Hiking to Muddy Fork

Since we moved to the Portland area, we have taken to hiking... A LOT! There are tons of trailheads and so many beautiful places to see in the area. Rivers, waterfalls, mountain views... the list goes on and on! This past Saturday, we went on an AMAZING hike. Darin found out about it on a website where he has found all of the hikes we have done, at http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/ . It is an awesome website and has tons of information for hiking around Portland. I recommend it 100%!

This particular hike was 6.2 miles roundtrip and had a vertical gain of about 800 feet. It was a pretty easy hike with major reward! It takes you right up into Mount Hood and the view was gorgeous. Of course, we took our little hiker puppy with us and she had a blast. The trail was relatively empty so we kept her off-leash most of the way. You start off in one set of trees, then the trail takes you around Bald Mountain. This is where you get your first view of Mount Hood. Then you go through another set of forest until the trail let's you out into this rocky/boulder-y meadow right up in the mountain. All the while, you are crossing 20 or so little streams. Once you're in the "meadow," there is a beautiful view of the summit and some huge 400ft waterfalls coming down the mountain. We took some PB&J's, carrot sticks and fruit snacks like you would expect from most 6 year olds. :) But it was a blast and we got to experience some amazing views. The pictures do NOT do the hike justice, but they are still beautiful. We will definitely be doing this hike again!

Through the woods

This was the view when you come out of the first set of forest on Bald Mountain

Macy loves exploring the forest

This is a zoomed in picture of some HUGE waterfalls on the opposite side of the fork

Mount Hood

Macy loved playing in all of the streams we crossed

One of the scary parts on the trail

She loves the snow, even if it's old and dirty snow!

View on the way back