Thursday, July 7, 2016

Things To Do In: Portland, Oregon

Over the 4th of July weekend, I took a trip up to Portland and the nearby areas with the boyfriend.  I had never been to the Rose City before, and had a few goals in mind for my visit to maximize the long holiday weekend.


Firstly, I wanted to see the coast.  Specifically Cannon Beach.  I have fond memories as a child of taking a trip up to the southern coast or Oregon and camping near the beach.  Exploring the tide pools there was my favorite part of that trip and is one of my earliest memories.  I couldn't wait to get out there again.


Cannon Beach is the closest little beach town to Portland and only about an hour and a half drive away.  When our flight got in at 7 am that morning, we rented a car and drove straight to the beach.

It did not disappoint.

We had incredible weather and were able to take a nice nap on the beach as we were exhausted from waking up at 4 am to catch our flight.  We walked around Cannon Beach town, had a lovely lunch, decided against swimming in the freezing water, and instead drove back to Portland to check in with our Airbnb place.




Could it be any cuter?  This was our adorable little "Cob Cottage" in a great little neighborhood across the river from downtown that had very friendly cats in the yard to keep us company.

My second reason for going to Portland was to see the Columbia River Gorge and all of it's incredible waterfalls.  We spent two days (Saturday and Monday morning) hiking to waterfalls and scenic viewpoints.  Below are some of my favorites.


 
Lower Latourell Falls from the hiking trail


Lower Latourell from the trail.  You can hike to upper Latourell Falls (maybe about a mile hike?) but it isn't nearly as impressive as lower.  The path to get there though is lovely.


Standing near the bottom of Lower Latourell.  I fell like this waterfall was kind of overlooked by the rest of the throng of tourists.  Not sure why, as it was my second favorite.


Triple Falls - this was definitely the most intensive hike that we did to get to any of the waterfalls.  It's still not a difficult hike however if you're used to hiking, especially in Utah.  You can follow a path around the side to get to the river directly above the waterfalls where you can see a few people playing in the water.  We had a great lunch over there in the shade.


Then there is the big one - Multnomah.  This is just the upper portion of the falls when you're standing on the bridge.  You cannot tell how big this really is from the photo - it is immense!


Here is the full Multnomah falls.  I had to vertical panoramic this picture on my phone to get the whole thing in.  That's how big it is.  It is also insanely crowded.  I would definitely NOT recommend going on a weekend day, especially a holiday weekend like I did, however, if that's your only option, do not miss seeing Multnomah.



This is Fairy Tale Falls.  The smallest we saw, but very beautiful.  I wished I had brought my big camera for this waterfall so I could have gotten some long exposure shots. 

 
And this is what the path up to Fairy Tale Falls looks like.  It seriously felt like another planet to me.  So vibrant, so alive, so humid.


This was too good to resist.

The last waterfall on my list was what I was most looking forward too.  We saw more than the ones I showed above, but they weren't as impressive - (they're still amazing, I just didn't want this post to be too long).  Nothing however compares to the beauty of Oneonta Gorge and waterfall.  You absolutely MUST go here if you visit the Columbia River Gorge and you must go early!  It gets very crowded very quickly.  We went at 7am Monday morning and I ended up wishing we'd even gotten there earlier so we could have appreciated the magic and beauty a little longer without people showing up.


Isn't that beautiful?  The green was so overwhelming it was almost painful to look at.

To get there, you have to climb over this,
which is a lot sketchier than it looks in the picture and a lot of people struggled with it.

You walk a little bit, wading through water about mid calf deep until you get to the next challenge.  There is a drop in the river that you wade through the gets about chest deep on a tall person.  It is very very very cold.  If you're an awesome rock climber, you can climb around that section like this.


Brien is a much better rock climber than me and made it along the wall without falling in (unlike me).

But it was so worth it!


We also spent a lot of time in Portland itself getting our weird on, and I must say, I loved the city.  There are so many great restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, markets, music, interesting people, and cool sights.  My top three things we did in the city, which I unfortunately didn't think to take pictures of were:

1. Powell's City of Books - this bookstore takes up an entire city block with seven levels I think of books.  It's not just any old bookstore though - there are books on everything that I could ever imagine.  There are also the people that crowd the isles - it's like getting to see a miniature Portland in all of it's unique glory confined to a book store. 

2. Breweries - I found out that Portland has the most microbreweries than anywhere else in the country.  We were lucky enough to be in town when there was a smaller microbrew festival going on so we were able to sample a bunch of different beers from some of the smaller, lesser known Portland breweries, which happened to be just as delicious as the more well known ones! 

3. The neighborhoods - we spend a lot of time walking around the neighborhood we were staying in as well as near and in the downtown area and got to feel a little of the funky vibe Portland has.  It's a great time to just walk around and feel like you belong in a new place.

