So since the bar was over, we really fell down on updating this (not to mention uploading photos takes forever from our internet).
So a few weeks back we went and hiked at in the Columbia River Gorge. First stop was Beacon Rock - a monstrous rock that just juts out of the ground:
The hike up was over paths with railing - made for safe climbing up the ~800 foot cliff, which was good considering the number of families and small children running up and down the rock.
The top gave some pretty breathtaking views of the gorge - the kind that no picture will ever really do justice of (especially when there is a spec of dust on the lens - which you can see pretty clearly):
After going up and down Beacon Rock (which is in Washington State) we crossed the Columbia River at the "Bridge of the Gods" - a bridge built close to the site where there was a former land bridge that the two tribes on either side of the river met to trade goods. The land bridge was only temporary (they think it was caused by landslides off of nearby peaks), but the 'new' Bridge of the Gods is one of the few places you can cross the Columbia. We crossed there and then made our way to a trailhead to view a few of the nearly countless number of waterfalls in the gorge. The first was "Ponytail Falls" and the trail took us behind this waterspout-esque falls:
It was really quite beautiful, and the hike continued up the mountain till it crossed over the top of Horsetail Falls on a footbridge (no picture because Carter [who is an excellent hiking dog normally] hates footbridges over water). We had planned on following the trail up to Triple Falls, but a flood or mudslide had knocked out the footbridge that led farther up and due to the snowmelt the river was impassable at that point. Instead we followed it back down to the road and then walked back to our car, past the Oneonta Gorge and Oneonta Falls.
The Gorge is actually a tiny slot canyon with moss and small brush covering the walls of the slot canyon:
From the slot canyon, they cut a nice little path through the massive walls of rock that are everywhere in the gorge.
And then we were almost back to the car, but not before a stop at Oneonta Falls.
And the picture of us in front of the falls (with a genuinely disinterested Carter dog) - the one problem with hiking with one another is that we never have anyone to take pictures of us.
Since then, L has been working and is getting in the groove at school and I am at home going stir crazy almost every day. It got to the point that I was so bored I started running...but then running got boring. So this past week I tried to stifle my stir-crazy self by going hiking. First was a trip to the coast with a friend of mine from BarBri (the Bar review course), hiking along the cliffs overlooking the water:
The trail then wound back down onto the beach - it was a beautiful beach and there were probably 30-40 surfers arriving as we left (just getting off of work and heading down to the beach - they arrived in various states of professionalism, from cargo shorts and t-shirts to tie, slacks, and dress shoes).
Later on in the week, I hiked with a friend of mine from law school (who is out here in the LLM program at Lewis and Clarke University) on a trail near Mt. Hood that led past a glacial stream (that, during the spring, is actually a glacial river). You can really see the damage that the river does to the landscape during the runoff - its pretty incredible and the pictures don't quite capture the magnitude of the scar that is left:
And here is Mt. Hood - its one of those things that you forget you are anywhere near, then you turn a corner and think "Oh yeah, there is an 11,000 foot glaciated peak right next door" - it really sneaks up on you.
The trail followed along this stream for the majority of the time, past cliffs 2-3x as tall as the trees and through two or three different types of habitat.
The hike was really nice - the stream provided 'air conditioning' throughout the majority of it, but the culmination of it was Ramona Falls. It is wide, tall, and provides a beautiful lunch spot (but bring a jacket - the water spray off of the fall makes it pretty cool around there). To give you an idea of the size, that is my friend Karen in the bottom left hand corner of the photo.
So that has been the past few weeks. We found out on Friday (around the same time I was eating peanuts at Ramona Falls) that I passed the Bar exam, and the job search will really kick up a notch now. I have a few informational interviews lined up and will hopefully start getting my name out there.
