A Natural Venue

With a diamond ring on her finger and a dream in her heart, a woman begins to think of where to stage her wedding. The traditional church setting is still used by many brides, but destination and venue weddings are equally popular. What better dream fulfillment than to combine destination and venue into one spot and remove the cost by finding it at an out-of-town family member's forest setting home?

The risky element of outdoor weddings is the weather and the fact that a date is usually set months, even a year or more in advance of the event. There are weather statistics sites that can give you the usual, average, most likely chance of temperatures and precipitation but the actual remains to be seen on the day of the wedding. This causes no little concern as the day approaches and weather patterns change unexpectedly. This was the case for this particular wedding. The odds of rain were only 30% and the weeks preceding the date were sunny and hot. What could possibly go wrong in September?

The yard was watered and groomed. The driveway was graveled. The flowers were ordered as was the cake, tables and chairs. The photographer was scheduled. The caterer was given a plan and the number of guests expected. Five days before the event the skies turned a doubtful gray, the hot temperatures began to drop and moisture made random, then intermittent and finally a continual appearance. The risk factor for having a dry outdoor wedding dropped precipitously. The bride decided to locate a tent to cover the seating area but at this late date, every phone call ended with the same answer: no tents available.

On her last possible call, the bride located a large canopy style tent at a small, local rental company and secured it for that week. This was surely a lucky find and not to be construed as a predictable maneuver for a wedding schedule. The rental company arrived to set up the tent and positioned it to frame the beautiful view of the nearby hills and mountain.

Friends arrived the day before the wedding to arrange and stage the flowers and chairs, using potted red geraniums and lavender verbena to hide the tent  poles and prevent guests from tripping on the ropes. Chairs were lined up the morning of the wedding and aisle flowers placed on shepherd's crooks. The raindrops that occasionally fell kept the wedding party inside for the initial pictures and the family hoped people would show up despite the cool and damp conditions.

Equine ambiance 

At the last moment, the skies turned blue, dotted by puffy white clouds. The lawn dried out enough to keep shoes dry and the wedding party headed outside for more photographs. Guests began to arrive, dressed for the weather, smiles adorning their faces as they determined to let nothing stop them from celebrating this important day. As the time for the processional approached, the sun shone brightly, signaling a blessing upon this event and its participants. The "I do's" were exchanged, tears were shed and the happy couple headed to the house to receive their guests and continue celebrating this happy day.

The large house accommodated many of the guests so that the weather became a non-issue after the ceremony and the party continued late into the evening. This was a fortunate end to a potentially dicey situation.  The green of the lawn, fir trees and distant hills, the colorful flower bouquets and pots and the blue, sunny sky made this natural venue a perfect setting for the couple's most important day.

Aisle bouquets

The out-of-doors offers many wonderful options for lovely weddings. Always plan for adverse weather, even if the statistics predict otherwise. The tears at a wedding should be of joy and not frustration. Hike and drive the great Northwest to locate potential sites for those great celebrations of life. You've got a lot to choose from!

The Long Road to Cairn Basin

Always good to know

The two hour drive to the trailhead of the Vista Ridge hike to Cairn Basin was, well, long. Turn after turn onto named, numbered and sometimes not numbered roads and Forest Service gravel access drives brought us to the 4600' starting point on the  north side of Mt. Hood. The rough gravel-strewn parking area was nothing more than a wide spot on the road with steep up and downhill edges.

The nearly 8 mile in-and-out trail began with a gentle climb through a lightly wooded forest scene of the registration box where we tagged ourselves into two groups, being three over the group limit of 12 in wilderness areas. On a hike into official wilderness areas, the ten essentials are important to travel with, and today we all packed extra water and food too, knowing that the temperature would rise with the elevation. The heat really picked up as we entered an area touched by the Dollar Lake fire of 2011. Hiking through a devastated and dead appearing forest is a disquieting experience as you observe the extent of the damage from one forest fire.

Stark white tree trunks stand where they burned, bark stripped and falling off, ash mixed with dirt, the ground empty of all vegetation. But wait! Here and there are green signs of life: beargrass shoots sprouting from former root clumps, avalanche lilies laying a carpet of green leaves around blooms of an earlier day, purple phlox blooming gallantly amid the ash, lupine getting ready for next year's color and an unknown shrub bearing bright red berries. A single tree seedling was spotted, bravely doing what it could to restore its part of this vast forest.

