Disappointment

I had a hard time choosing the title of this post. On one hand, I could be a "glass half full" kind of gal and call it "The Promise of Spring". Or I could go the other way and call it "The Early Bird Gets Nothing". While I did decide to go with the down-side for the overall post, don't worry. It's not all bad.

I'm referring to the First Hike of the Season, a.k.a. Cherry Orchard Trail. I read about the hike in this month's issue of Portland Monthly (an excellent resource if you've just moved here... I highly recommend it). It sounded perfect: sweeping views of the Columbia River Gorge, ponds swarming with butterflies, a wind-swept meadow and blossoming cherry trees. Pair that, with the fact that it was sunny and 75 degrees this weekend, and I mean, come on! Who could pass that up? Not me, that's for sure.

A little background: we signed all the papers for our house on Friday (yay!) but I guess here in Oregon that doesn't count as a "closing" so we didn't get the keys. I, personally, was glad because I knew the weather was supposed to be nice and I didn't want to be stuck inside doing a bunch of chores the whole weekend. Plus, the cherry blossoms in the city are at their peak, and I just knew it would be a perfect time to start our hiking season. Nevermind the fact that this hike was 4.5 miles out and back, and there was an elevation gain of 1500 feet in the first 2 miles. And nevermind that the last hike we went on was around Thanksgiving. I knew it would be tough, but I also knew that it would be totally worth it once we got to the top.

It's not a super-popular trail, which was good because it was so amazingly beautiful that I'm sure it would've been very crowded if it were more well-known. The way up was extremely steep, and parts of it were covered with scree and gravel, making it pretty tough to get your footing. Plus the trail goes right along the edge of the cliff in some places, and for someone who hasn't been hiking in 4 months, it's pretty scary. By that time you're gaining elevation pretty quickly, and I tend to look at my feet a lot (for obvious reasons) so when you look up it's easy to get a little vertigo. I got dizzy a couple of times, and almost lost my balance once (at this stage we discussed turning back, because nothing is worth Stephanie falling off the edge of a cliff into the Columbia River Gorge, cherry orchard or not.) It was also pretty windy, and you know that I have trouble with this, so I stuffed some tissue in my ears (a trick I learned at an Alice in Chains concert) and I was good to go.

After you go through a series of switchbacks, the trail starts to level out and goes through a whole bunch of scraggly looking trees:

Once we got to this part, the rest of the trail was pretty easy... still some up and down, but nothing like the first mile and a half or so. The article I'd read said, "At approximately 1.5 miles, you'll see a pond known for attracting swarms of fluttering butterflies." Another website had touted the pond as "a small, seasonal pond that's just packed with butterflies in the early spring". Well, we found it:

No butterflies in sight. Hmph. Disappointment # 1. But, by then we were through the hard part and only had another 3/4 mile to go. Plus we were hungry and anxious to eat our avocado, tomato, spinach & cucumber sandwiches. Mmm. At the end of the road we came to the meadow, which was pretty neat. It had beautiful views of the river, so we sat and had our lunch.

Oh, Where's the cherry orchard, you ask? That's an excellent question, and one I'd love to know the answer to. We didn't see any stinking cherry trees. The article said, "The few remaining trees, which sprout snow-white blossoms each April, line the eastern edge of the meadow." But we didn't see any. Not even one. And, apparently (after doing some more research this morning) there is only one. Another source says, "Once upon a time, the Lyle cherry orchard was just that. But when farmers stopped irrigating, the orchard died—save for one tree, whose survival no one can fully explain. Look for the cherry tree on the eastern edge." My only guess is that maybe it died? Disappointment #2, not to mention quite a tragedy, if it did, in fact, die.

But on the way back, we did see more signs of spring (aside from the gorgeous weather.)

Spring blooms just waking up.

But don't get me wrong... it was totally worth it. No pain, no gain. I mean, where else can you get a view like this, and all from your own leg work?

I'm extremely sore today, but I feel great. All in all, I still think it was a perfect way to start off Spring, regardless of the disappointment. I can't wait to get some more hikes under my belt and share them with you!

And, P.S. I'm going to find some damn cherry blossoms if it kills me. Pictures to come.