You know you're a hiking nut when you have a traditional holiday hike. My Dear Friend Grover is one of those nuts. It's good to humor a nut every now and again, so I took him up on his offer to accompany him on his annual Thanksgiving Angel's Rest hike.
I left town around 06:15 and headed to Grover's domain. We picked up Grover's son-in-law Shane in Vancouver, and made our way to the Angel's Rest trailhead on the historic Columbia Gorge Highway a few miles west of Multnomah Falls. Arriving around 08:15 we started our 2.5 mile climb. The weather was crisp and clear. Grover commented that this was the best weather he has experienced climbing to Angel's Rest, as far as he can remember (which might not be too far). Either way, it was a beautiful, if cold, day.
The path to Angel's Rest is fairly steep, but short. We managed to get to the top in about 01:15. Not too shabby considering we gained 1,880 feet of elevation. Upon arrival on the exposed rock outcropping known as Angel's Rest, we encountered beautiful views of the Columbia Gorge and could even see downtown Portland. The picture above is the view toward town. It was much easier to pick out the skyscrapers of downtown with the naked eye, but if you zoom in on the picture you can see some pixels beyond the mouth of the Gorge that may, in fact, be distant buildings. I should mention that it was quite cold and windy at the summit, cold and windy enough to not want to stay for more than, say, 20 seconds.
It only took us another hour to make it back down the hill, and start our trek back toward turkey and cranberry sauce. I needed a hot shower and a nap before I could face the family, but, overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. If I'm lucky, the nut will invite me again next year. Maybe I can even con the boys into accompanying me. We might even start a holiday hike tradition of our own.
Thanks Grover!
- Big Daddy Andy
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