Angel's Rest

I guess I'm starting to think like an Oregonian: when I saw a glimpse of sunshine, I immediately suggested that we go on a hike. While the forecast predicted several hours of sun before the next wave of rain, we started to rethink our plan as we drove into some very ominous-looking clouds gracing the Gorge...

Luckily, the weather (mostly) held, and we enjoyed views through alternating rain, mist, and sunshine in the company of the many other Oregonians who had the same idea: get out and hike!

Angel's Rest is only about a 40-minute drive from Portland, and the trail takes you up almost 1,500 feet over 2.4 miles (4.8 miles round trip) to overlook the Columbia River Gorge. This ended up being a great fall hike, but I am glad that we had good traction on our shoes - this is a pretty rocky trail, and yesterday's downpour made it extra slick and muddy.

Peeking over Coopey Falls

See that bluff at the top? That's where we're headed! But there's one more rock scramble before we get to the summit:

At the top!

Yep, he's skipping

 

And one last snapshot - a panorama from Angel's Rest: