The hike down the mountain was almost as tough as going up was, and much longer because we didn't have the option of cheating with a lift ride. Our legs were really stressed from working hard to keep our pace a sane speed going down, it's an entirely new set of muscles for me, I'm used to walking on flat ground. On the way up we had almost given up because we just couldn't keep our balance properly anymore on the loose rock and steep places and the snow was really treacherous with huge caverns underneath places that we couldn't see and could have easily fallen into. We came across a pair of abandoned ski poles, which was wonderful because each of us now had an excellent walking stick that solved most of our climbing problems, I could probe for weak spots in the snow and I would have never made it to the steam vents without my pole. On the way down they were equally valuable in keeping us standinng up!
We got back to the parking lot at about 7 pm, 6 hours to get up and down which wasn't bad I thought. I have been converted into a real die hard mountain climber wannabe, once I have a few mountains under my feet I'll be a real mountain climber. I intend to summit at least one mountain per summer from now on, maybe two if I can spare the time and find someone to climb with me, I wouldn't do it alone unless I were desperate to die or something as it's pretty dangerous to be alone.
After we got back to David's there was nothing to do so I decided to go to the beach, which is something I have been missing for several years. I love the ocean, when I was little my grandparents had a beachfront house that we would go visit regularly, spending a lot of time running up and down in the sand and finding creatures to play with, usually crabs that I could put down a sibling's shirt or something.
I loaded up the car with the things I might need and took off by myself for the Oregon coast, which is absolutely gorgeous. I took my time since I always seem to be rushed so much, set the cruise control under the speed limit (for fuel economy) and took the scenic route through the Colombia Gorge, which is fantastic. There's this old road chiseled out of the rock about halfway up the gorge that has fantastic views and fantastic curves and switchbacks. When there's a little valley or meadow there's always an orchard so I stopped and picked enough fruit to eat along the way, this is how I eat out, I find stuff growing.
The Colombia River.
ON the way through I stopped at a waterfall and hiked around on some of the trails bfore I realized I had forgotten to lock the car. At home I don't lock anything because there's nobody around to steal things but I was parked in a parking lot with people, and my car had a lot of valuable equipment inside just waiting to be taken so I hurried and made the hike a short one, when I got back the car was ok.
From here I got back on the main highway and made it to Portland just before dark. Portland is a town that I have been lost in every time I have driven there, 90% of the time it was also in a semi truck or a bus with a trailer so I was really not wanting to be lost when I was. Now I was finally here in a regular car for the first time and I took advantage of it by heading directly downtown. I had to get off of the highway I was used to and find another one I had never taken in order to get to the coast anyway so I figured I might as well get in some big city experience while I was there. I almost found my way but then I had to pull of and take a peek at the map in order to be sure I was going where I wanted to go and sure enough I was. I didn't dare stop off just anyplace because there were unsavory looking characters all over the place where I first wanted to stop and after that it was always no parking or full parking or pay parking (I refuse to pay money to park my car, it's absurd) I finally found the only parking lot that wasn't pay or full up, the Mercedes Benz dealer of all things. If they had been open I would have gone in and gotten a spare key made for my car but they were closed. I finally got out of town and made it almost to the beach before I couldn't drive any more and pulled off to sleep for a while. I camped out in some place, I don't know what it was since it was so dark and I was so tired, there was no one around and nothing but trees for miles so I felt safe enough.
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