Oregon: One week to hike, sip and (get) brewed

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Finally we had a week off and decided to leave Denver and do a hike/wine/microbrew tour of Northwest Oregon. Four years ago we had ended in Portland an "all public transportation" trip from Chicago to Glacier National Park and on to the West Coast (mostly by train.) We were impressed by the city and knew we wanted to come back and do a more thorough tour.

So we planned a loopy figure-8 driving trip after flying into Portland. Basically it was heading west to the coast, then south, then east into the Willamette wine valley, then a Saturday night in downtown Portland for a brewpub crawl before heading northeast through the Columbia River gorge and then a brief tour of southern Washington vineyards, finally heading south around Mt. Hood and back into Portland to depart.

The weather was perfect for the trip -- clear, blue skies and mild temps -- except for a bit of drizzle as we left Portland for the gorge on Sunday morning.

We camped the entire time, with the exception of a hotel on the Saturday night of our brewpub tour in Portland, and the last night before flying out -- so that we wouldn't offend other passengers with our campfire-smoke clothes. (And we needn't have worried, since the hotel near the airport had a free laundry -- even free soap.)

What follows are the images in chronological order of the week-tour of the area:

Arrival, Sept. 28, at PDX and drive to Tillamouk State Forest in the Coast Range

Elk Creek, at the Elk Creek walk-in tent campground in the Tillamouk State Forest on the way to the coast.


Our tent in the Coast Range rain forest.


We were shocked to get set up before nightfall, since we arrived at 1p, got the rent car and hit REI (for stove fuel), Whole Foods (for food & wine) and Goodwill (for a rain jacket after I had forgetten mine -- ended up not needing it) before heading out of Portland.


Dinner and our first Oregon Pinot Noir.


Looks like it does rain here: Moss covered trees.


Sign on our short jaunt on the Elk Creek Trail on the second morning.


Maple leaves turning -- to be much more pronounced in the Columbia River Gorge later that week.

Day Two: On the coast.

Fog lifting as we leave the coast Range for the town of Tillamook.


Sign for Tillamook Cheese, a large co-op making craft cheese in NW Oregon.


At Tillamook, packaging the large 100-pound blocks into smaller, sellable sizes.


Making an ass of myself at Blue Heron Cheese company down the road from Tillamouk. Other small creameries actually make their cheese.


Coastal view above Cape Meares to the NW of Tillamook.


Cape Meares Lighthouse, operational in 1890 and decommissioned in 1963.


Looking south from Cape Meares. Cool thing is that Hwy. 101 is inland here, leaving vacant coastal roads to travel on.


Heading south to Pacific City, with its beach and sea stack.


Dog and dunes. Watching his 'owner' surf at Pacific City.


View from the acclaimed Pelican Pub & Brewery patio, with the sea stack offshore.


Label on a coaster at the Pelican Brewpub. We had the Surfer's Summer Ale, Indian Pelican Ale and Tsunami Stout with a two-for-one appetizer deal. What a find!


Setting up the tent on a walk-in site at the deserted Webb Park, just over the barrier island from the Pacific on Whalen Island. The small park is adjacent to Clay Myers State Natural Area.


Blackbird on driftwood near the tent.


House with ocean view, from our campsite at Webb Park.


A Duck Pond Oregon Pinot Gris with an applewood smoked cheddar at sunset on Whalen Island, with my new West Coast cheese book.


Debbie relaxing against driftwood at sunset on Whalen Island.


Driftwood log at sunset.

Day Three: From the coast to the Willamette Valley

We emerged from the tent at Whalen Island to a low, drifting fog.


The alarm was a nearby laughing (actually screeching) gull.


Finally, the sun crept over the eastern hills.


After breakfast and packing up the tent, we "did" the trail Myers Natural Area on Whalen Island as the fog slowly disappeared. Gorgeous, varied trail, with no other people on a fall weekday.


Lone pine and fog, Whalen Island.


Tidal flats, with the sea stack in Pacific City poking up behind.


Sun, pine and fog.


Debbie on the trail in the pine-covered sand dunes.


Trailside fern.


Tall pines -- almost Florida-like -- on Whalen Island in Oregon.


River passing by Whalen Island, with the barrier sandspit behind.


Plants naturally roosting in trees.


On the trail with vegetation spilling overhead.


Fern and spider web, backlit, near trail's end.