Renewal after the fire

Without ground cover to slow the rain runoff, the soil would quickly slide downhill. Trail maintainers have trenched the trail at places to channel the water sideways to allow it to soak into the soil. New paths have been forged through the dusty soil, basically following the former direction but now meandering around downed trees and other debris. The hike in this area serves to deepen appreciation for those who fight treacherous fires, even giving their lives in some cases, to bring them to a halt. At the higher elevations you can observe the acres and acres of burned but standing trees that the sweeping fire took from us. Without shade, the hike is a hot one with full sun constantly hitting our shoulders and radiating up from the ground. Extra water was quickly consumed by everyone and frequent breaks in the scant shade kept us trudging upward to 5700' and views that could not be seen in pre-fire times.

Beargrass

View of burned areas

 As we approached Cairn Basin we could hear the crack of glacial "calving", in a mountain sense of the term, and could see the constant glacial melt cascading down the face of Mt. Hood. The sound of nearby Ladd Creek gave an auditory element to the visually distant melting glaciers. Faint views of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier could be seen as the nearby monster-sized Mt. Hood loomed over our shoulders, glaciers glistening in the bright sun. Millions of acres of forested land rolled like green waves in every direction, each succeeding wave growing fainter and bluer until the summer sky and the furthermost hills blended in a watercolor fade of vague blues. The blue pool of water in one valley was Lost Lake. Alpine meadows with their shortened trees provided a small source of greens and yellows among the boulders in contrast to the black and grays of the burned areas.

We began to watch the time as the afternoon wore on so we took a short side hike to a view point before heading for Cairn Basin. The faster hikers made better time towards the creek while others of us waited in repose for their return. In attempting to alert the front runners to turn back an SOS whistle blow was given but only succeeded in summoning a hiking search and rescue gentleman who lectured us on the appropriate use of distress signals. We were duly corrected and all learned an important lesson about hiking safety.

Steady upward trail

The friendships nurtured along the trails and through occasional social engagements open doors for sharing on an increasingly personal level. Care and concern for one another is more and more in evidence as we travel miles through the woods together. Trials, concerns, challenges and burdens are shared, validated and helpful comments are inserted along the way. How heartwarming it is to have such loyal and engaging women to walk with through this life's joys and sorrows, travails and travels, learning from one another, uplifting those in difficulties and laughing from the deepest parts of our souls in joy and praise.

Mt. Hood looming closer

 As we descended the trail, weary from the heat, altitude and exertion, we spread out more and more along the way. A grandson of one hiker kept a watchful eye on the tail of the trail, noting our progress, slow as it was due to joint strain on the downhill slope by this hiker, and encouraged us to just keep going. A cousin kept up an engaging conversation that distracted me from the constant and growing pain, patiently pacing herself to stay with me. Therein is love. The grandson, a notable young man, is soon to join the military ranks and will surely make his mark there too.

Our concern over an early trail departure by a few of our group due to altitude stress was eased when we found a note scratched on a paper towel that all was well and to check the ice cooler for a few cold ones. We happily and thirstily sipped these gifts as we rode down the dusty gravel roads out of the wilderness and back to our separate busy lives, laughing and recounting the various moments along the trail. This was an exhilarating, educational and challenging hike that is one of Oregon's finest. Check out all the hiking possibilities through library books, REI literature or online searches. There's much to be seen and experienced before the trails close for the season. Don't waste any time getting out to see what nature has to offer!

11 of the 15 hikers of the day

One of the alpine meadows with a view

Melting glaciers

"Melted" tree bark from the fire

You thought you'd arrived?

Lost Lake

Playful hikers

Fairies in the forest

Surface scorched

Jordan, our scout

Mt. Hood 

Dusty drive home

Stark devastation

Art in the Pearl: The Nature of Urban Portland

Pottery

Cement and towering buildings would not immediately bring to mind thoughts of nature, but there are urban pockets of greenery about town and the Park Blocks are one such location. The Labor Day weekend marks the Art in the Pearl celebration of local artists and their wares, as varied as any complex tapestry. The waves of people wandering through the tent exhibits add another element of interest as do the smells of various ethnic foods wafting through it all.

Huge trees offer shade to the fair goers and while the green grass is quite marginalized by tromping feet, it will be revitalized once the event is over. As the sun courses east to west, the shadows shift, offering respite from the hot sun. Many restaurants offer patio seating and scrumptious menus throughout the Pearl district, so it is fun to make a day of it, get your art dose for the month and try out new eateries along the way.

