Another Whirl

So, over the course of this summer i have trudged up the skree covered slopes of Olympic National Park, summited Oregon's 3rd highest peak, scrambled all over the fabled Smith Rock; all without a scratch (blisters not included). But this past weekend, i took a benign 12 mile hike along the Eagle Creek Trail and managed to toss my ankle 3 times. It's bad enough i'm off the football for injury reasons but hiking too? Thankfully all that needling and fluid injecting that my Naturopath has been doing has its purpose. Although my ankle was a little tender, it held up for the last six miles of the trip (more on that later).

Being "inactive" has been driving me crazy! I decided to take it easy this weekend by staying around the house and staying away from temptations to party. After a quiet evening out with some friends for dinner,drinks (two) and darts, i was back home watching a foreign film with Dan before 10. I devoted Saturday to domestic duties, aka house cleaning. Once the house was sparkling i needed to do something. I begged my unassuming Canadian roomie to play some soccer in the street with me, "i'll only kick with my left foot," was included in my plea. It has been close to 2 months since i've played soccer to any extent. We started off casually, knocking the futsal back and forth. Our neighbor, as many people in Portland do, put some tires out on the road and tagged them as free. Dan saw a window of opportunity. . .no. . .not for a used, rusty set of studded snow tires but for a new activity. Before you know it we were juggling the soccer ball the width of the street and trying to deposit the ball, via soccer approved appendages, into the column of tires. Before i knew it there were beers and more rules involved. After Dan's last run of regulations we played a game to 5. We added elements of "flair" for additional points (points that were never counted, similar to "Who's Line"). Dan opted for the 360, which he never successfully pulled off. I, on the other hand, opted for the high kick double heel clicker (one successful attempt on record). When it was all said and done. . .Dan was served up a bagel with cream cheese, 5-0. With my soccer fix slightly met, it was back into the house to enjoy the fruits of my labor. . .a clean shower.

When Willy was here in July our hike up to Elk Meadow was foiled by the washout blues. We wrapped our way around Mt. Hood and headed into the Columbia River Gorge for a trip up the Oregon classic, Eagle Creek. We hiked up to Punchbowl falls and headed back to the truck. Looking for an easy, injury reserve safe hike, i chose the same trip but added a few miles into the mix. I had planned on hiking to "high bridge," a bridge that cuts across the narrow gorge created by Eagle Creek. Instead, i took my "endless energy" (some woman on the trail said that as i whistled on my way past her) up to Tunnel Falls. I was happy i put in the extra effort because the additional 6 miles included some of the best part of the trip. I took some pictures but for whatever reason my camera and i didn't really get along. So you have to bear with me.

Punchbowl Falls.



Eagle Creek is known for its narrow, often times, nail biting trail.

Some unnamed waterfall above High Bridge.

Ummm. Shrooms

These shrooms were pretty cool. They had little jelly like droplets all over them.

Some rock and skree along the trail.

Moss seemed to cover just about anything along the trail. This is just one small example.



Tunnel Falls.

And again.

The park service actually dynamited a tunnel behind the falls.

Looking out the tunnel.

That's it for now. I'm working on getting my Flickr account up and organized. I've put some photos on there already but there are many more to come. No big trips planned for the near future but i'm sure there will be no shortage of random acts of entertainment along the way.