On to the Willamette Valley and Champoeg State Heritage Park

After the hike we headed over the Coast Range to the wine town of McMinnville. We were concerned about finding a place to camp in the Willamette Valley, especially on the next night, Friday, since we didn't have reservations and the weather was still so nice. We stopped at the Visitor's Center/Chamber of Commerce and inquired about where there was camping in the valley. The two staff members there looked at us quizzically, and it was obvious not too many tourists camped during their wine tours of Willamette. The only place they suggested was Silver Falls State Park, far away and east of Salem. On one of the maps they gave us was a place called Champoeg State Heritage Area near Newberg, less than 20 miles away. The symbol on the map showed it had a campground so we headed over.


Yurts near the ranger kiosk at the Champoeg State Heritage Area campground on a beautiful fall day.

It was a beautiful rural -- really more agrarian -- park not far from many of the famous wineries. We found a walk-in tent campsite that wasn't reservable, so we had a base for Thursday and Friday nights. Set up, we headed west to hit a few wineries before they closed for the day.


Grapes, probably Pinot Noir, still on the vine at Adelsheim Vineyards.


Label of the bottle bought at Adelsheim. The tasting fee was a steep $15/person, but we were poured sips of four wines in the $50-75 range.


View of vineyards from Adelsheim's patio.


On to tiny Maresh Vineyards with its red barn, surrounded by some of the oldest vines in the state, and the only place where you can taste and buy their wines (since they mostly sell to other wineries.)


Debbie and her purchase at Maresh.


View from the porch at Duck Pond Cellars in Dundee, final winery before we headed back to the campground.

Day Four: In the Willamette Valley

Five mile hike around Champoeg along the Willamette River on Friday morning, a high fog overhead.


Maple leaf turning.


Along a tunnel of foliage riverside.


Pioneer Mothers Cabin museum on the trail.


Monument -- and reason for this historical park.


Note the 1861 high-water mark on the reconstructed building. Champoeg was wiped out repeatedly by floods til they abandoned it in the late 19th century.


View out of the pavillion built in 1901 to celebrate the anniversary of the first government in the Northwest.


Organic produce from the working farm (circa 1850s) adjacent the park's visitor's center. We gathered a bag for dinner that night for a donation.


Hops in the farm's arbor, important item on the following day's microbrew tour in Portland.


Apples gathered to be pressed. Interestingly, the work was being done by a prison work gang of female convicts.


That afternoon we resumed our winery tour further west, in the northwest part of Yamhill. This is at Kramer Vineyards.


A bottle of Elk Cove Pinot Gris at a picnic in their vineyard. Our favorite winery. Spectacular views. Cordial staff. Perfect afternoon.


Crocus flowers and the vineyards of Elk Cove behind.


Looking west, vineyards and the Coast Range behind at Elk Cove.


Fall color in the oaks with vineyards in the foreground.


Pinot Noir still hanging on the vine at Elk Cove.


Rows of vines and a pine tree at Elk Cove.


Cannas, with vineyards as a backdrop.


Back at Champoeg, camping: An appetizer -- a Kramer Pinot Noir Reserve with Blue Heron Smoked Brie.


And for dinner: Debbie sautees vegetables -- from the Champoeg (organic) farm.

Day Five: Portland brewpub crawl.

After packing up the tent we drove north to Portland for an early check-in at the Crowne Plaza, using AX points. View from the room of downtown Portland. Not campin', but it would do.


Start of the brewpub crawl at Hair of the Dog brewery in an old warehouse district near the river, at a little after 11 a.m.


Sampler at H.o.t. Dog. Tasted: The uniquely named Greg, Blue Dot, Fred and Adam.


Next stop: Lucky Labrador, not far away.


The bar at Lucky Labrador. Got our vote for best pub atmosphere.


Locals playing Ma Jong at Lucky Lab.


Stained glass of a Lucky Labrador on the way to the beer garden.


With the L.L. sampler.
Tasted: Byron's Pale Ale, Organic Mild Bite, Fresh Hop Mutt, Bavarian Crystalweizen, No Pity Organic Ale, Black Lab Stout.


Drawbridge over the Willamette River downtown.

We headed back to the hotel and dropped the car off, since we were using public transport for the rest of the downtown Portland tour and pub crawl. (It was safer.) We took the light rail over the river and got off near the Saturday street market under the Burnside Bridge and wandered around. Then we hopped a street car south for the Full Sail tasting room that we thought was adjacent the fancy McCormicks restaurant in an upscale part of town.


