we've climbed many things but considering my struggles to get my heart into shape to handle the challenges of climbing in the elevation, the most elevation change we've encountered is around 650ft.  This weekend we hiked Mt Neahkahnie, the highest point being at 1,680 ft The trail says it's an elevation gain of approximately 900 ft but we started further up the trail at short sand beach which is at sea level so I climbed every foot (my legs are still cursing me)