Engineer’s Attempt at Writing

Sigh, the rain is finally here. I wonder how many months will it be this year before the rain stops. I guess I still have the college football games that I can watch. Go bears!! I need to find some other indoor activities. Once my ankle heals, I am going to go check out the indoor rock climbing gym.

I am very glad that two weekends ago I went hiking at Saddle Mountain. I do not think that I will be hiking for another 4 to 5 months. Here is a picture from Saddle Mountain. It was a gorgeous day.

This is me looking toward the coast where the Columbia river meets the Pacific ocean.

I went hiking last Saturday to Ramona Fall, which is right by Mt. Hood. We arrived there at around 2pm. After walking about 1.2 miles, we tried to find the bridge to cross the river. However, the trail must not have been officially opened because we didn’t find any bridge. My friends were my daring and cross the river (a small river) on a small tree trunk. However, I was not as bold, and I had to back track to cross on a bigger tree trunk. Even on the bigger tree trunk, I was not comfortable because I was afraid I might fall into the river.

After we cross the river, we started our hike to the waterfall. We decided to pick the longer trail to the water fall because the hiking book said to do so. But going through the longer trail was a mistake because the entire trail was covered with snow. My shoes were not waterproof and by the time we arrived at the waterfall, my shoes and shocks were wet. I had to walk back to the start of the trail in wet socks and shoes; it totally sucks. However, it was worth it because Ramona Fall is truly beautiful. If you ever visit Portland in the summer time, you should definitely go there.

Mt. Hood

Snow on the trail

Ramona Fall

Me standing next to the fall. I was totally tired out when we got there; walking through snow is hard.

Here are some pictures from my Memorial Day trip to the Olympic Peninsula near Seattle. My coworkers and I went to three places at the peninsula: Hoh Rain Forest, Lake Crescent, and Hurricane Ridge.

Of the three places, I have to say that Hoh Rain Forest was the most disappointing. I may have been expecting too much about the rain forest; I guess I imagined it to be more like the Amazon. But can you blame me when it is advertised as the only rain forest in North America?

Lake Crescent was very beautiful, and if you hike up to Mt. Storm King you will get an excellent view of the entire lake. Mt. Storm King was a little difficult to hike, but it was definitely worth it. Take a look at the picture.

Hurrican Ridge was also pretty nice. We got a chance to walk in the snow, and saw some spectacular mountains. One of my coworker said that the mountains were surreal. I was pretty tired when we were walking toward the Hurricane Ridge trail head, and as such, I didn’t enjoy Hurricane Ridge as much. I would like to hike the Hurricane Ridge trail the next time I go back to the Olympic Peninsula.

FYI: I didn’t take any of these pictures. They were taken by my coworker.

Hoh Rain Forest

Waterfall near Lake Crescent

View of Lake Crescent from Mt. Storm King

Hurricane Ridge