Debbie awaits the streetcar to head toward Full Sail.


Streetcar and high-rise riverfront condos.


Debbie reluctantly at McCormick's door. There was no open entrance to the Full Sail brewery. We watched people in suits and fancy dress heading into McCormick's next door and were hesitant to go in, being, well, dressed as campers. So we moved on. We learned the next day that inside McCormick's is Full Sail's Pilsner room and those people going in were part of a wedding party. As a consolation, we would hit Full Sail's pub at their main brewery in Hood River after our hike two days later.


We took a streetcar up to the Pearl Street neighborhood to the Rogue Ales brewpub.


Rogue Ales was packed, but we found a booth inside.


We ordered their sampler, followed by dinner.
Tasted:
Irish Lager, Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Moms Hfenweizer, Honey Orange Wheat, Dead Guy, Hazelnut Brown Ale, John John Hazelnut and Mocha Porter. Favorite was the Hazelnut Brown Ale with a perfume of nutty Frangelica. (Most hazelnuts in the US are grown near Portland.)


Dark now, we walked east over to the Tugboat brewpub for a final brew.


The pub was hopping, as was another tap room across the street. Warm atmosphere with bookshelves overhead.


Neon sign at Tugboat; we were beered out and walked to the light rail line to the hotel and bed.

Day Six: Portland to the Columbia River Gorge.

We woke up late on Sunday in the king bed and stayed put, enjoying the morning after the pubbing and the prospect of the next two nights in a tent. Debbie had "blown" a Teva sandal, so after checking out we went shopping, first for coffee, then for a pair of replacement sandals at a thrift shop, then to a Whole Foods to get food for the remainder of the trip. We drove east to what we thought would be an open campground at Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge Recreation Area, only to find out it had closed for the season a few days before. We continued east looking for another campground but found the river-side ones too exposed, or the other federal campgrounds already closed. We drove back to Ainsworth State Park, not far from Eagle Creek and found a site at the deserted walk-in tent campground to occupy for the following two nights.

We then made the prerequisite trip to see a few of the famous falls just off the old highway, before heading back to the tent and bed.


First falls.


Multnomah Falls.


Enjoying cheese, bread and a Desert Wind (second label of Duck Pond) Semillon at the park across from Multnomah Falls.

Day Seven: Hike the Eagle Creek Trail.

We had been told to hike the Eagle Creek Trail by Leslie, who's my manager where I work. She's an Oregon native and emphatically insisted we do this hike, and we are so glad she did.


On the Eagle Creek Trail . . .

This day is recorded as a 4-minute video, with music, and we both felt it was one of our favorite hikes of all time.

Here's the video on photobucket:

EAGLE CREEK TRAIL VIDEO

[url=http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r33/kevonionia/Portland%!O(MISSING)regon%!f(MISSING)all%!/(MISSING)?action=view¤t=EagleCreekTrailColumbiaGorgeOR_0001-1.mp4/

Day Eight: Into southern Washington, back around Mt. Hood and the hotel at PDX

We drove across the bridge into southern Washington, then drove north up the scenic -- and undeveloped -- Klickitat River, where we saw literally hundreds of fly fishermen in the stream trying to catch a salmon. Off to the northwest, snow-covered Mt. Adams poked into the blue sky.


Mt. Adams and wheat fields near Goldendale.


We headed south out of Goldendale, with waves of giant wind turbines on the hills north of the Columbia River.


Mt. Hood made its first appearance to the SW.


Back on the Columbia, now the northern side, we came upon the vineyards planted on the bank that receives both the sun in the southern sky and the reflection off the water, providing the warmth needed for the grapes to ripen in fall.


At the tasting room of Maryhill Vineyards, our only winery that day. Here some fellow tasters are greeted by the behemoth winery dog Potter, famous for his portrait in the hard-bound photo book of winery dogs.


Debbie poses with Potter.


Maryhill Sauvignon Blanc with our picnic on the veranda at the winery.


From the deck: Vineyard, the Columbia and Oregon.


Vineyards and Mt. Hood from the veranda during lunch.


Onto the bridge taking us back into Oregon.


Barge traffic on the Columbia as we head west.


We detoured south for a loop around Mt. Hood before heading back the hotel near PDX for the flight out the next morning.


Parting shot is of a little bar we saw on the road near Dundee on Day Four. We've always joked on our travels about how fun it is -- no matter how much we like where we live -- of being "someplace else." What a true statement, and the reason to keep traveling.

The End

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