Bridge Mountain, Take 2

Last year, Chris Winspear recommended an awesome hike for us.  So we got some directions and tried it last December.  It takes about an hour from our house to the trail head even though its only about 25 miles away. There is a very rocky road that needs good clearance, 4-wheel drive, and a good off-road driver.  Luckily, we have those things and we made it up without getting stuck.  Then the hike started and we headed for that domed mountain in the picture.  Once we got off the dirt, trail finding became pretty difficult, but we kept finding more cairns (stacked rocks) to guide us.

I know you can see the next picture, but looking at this one, find a way up to the arch.  It pretty much looks impossible if you don't have climbing gear.

 The red circles the arch (our immediate goal) and the red line shows how we didn't make it.  We followed a ledge to the left and even found cairns there to lead us wrong.  We eventually came to a dead end and since daylight was running out, we turned around.  Failure. 

When we got home, I called Chris and he helped me figure out that we were supposed to follow the blue line straight up the cliff.  I thought he was crazy. 

Spring forward to April 16.  We tried again and followed the blue line.  It was crazy, but not as bad as it looks. Here is a picture of a group coming down the crack after we came back on our way down.  Even after we had done it, it looked impossible still.

Here is the "Bridge."  I went under to the left of the pond inside and Jeremy went to the right and over the bridge. 

Here's Jeremy sitting on top.

After the bridge, there is a place called "Hidden Forest."  Somehow these trees are here and huge in the middle of a gigantic rock.

This is the next part of the hike.  We followed the main crack from bottom right to top left.

 We made it!!  It was one of our favorite hikes ever because of all the scrambling and route finding.

Here is Chris Winspear's proof that he made it as well.  I don't know if he knew anyone would actually read what he wrote... we thought it was funny ;)

 Here I am on the way back down because I wanted to go on top of the bridge too.

Here is a picture of Bridge Mountain with Red Rocks and Las Vegas in the background.  We also made a quick detour and hiked to the top of North Peak which was only 0.3 miles off of our trail back.

This was an amazing hike and we loved every second of it.  Thanks for showing us Chris! We also came home a little sun burnt.  Whoops.

Portland and Nieces!!!

Two weekends ago, we flew standby to Portland, Oregon to visit Jeremy's sister's family.  The trip there was almost a failure, but after waiting in the airport a large chunk of the day Friday, going home, and going back early Saturday morning, we made it on the plane.  We got there and Mykelle and Hailey loved us instantly and Mykelle said our names constantly.  It was really cute.  She was really good at saying Jeremy and Natalie was good, but still a work in progress.  We played all sorts of games and had a blast. We also went and hiked to two different waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge.  The first hike to Bridal Veil Falls (super original name) was awesome because Mykelle set our pace.  She was interested and distracted with every rock, branch, leaf, and especially with jumping in any puddles we came to.

 I just love the green in this picture.

 This is Bridal Veil Falls with Nicole and Hailey with her cute fuzzy hair.  I'm struggling to hold Mykelle because she obviously saw something more interesting than taking a picture.

This was our second hike to Multnomah Falls.  It was very crowded at the base, but thinned out as we hiked to the top. 

Stan and Nicole had a new backpack for Mykelle to ride in and she was so Excited!  She was hopping around before she could get in and couldn't contain herself.  Then after a while it wasn't so fun anymore, and when we let her out at the top she did not want to get back in.

Mykelle's favorite Uncle.

 So cute! 

We loved our short stay and miss you guys already!