Larkspur and Deer Ferns With a View in Everyday Ramblings

(warning…this entry is full of superlatives… :)

This is the Columbia River Gorge from Larch Mountain. If you know anything about Oregon, one of our main tourist attractions is Multnomah Falls, which is conveniently right off the highway as one heads into the gorge from town. This spot is above the Falls, way above the Falls looking upriver towards the dam. One of our dinner companions yesterday had parked and hiked up from the falls to the lodge.

It was a pretty complicated day logistically. I was invited to a Trail Club of Oregon lodge, called Nesika (the I is long Nes-Sike-A) on land they own on a private road with locked gates. First S picked me up and then we went out to F’s house (I need better names for these amazing people) and got in her Subaru station wagon with one other woman, V, and drove up into the gorge to the first gate on a fairly bumpy forest service road.

There was no way S’s. Prius with it’s low ground clearance profile was going to make it up there. Once the whole group was accounted for (they encourage car pooling) they opened the first gate and we drove into the first staging area. A number of folks parked there and hiked in.

But intrepid F, she is amazing, seriously, weeks away from her 80th birthday, drove us in on this incredible road with rocks and potholes and a sheer drop off. It took about forty-five minutes.

I did not get proper pictures of the lodge. This is from the viewpoint, not very far from it at all. If you Google it there are some wonderful pictures. They have a tractor that brought in the food and bags. About half of the 45 people that came in are staying for the weekend.

Some of these folks have been coming here since they were kids and midday we went on a four mile (ish) hike on trails that seriously you could barely see that was just wonderful. There were 12 of us, and a leader who knew the Latin names of all the plants. He was awesome. I learned more about the local ferns in an hour and a half then ever before.

He took us on the Christmas Tree trail, which apparently is a thing. It is a normal densely treed trail that over the years folks have decorated with Christmas ornaments. It is magical and as he sternly pointed out (in a good natured way) not on Trail Club land. I have a few pictures of that but I’ll need to go back and get some better shots.

These people all know each other, the first lodge was built in 1923 and in the materials for the club you need to be of “good moral standing” to join. In a long tradition here of private clubs, you do not get in unless other folks vouch for you and you can comfortably hike four miles with some elevation.

They brought in ribs flown in from Tennessee for dinner. Because we were leaving after dinner to get out before dark, we set the tables, swept, did all the prep dishes. It was fun. There was time chatting by the fire too, as it was cool in the lodge.

Because it is spring here, the woods were lush with vegetation. It was interesting for me because none of these people were dedicated bird watchers. I was the only person with binoculars, which I wear on a harness.

This land was totally clear cut back in the days so hiking it is a bit of a mono-culture but it is gorgeous, in the meadows there are barely signs left of the truck farmers who moved in after the original trees came down.

The ground was full of ferns and long grass and these gorgeous wild delphiniums, larkspur. Our hike leader said he had never seen them in bloom like this before.

S officially became a member of the group yesterday, so when I can find the time to go on a few more hikes with them, I also will have the opportunity to join.

One has to “sign the book” at one of their two lodges to be considered.

It is definitely a move towards a vital and engaged retirement. Oh yeah.

Last updated May 30, 2016