Retired Reflections

More fall hikes

This fall has been full of vivid colors and good weather. These pictures are of two hikes I did. The first two pictures are of the hike to Thorp Mtn in the central Cascades north of Cle ELum. This is the third time I had done the hike. It is a difficult hike and we may have made it harder by going on a little known trail starting up a creek bed. The weather at home was terrible that day and I came pretty close to canceling the hike but it turned out that we had better weather in the mtns than in the desert. The views (as always) were wonderful.

The next hike was last week and although we all thought we would have very cold weather, I found myself taking off my long underwear at the trailhead and hiking in shorts. This hike was south of Heppner, Oregon in the Umatilla forest. We were surrounded by hunters hence, the presence of lots of orange vests. The air was hazy with smoke but it still was a crisp, sunny fall day. The hike was 10 miles with about 1600 ft elevation gain.

Last weekend we had snow in the mountains so perhaps our hiking will be around home for the rest of the year.

posted by Mary @ 8:21 AM