On April 30, 2016, we headed to the property for a relaxing evening before what would prove to be our highest miles/day backpacking trip yet.
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| Roasting some sausages at the creek. |
You can see my new-ish sandals here - which I took on the trip. This was a mistake. I ended up not bringing extra shoes and these were too narrrow - something not apparent until hiking several miles. Before bed, I made up some trailmix... a very mundane task, but everything feels so much more satisfying in the wilderness :).
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| Chopping some dried fruits, kerosene lamplight. |
Early in the morning, Peter's mother drove us to Maupin, a mere 51 miles south of our final destination at the mouth of the Deschutes River as it crashes into the Columbia just outside the Dalles.
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| We started in Maupin (map 5) and headed north through maps 6 - 10. |
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| Second half of trip |
Despite being in the high desert, the river country can be quite beautiful. Within a couple miles we were greeted with some very enticing falls.
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| Falls just outside of Maupin. |
Around 9 miles, we came to a fork in the road with a small farm and creek. It was quite the little paradise and the owner appeared to have a decent amount of land as his name was on many signs along the trail.
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| Farm, approximately 9 miles north of Maupin. |
Around this time, my feet became a nuisance. I had massive blisters on both sides of both feet - the only way to make progress was to walk without stopping. Around 10 miles I stopped and popped the blisters and tried to clean everything. I've never before experienced such intense stinging - it only got more irritating as the day progressed.
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| Above Trestle Hole Rapids |
We had less than 72 hours to complete our 51 miles. This worked out to 17 miles a day. Our first campsite was at Jones Canyon - a surprisingly lush campground. It was to be our only night on the road portion of the trail. After 20 miles we anticipated the road ending and only foot traffic permitted. With my feet acting up around 10 miles, I was quite relieved to make it to camp.
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| Filling up at Jones Canyon. |
After learning our lesson in the Grand Canyon, we try to hike as early as possible and take long breaks mid-day in the desert. The sun is just too intense.
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| Approaching Beavertail, early morning on day 2. |
We have found that early morning and late afternoon are our favorite times of day. Places we visit during these hours are often most memorable and most beautiful.
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| Approaching Rattlesnake Canyon |
By late morning we were headed toward Box Elder canyon, a canyon full of more jagged, abrupt edges.
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| Approaching Box Elder canyon |
While there, we spotted a bald eagle - we saw this eagle throughout the day fighting with other birds.
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| Bald eagle atop Box Elder canyon |
By midday we were very happy to make it to Mack's Canyon - finally dropping back down to the river and shady trees aplenty. This was the last spot on the trail that would allow cars, so we looked forward to the afternoon hike.
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| Mack's Canyon |
The afternoon proved much more difficult than anticipated. It started off easily enough with old railroad ties.
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| Start of old abandoned railroad trail |
However, there were a number of miles of completely un-maintained trail. In some spots, the owner of the nearby land had placed a 2.5 foot tall barbed wire fence right in the middle of the overgrown, narrow trail. There was a decent amount of cursing and very very slow going. Places that used to be fortified for the trains had fallen apart and required a lot of steep, rocky descents/climbs.
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| Final stretch of abandoned trail. Valley with 'steps' in the distance, steps much too tall to climb up. |
We finally made it back to a more maintained trail with about 20 miles left. It was a spectacular relief, less large rocks in the trail and no more barbed wire. Our final resting spot for the day was Lockit, a nice flat area beneath the trail. We were in a bit of a no-man's land for trail camping and water access was a bit more questionable. Most of the camping along the no-car section caters to boaters rather than hikers. That being said, it was wonderful as always. In the morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise on distant hills, and finally some cloud cover.
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| Sunrise near Lockit |
On our final day, the miles went much more slowly. I was back in my sandals (Peter let me use his tennis shoes for day 2) so walking was more difficult. The clouds came in more as the day progressed, keeping us much cooler for the final stretch.
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| Clouds moving in. |
This old railroad used to house many folks in an old town called Harris. The railroad on this side of the river was in competition with the railroad on the other side of the river - the other side won out.
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| Harris water tower. Last one remaining of 8 that powered the steam engines. |
There were more signs of life at this section of trail than anywhere else.
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| Abandoned home on farmland. |
The rest of the day remained quite hot - it wasn't until just a couple hours before making it to the Columbia River that it actually cooled off significantly.
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| Clouds on the final stretch |
We were heavily medicated for the last 6 - 8 miles, me mostly for my feet. This was a time that I was grateful we packed a bit more liquor as it was pretty intense.
It's nice to know that we're capable of such long distance backpacking, but I think we'll generally stick to our usual routine of more relaxing, less intense hiking. It's fun to do occasionally, but we really prefer to take everything in.
