I remember writing a blog post about going on a date with Josh a few months after I had Cooper because it was so rare and noteworthy. And now I'm writing a blog post about a hike I went on because, rare and noteworthy. See? I told you it makes me seem sad and pathetic.
So 4th of July weekend was coming up and since Josh just started a new job and can't take vacation for six months, this was a rare three day weekend that he had. We talked about what we wanted to do and Josh suggested I go somewhere by myself for the weekend as he has been away from the kids several times and I never had before. I thought about it and researched some places to hike and ultimately decided not to go. I told Josh I wasn't going and then while I was playing with Cooper I heard him on the phone booking me a hotel anyway! Oh Josh! What a selfless, generous, kind hearted husband he is! I just love the stuffing out of him. And while he was making the reservation he was spelling my name for the person on the phone and Cooper overheard and then started walking around saying, "B E A C H. B E A C H. B E A C H." Cutie.
So I went to Hood River, Oregon because I have serious Pacific Northwest withdrawals and there are a ton of hikes to do around the Columbia River Gorge. Plus Hood River is on my list of places I want to visit so it was perfect, and only a five hour drive from Boise.
I wanted to hike as much as I could because I don't get to do "real hikes" with the kids right now. So I chose the hardest hike in the gorge to really take advantage of the weekend to do the first day and then a few smaller waterfall hikes the next day in case I was super sore from my Mt. Defiance hike. (Um I'm still sore from Mt. Defiance!)
Mt. Defiance is the tallest peak in the gorge and considered the hardest hike in Oregon. Hikers use it to train for Mt. Hood, and actually the trail is steeper than Mt. Hood's. It's 12 miles and has an elevation gain of 5,000 feet. Um does it sound to anyone else like I probably shouldn't have hiked it? Yeah... Apparently I have really poor judgement.
So off I went, like an idiot. I did a lot of research and had a trail map and enough water and food and everything, so not a total idiot, though I did decide to leave my trekking poles in the car (yeah, big mistake.) But I definitely underestimated the hike.
It starts out really cute and deceiving, you saunter past some waterfalls.
Then you start a normal incline along the mountainside with some pretty views of the gorge.
This nice hike lasts about a mile and then the remaining miles are straight torture without letting up for a second. On the way up I was often using my hands to climb it was so vertical. On the way down I was repelling down tree branches or tree roots, or giving up and actually sliding down on my butt. Whhhyyy didn't I take my trekking poles! I hate myself for that. I told Josh that I wanted to take pictures of how steep the trail was but I couldn't shift my feet at all to take my pack off and get my camera or I would have fallen down the mountain. It was insane! Insane! Ha, when I got home I had to throw away the shirt I wore because I couldn't get the sweat stains out. Ahh it was so hard.
And then I got altitude sickness. My hands and face ballooned up and I looked down at my super swollen hands, thought for a millisecond that was weird, and then ignored them as I was way more concerned about forcing my legs to keep going. It wasn't until I got back to the car that I was like, "wait, what on earth happened to my hands?!?!" I didn't even research altitude sickness or know anything about it because it was only 5,000 feet but then I read that if you're ascending 1,000 feet in less than three hours you will get sick at any altitude. I was ascending 1,000 every hour. Dummy. Most people on hikes like that take medication beforehand to help their bodies adjust quickly to the altitude gain. Big oops.
Anyway back to me hiking unaware of my altitude sickness, eventually I reached the summit! And I even passed someone on the way up too, take that dude! I bought a premade sandwich at the grocery store to take up with me and the whole way up I couldn't wait to eat that dumb sandwich at the top. And then when I finally opened it up like 3.5 hours later I realized it had no mayo or mustard on it, I was supposed to grab one of those little packets! Ah man, it was so disappointing. I should have hauled some Cafe Rio up there instead.
And then the descent tore my legs up like nothing I've ever experienced. When you get to the bottom of the trail, there's like a half mile walk to the parking lot and the whole time you can see your car in your sight but yet you're not quite there and I kept thinking I'm going to have to call life flight and they're going to have to chopper me a half a mile to my car. But I hobbled there myself, without a helicopter. When I finally got back to the hotel I couldn't wait to shower, remember my shirt I had to throw away? I was so sweaty and disgusting. And then when I pulled back the shower curtain I saw it was a handicap shower and the shower head was so low I had to hold a squat to shower! I thought I was going to cry. What a cruel cosmic joke! After I showed I crawled into bed at 5 pm and didn't get out til the morning! I text Josh that I really wished I had some Tylenol or something but I couldn't make it to the store and Josh said to try the front desk and I was like um I can't make it to the front desk!
The next day I was really sore but I could actually walk so I did all my waterfall hikes that I planned. My favorite was Elowah Falls.
And then I drove home to my babies because I missed them!
And now I want to hike South Sister. Except it has almost the exact same mileage and elevation that Mt. Defiance does. But again, I have poor judgement. This time I'll bring my dumb trekking poles and maybe get some of those altitude pills and wear a shirt I don't like so when I have to throw it away it won't be a bummer!
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