Clackamas River trail mama hike

My friends and I enjoyed our first mama hike of the season on Saturday, along the Clackamas River Trail. The plan was to hike 7.8 miles one way, with a car shuttle. But the day turned out to be anything but straightforward. At first,  the weather forecast was for heavy rain, possibly thunderstorms, and we thought about cancelling it altogether. At 7 am, we looked at the updated forecast and decided to risk the drive.

But when we arrived at the trailhead, there was a sign declaring that the trail was closed due to unsafe conditions - no date on the sign, and no details, but it didn't look super old. We decided to ditch the idea of the shuttle and just start walking along the trail, making it as far as we could before a fallen tree or landslide stopped us. Fortunately, it was gorgeous - cloudy but no rain, dense forest, numerous waterfalls, huge rocks, mossy trees, a posse of tiny salamanders - and we were having a lovely time.

And then something behind a tree stump growled at us. Like, growled low and loud and deep enough that Michela described it as shaking the ground. We immediately made a lot of noise and backed way the hell up, listening for the telltale sounds of an animal crashing through the woods as it ran away. But there was no noise. After some waffling, and me climbing an electrical tower to try and see behind the stump, we decided (I should say my friends decided, because I am terrible at turning around and giving up) that discretion was the better part of valor, and turned back. It was a good day - we hiked about 5 miles - and the sky opened up into pouring rain just as we arrived back at the cars. I hadn't been in that area of the Mt. Hood National Forest before, and found it lovely - we'll definitely be back.

Saturday's intrepid crew: Adrienne, JT, Ragan, Michela.