The Outdoors
Aug. 10th, 2018 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
audrey_eeeAll summer I’ve been trying to find friends who want to go camping and can get our schedules to match up, and all summer I’ve been failing to make that work. Finally, the last couple of weeks, I decided that that forest time wasn’t optional and we’re running out of summer, so let’s find a thing I can do on my own.
Solo hiking and camping when you don’t drive automatically ups the skill level required. An easy backpacking trip I could do on Mt Hood is 2 miles of hiking in to a lake, then hanging around for a day or two, maybe a day hike in the middle. But getting to that trailhead requires a car. An “easy” backpacking trip I can do solo is to take the bus up to Timberline Lodge (and it’s actually three buses and about a 3.5 hour trip instead of the 90 minutes by car). Once I’m up there, I can hike to a nearby site or further to more scenic areas. Instead of 4500 feet of elevation, I’ll be at 6000. I couldn’t even consider this without an inhaler.
A couple of years ago I decided to do a hiking trip a week in Forest Park, which is frequently mentioned as a transit-accessible option. Technically this is true, but in practice there are two good entry points and no access to over half the park. If you want to do a longer point-to-point hike, odds are you’ll need to cross Burnside, which is a major road with fast-moving traffic on a slope going around a curve. The other problem is the transit schedules. The area of the park near the MAX station has a shuttle, so it’s not too bad getting back out of there, but at the other main entry point, the bus has an alternate route that means the park only has service once every 30-60 minutes. I’ve had to walk an extra mile or two a couple of times just to get home before my muscles froze.
Some of this is starting to change as the popular destinations have more crowding and become restricted by traffic and parking. There’s now a Columbia Gorge bus that runs about half the year — although most of the area it serves is still recovering from last year’s fire. The only major trail they've reopened is the PCT.
So, this weekend I’m going to Timberline to see what I can do. The full hike I’d like to try is rated as “difficult” and with better access to other parts of the mountain I would not have decided to do this as my first backpacking trip in 10 years. But, despite the injuries I’ve had, I keep discovering that my body is stronger and more capable than I knew. Even if I do the least I can once I’m out there, I’ll still be outdoors, at the peak of the Perseids, and it will be a good experience.
Solo hiking and camping when you don’t drive automatically ups the skill level required. An easy backpacking trip I could do on Mt Hood is 2 miles of hiking in to a lake, then hanging around for a day or two, maybe a day hike in the middle. But getting to that trailhead requires a car. An “easy” backpacking trip I can do solo is to take the bus up to Timberline Lodge (and it’s actually three buses and about a 3.5 hour trip instead of the 90 minutes by car). Once I’m up there, I can hike to a nearby site or further to more scenic areas. Instead of 4500 feet of elevation, I’ll be at 6000. I couldn’t even consider this without an inhaler.
A couple of years ago I decided to do a hiking trip a week in Forest Park, which is frequently mentioned as a transit-accessible option. Technically this is true, but in practice there are two good entry points and no access to over half the park. If you want to do a longer point-to-point hike, odds are you’ll need to cross Burnside, which is a major road with fast-moving traffic on a slope going around a curve. The other problem is the transit schedules. The area of the park near the MAX station has a shuttle, so it’s not too bad getting back out of there, but at the other main entry point, the bus has an alternate route that means the park only has service once every 30-60 minutes. I’ve had to walk an extra mile or two a couple of times just to get home before my muscles froze.
Some of this is starting to change as the popular destinations have more crowding and become restricted by traffic and parking. There’s now a Columbia Gorge bus that runs about half the year — although most of the area it serves is still recovering from last year’s fire. The only major trail they've reopened is the PCT.
So, this weekend I’m going to Timberline to see what I can do. The full hike I’d like to try is rated as “difficult” and with better access to other parts of the mountain I would not have decided to do this as my first backpacking trip in 10 years. But, despite the injuries I’ve had, I keep discovering that my body is stronger and more capable than I knew. Even if I do the least I can once I’m out there, I’ll still be outdoors, at the peak of the Perseids, and it will be a good experience.
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