The past two weekends we've gone to Eagle Creek to explore since we've had unreasonably nice weather for winter in Portland. Last weekend I took Keeley to Buck Point and the beginning of Ruckle Ridge, something I did last year by myself just for funsies, and to get a taste of the full hike we will be attempting later this year. This weekend we decided to return to the Eagle Creek trailhead, but this time do Eagle Creek proper with a friend who is new to the area and hadn't seen the gorge yet.
First up, our previous weekend to Ruckle Ridge.
The trail description is the same as the last time I was here and the day was hot. It was a struggle to reach the upper viewpoint on ruckle, which shows us just how out of shape we've fallen and how much we need to get back up to speed.
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| Table Mtn. Cliff from Buck Point. I was up there! |
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| Hazy late February day on the Columbia |
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| The entire Bonneville Dam complex |
This weekend, since it was going to be nice again and our friend wanted to join up, we decided to head back to Eagle creek, since it's the "Classic gorge hike" that everyone in the area needs to experience once. We decided to make a full day out of it and hike the entire path to Tunnel & Twister Falls (6 miles in to where Eagle Creek splits, up to 7 miles if you have to park far away, which we did), which would make it only the second time I've gone that far. This is my 5th time hiking Eagle Creek and I've been treated to something new each time, although it was quite late on the hike before I got the new thing this go-round.
Hike was normal. Lots of haze and bad lighting for pictures. The water levels were alarmingly low, late summer levels of low, which goes to show just how dry our winter has been and how bad our summer is going to be. There has been no snowpack anywhere and Southern Oregon is already bracing for catastrophic wildfires.
Last time I was here in March we couldn't reach Punchbowl due to sheer rain volume, yet this year it was like our August trip. Oregon is going to have a baaaaaaaaaaaad summer. But we might as well enjoy the nice winter before we all burn to death.
We made it out to Tunnel and Twister falls, made our way partly back before breaking for lunch, then began the foot achingly long rocky journey back to the car. Eagle Creek doesn't hurt your knees or legs because the grade is so mild, but the rocks will murder your feet by the time the hike is done.
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| Keeley walking past Tunnel Falls |
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| Loowit Falls |
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| Loowit Falls from near High Bridge |
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| Keeley and Angela on 4-1/2 mile bridge |
When we got back to Punchbowl we were greeted with a huge surprise. Some guy was tightrope walking over the creek. He was about halfway when we showed up, hikers gathered around. He had attached one rope to a tree by the upper overlook, and the other side was connected to some tree on the other side of the gorge past Punchbowl. I have literally no idea how anyone got to that side of the gorge, it's mostly cliff. But someone had, and the guy was walking the rope about 500 or so feet above the Punchbowl.
He moved pretty fast and made it about 75% of the way before he lost his balance and had to sit on the rope for a bit (He was strapped in, he wouldn't have died anyway). It looked like they didn't pull the rope tight enough because he was dipping pretty far in the middle. Anyway that was unique and made the whole trip even more worth it.
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| He's the red dot |
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| Over the Punchbowl chasm |
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| middle of the rope |
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| Strapped in, i'd say he's a wuss but I couldn't do it |
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| from the back side |
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| wide angle of the scene |
We finally made it back to the car, had some delicious food at Ex Novo brewery and complained about how badly our feet hurt. Totally worth it.
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