Since becoming a dad, I haven’t spent nearly enough time appreciating the glory of nature around Portland. The kids, suddenly, are old enough to actually want to go out and hike. When did this happen? Now they can’t get enough.

So last weekend, the whole wacky family packed it up and headed up to the Columbia Gorge and saw some waterfalls and did some nice little kid friendly hikes. It’s a truly spectacular place, with giant waterfalls, monolithic rock outcroppings, and the immensity of the Columbia River. (Click on thumbnails for larger views.)

Yesterday, with Wacky Mommy and Wacky Girl away for the weekend, I asked my little guy what he wanted to do. “Go to the Gorge,” was his matter-of-fact answer. He didn’t even think about it.

We started the day yesterday at Larch Mount in the snow high above the Columbia on the Oregon side 38 miles east of Portland.

Then we went down to where the snow melt cascades over Wahkeena Falls to the Columbia below,

and hiked a bit on the trail between Wahkeena and Multnomah falls.

Today, we started with a picnic at Ainsworth State Park, then a rocky hike nearly to the log jam at Oneonta Gorge.

We wrapped up the day with a quick stop at Horsetail Falls. Nearly 4 y.o. Mini Me had a blast!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Me, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.