Back in the Pacific Northwest

It's hard to believe it but I've been back in Portland for two weeks now, and by the end of the week it will have been a month since I left France. While I doubt I will be updating my blog as much as when I was in France I'd still like to document some of my travels, recipes and experiences. The last few weeks have however been full of primarily dull activities such as unpacking and repacking boxes, sending out resumes, and going to interviews.

This Sunday however, I finally had a chance to get out of the house and go hiking again. Seeing that Sunday was the one day in the next 10 day forecast to be partially sunny, I convinced my friend Jacqui and her friend Brent to go on a hike to the Clackamas River with me.



The Clackamas River trail follows alongside the Clackamas River and is only about an hours drive southeast of Portland. It was a 7 mile hike, with the destination being pup creek falls. I really enjoyed getting out and seeing the product of Portlands rainy weather: verdant green forests with lots of moss and beautiful streams and waterfalls.



There were many waterfalls along the trail that we had to cross over.



The highlight of the trip was reaching our destination of Pup Creek falls. We definitely came at the right time of year. I think spring snowmelt is feeding this waterfall and gave it really nice volume. I've seen pictures of it from other times of the year and it isn't nearly as impressive









On our way back their were more streams and we re-examined an area that had been hit by wildfires a few years back. All in all it was a very nice trip to re-introduce me to the beauty of Oregon.