When I got up around 8:30am, I got my stuff around and put in the car knowing we had to be out by 10am. I was going to wait to shower until we got to our place in Portland as we were planning on hiking on our way back. We got a knock on our door and it was Greg. He looked at us with a serious face and asked, “would you like anything to eat to process what happened last night?” LMFOA. We said we did and he went to the store.
When he got back, he and AJ cooked us sausage, hash browns, and eggs. There was left over fruit and Morgan made coffee. Kevin, Andy, Chris and Matthew were already gone by the time we got up. The rest of us ate breakfast and packed our shit before heading to our next or final destination.
We cleaned up breakfast and headed out. Poor Nate, someone had accidentally packed his tennis shoes and so he didn’t have any to wear. Luckily he and JD have the same size foot so we gave him JD’s flip flops to wear until they could get him shoes. We said our good-byes, exchanged numbers and headed on our way.
Since it was a 2 hour drive back and we couldn’t check-in until 4pm, we decided to sight see and do some hiking. Our first stop was Cape Meares Lighthouse. It was about 20 minutes south of where we were and a pretty drive. While there, we got to see another really old tree. The main picture was taken from the lighthouse trail.
It was not a long hike but we did do it the wrong direction as we finished climbing a 45 degree incline to the parking lot. There was an older couple and they were asking each other questions like does the trail go all the way around. I told them it does and told them to go down the way we came up as the other side was a lot less step and he didn’t look like he would make it up that hill. We headed to the car and made our way back to Portland.
While we were eating lunch, JD researched where could hike along the way and found Wilson Falls so we headed toward them. He put it in his GPS and it arrived us at a service area that didn’t have any trails and didn’t look a like a place that is on the map. Down the road about a mile the Tillamook Forest Visitor Center so we went there to get directions. The guy at the counter said it was a 2 mile out and back so 4 miles total. I could see in JD’s face and energy that he wanted to see the falls. JD typically is not the instigator of a 4 mile hike EVER so when he gets excited, I lean in.
The trail was not well marked to the falls but the trails were worn down so you knew you were on a trail. The problem was, if there was a fork in the trail, you didn’t know which way to go. The visitors center did not have WiFi for guests and we had zero cell service. The map they gave us was also not super helpful. There was a family that came up behind us and the blind leading the blind, we found our way. We crossed over a couple of falls but think of a trickle down the mountain and the bigger one was more of a constant stream. There wasn’t any signage and the trail was on the other side so we crossed over and climbed the steepest switch back of the hike.
The family that was behind us caught back up so JD asked if we were still on the right track because he did have a map on his phone and the mom said that Wilson Falls was behind us. That means, what was a stream WAS the falls. Since that was our desired destination, we turned around and headed back. When we were getting close to the fall, I asked, “JD, do you want me to take some pictures?” to his response, “fuck not, this is disappointing!”. With that said, I have zero pictures of the hike but I do have the return half the hike recorded on my Garmin to see how far we actually went. The guy in the visitors center was spot on! Even though the falls were not what he expected, the forest was beautiful and has a lot of history!
The Tillamook State Forest is 345,000 acres and from the time frame of 1933-1951, the forest burned down completely. The rebuild of the forest an impressive story. With over planted over 72 million seedlings were planted by hand and 1 billion Douglas Fur seeds were dropped via plane to rehabilitate the forest. I won’t go into all of the details other than that. What a magnificent example of people caring for, supporting, and rebuilding Mother Nature when she needed it most!
After the hike, we headed back to Portland to find the airbnb and settle in. We were both tired from the weekend and the hikes. The place was super cute and what a great location. We walked 2 blocks to the grocery store to get some food, snacks and wine before settling in for the night.
It was a long though wonderful weekend between travel and festivities. JD and I both fell asleep on the sofa before moving to the bed.
katie palmer moore 