If you have a weekend in Portland, you'll have more than enough to keep you entertained and will probably leave wishing you could spend a few more days there.  It's a city right on the brink of nature with a fun local culture and a great food scene - in short, my favorite kind of city!

-Leah






Monday, January 4, 2016

Rafting through the Grand Canyon


Rafting the Grand Canyon should be on everyone's bucket list.  There is no excuse not to go.  There are all sorts of rafting trips available through the Grand Canyon anywhere from 2 days to 30 depending on how much ground you want to cover and how fast.

Back in August/September, I spent 16 days on the river and rafted about 225 miles.

Classic shot of the Colorado winding through the lowest level of the Canyon.  That's only about 1200 feet at the top of the rim you can see.  There are two more layers on top that aren't visible for a total of about a 5,000 ft deep canyon.

I did this as part of a non-commercial group aka, private boaters.  We had 7 non-motorized rafts and used only oars and the momentum of the river.  I can't even begin to really describe how incredible the Canyon is.  Let's just say, there is a reason it is one of the natural wonders of the world. Seeing it from the bottom up is by far the best way to appreciate the beauty, strength, and history of the Canyon. 

The umbrellas were a lifesaver with the brutal sun and heat of the desert.

Things to know about rafting the Colorado through the Grand Canyon - it is HOT!  Going in late summer the temperatures we experienced ranged from a cool 90 degrees up to 120 Fahrenheit.  Down on the river it was cooler (meaning only 95-100 degrees), but on one of the hikes we went did, we crossed the second level of the canyon through a large desert that was 120 degrees. 

On that note though - the water is COLD.  Only about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  There is a risk of hypothermia if you fall out of the boat in a rapid and aren't able to get back in for several miles of river. 

Deer Creek Falls in the background.  It's a 40 foot waterfall that plunges almost directly into the river.

You should also know that you pack in everything and you pack out everything.  That means all the food is packed in coolers and boxes on day 1 and should last you the full 16 days.  You do not open the coolers if you can avoid it.  Funky meat and dairy is no bueno.

That means you also pack out everything that happens after you eat.  Yes, that means poop.  In the delicate desert environment, there are no outhouses and you do not dig holes.  Thousands of people raft down the river each year, so to keep everything pristine and beautiful, you take it with you in air tight rocket boxes.  Not the most pleasant, but definitely a necessary chore of packing up the pooper each day.


There is no contact with the outside world.  Yes, you have a satellite phone for emergencies, but you are completely cutoff otherwise.  That means no texts, no emails, no phone calls, no tv, no radio, etc.  Losing that connection is spectacular.  You live in the moment without all of the distractions social media and technology bring into our lives.  I felt so calm and relaxed during the trip knowing that even if I wanted to stress about work, I couldn't.   

This is "the patio" at the top of Deer Creek Falls.  Back by the trees is a beautiful area to soak in some non-silty fresh water and enjoy the shade.

The natural wonder of the Grand Canyon is everywhere.  The timeline of the earth is visible in the rock layers along the entire river and the further you go, more and more is revealed.  There are so many side canyons and features offering fresh springs, a cool oasis, and breathtaking colors. 

Then there a rapids.  RAPIDS!!!  Huge, monstrous, insane rapids.  I've rafted quite a few other rivers, but the rapids on those rivers are mellow little babies compared to so many of the rapids on the Grand Canyon section of the Colorado.  I did get thrown out of the boat in one of the BIG rapids, and holy hell - that was an experience for the books.  The force of the water and the size of the waves is immense.  I came up out of the water and couldn't see the raft anywhere, only heaving silty brown waves churning around boulders in one of the narrowest sections of the river.  I rode that rapid feet first in just my lifejacket until I caught up to my raft once we were through.  While I definitely wouldn't encourage anyone to fall out of the boat, it did make for one amazing experience!  Luckily I remain pretty calm in situations like that, so it wasn't a big deal to me as far as the "freaking out factor".  I was frozen for most of the day after that once the adrenaline left and I was soaked in river water.  It didn't help that that day was the cloudiest and coolest with regular rain showers the entire time we were on the water.
 
Beaver Falls in the Havasu Creek side canyon.  If you keep hiking away from the Colorado, you'll eventually make it to Havasupai, although you'll be fined for crossing onto the Havasu Nation land without a permit.


I've heard from so many people that visiting the Grand Canyon was very underwhelming for them since they only drove to the North or South rim, walked to the lookout points, and basically saw a big hole in the ground.  The Grand Canyon viewed from the bottom up is a completely different experience and rates as my most favorite adventure to date.   If you get the chance to raft the Grand Canyon, absolutely do it.  Make it happen.