The MAX train, city trolleys and buses are an engaging way to travel through the downtown areas. The schedules offer frequent stops and connections and the people watching is a bonus. The nature of urban Portland is in the small spots: various shops, tree-lined streets, shop front planter decor and rooftop gardens. The sidewalk trails are harder on the feet than needle-padded forest trails, the tall buildings replace towering trees but there are birds, squirrels and plenty of dogs and other pets to entertain the city walker.

Take a break from your local routine and enter the nature of urban Portland. See what delights you can discover on your journey through the cement and brick forest.

Pets of all kinds

Makin' use of his time

Water + kids = fun!

Light and dark

Street, rooftop and sky levels of interest

Plein air street painting

Weaving

Woodcarving

The lunch bunch

Glassworks

Whole plank table

Repurposed items: "Take time to play".

Federal Customs House

Indian dancer

Plastic totems 

Cape Horn Loop, Rain or Shine

Frequent outerwear changes

Hwy 14 clinging to the hillside

Cape Horn trail, a 7.5 mile loop hugging the steep rocky cliffs above the Washington side of the Columbia River, is a view-laden hike at MP 26.5 on Highway 14.  The weather report forecast 80 degrees with 10% chance of rain. The actual trail conditions proved otherwise. Cloud-filled skies in various shades of grey sent a confusing message as to what to expect. The damp, muggy air seemed to require a lightweight jacket, but the exertion on the trail quickly made us stop and get down to basic shirtsleeves. The occasional patter of raindrops kept us donning and removing hats until we decided that we would just press on, regardless of what the sky brought to us.

Sand Dollar-like mushroom

The moisture kept the usually dusty trail damp and occasionally muddy. A hint of fall color popped into view from time to time, giving notice of the changing season about to arrive. Angry squirrels chattered as we entered their territory, urging us to hurry on our way. But the viewpoints along the trail, whether full river waterscapes or tiny glimpses through the shady leaf understory, gave us pause to stop and revel in the magnificent Columbia River waterway as is winds its way west to the Pacific Ocean.

Japanese thistle, Cirsium japonicum, with caterpiller

Eight steep switchbacks and an equal number of weather changes brought us to the top of the hill, onto a road, across a field and down to the newly constructed Nancy Russell Memorial viewpoint. It is accessible to disabled travelers as well as able-bodied hikers and offers a splendid resting point with "the hills are alive with the sound of music" vistas east and west along the mighty Columbia River. Weather patterns can be seen coming and going through the Gorge as well as ships and barges, the occasional falcon and LifeFlight helicopters returning to their base upriver at Dallasport . Bring a snack or lunch and linger at this lovely spiral shaped, stone-lined enclosure high above the river. Imagine Lewis and Clark forging through the canyon before dams raised the water level and smoothed out the cataracts. There is so much history to consider while taking in the scene.

Needle cloaked trail 

View from Nancy Russell Memorial

New tunnel under Hwy 14

Leafy forest umbrella

An unreachable beach

The lower half of the hike is a challenging section of several talus piles traversed by steep switchback trails that require slow and very careful treading. A drenching downpour caught us on one such section, but the water was so refreshing to us that we hardly noticed our dampening clothing. Once under the leafy green umbrella of the understory trees, the rain didn't touch us at all and the trail remained dry in spots.  The steep ascent and descent were tedious, but the views from the edge of the cliff to the lower stretches of rocky beach or water were worth the work.

One of the talus trail sections

As the rains came and went, the delicate sound of water dripping through the various layers of boughs and leaves followed us along the trail. The gathering waters began to hydrate the dry stream beds and soak into the surrounding ground. The teasing sound of rain shower runoff lent a cooling sensation to the otherwise muggy air.

Just as we declared ourselves officially tired, the lower parking area came into view with our waiting vehicle there to transport us up the final 1.5 mile steep road to the trailhead. The two car method is really the best as that last stretch of roadway is more than weary legs want to tackle. The drive is beautiful as is passes hidden farms, meadows and ranches tucked into the hillside above the river but unseen from the water below.

Steep, rocky and wet

This hike is close to the Portland/Vancouver Metro area and can be done in pieces or as a whole. Trekking poles and good hiking shoes or boots are essential to a safe hike, as well as plenty of water and an energy-charged snack or two. The fall color will be spectacular as the vine maples begin to turn brilliant reds and yellows and the leaves fall, opening up more view peep holes. Take the time to see this wonderful part of the Gorge and appreciate the grandeur of the Columbia River basin.

Lower trail view upriver

Steep descent 

Water sliding down a rock wall