This weekend, we did our longest hike we’ve done with Henry so far!
We hiked to Ramona Falls (near Mount Hood) and it was 7 miles round trip. Back in the day, Cam and I would have thought nothing of doing a 7 mile hike, but now, being 23 weeks pregnant and having a very active toddler who doesn’t always love being in the hiking pack for long periods of time, I was a little unsure how it would go. But it ended up being so great! The hike is really pretty and the elevation gain (only 1000 feet) didn’t feel too tough since it was spread out over a longer distance. Speaking of our pre-kids lives, there was a time when I would always bring our “real” camera when we’d go hiking (or do anything) and I’d usually do an entire blog post recapping every hike we did. Now, ain’t nobody got time for that and the camera gets left behind to make more space for Henry’s snacks. But we did end up taking quite a few cell phone photos during this weekend’s hike, so rather than just spamming Instagram with all of them, I thought I’d just do a post instead 🙂 Enjoy!
The hike had some really fantastic views of Mt. Hood! It looks kind of small in these pictures, but it was massive in person. And it was such a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky!
The thing I was most concerned about with this hike was crossing the Sandy River; apparently there used to be a seasonal bridge that washed out, so now you have to cross the river (which is fairly fast moving) just using logs and rocks. I had read that it could be kind of unsafe, but had heard other people say it wasn’t that bad. It was about a mile in and a little bit daunting, especially considering that Cam was carrying Henry and I’m pregnant and admittedly do not have the best balance.
Some people were just walking across these logs, but I wasn’t about to attempt that.
I ended up crossing over these rocks on the way to the falls, and then used this log to cross over on the way back. There were other families with kids doing it, and it wasn’t as bad as I expected.
Cam carried Henry most of the time, but we did let him do some hiking on his own two feet as well. It’s a little hard because he either wants to go running down the trail or stop and pick up every rock along the way. But it’s so fun to watch him get excited about hiking and discover nature for himself!
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| “Out of my way Dad!” |
Finally, we made it to the falls!
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| And I really look pregnant – eeek! |
It was hard not to want to take a million pictures, the falls are so pretty!
There was a nice, relatively flat area in front of the falls where we stopped to eat lunch and Henry collected sticks. He was being so stinking adorable, he’s just the happiest boy 🙂
I know I already put some of these pictures on Instagram, but they’re some of my new favorites 🙂
If you’re in the Portland area and looking for a good hike to do this summer, check out Ramona Falls!
