National Wildlife Refuges in Washington

We crossed into Washington State and made our first stop at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. At the kiosk is a CD for their 4.2 mile auto tour to make the most of your visit. You must stay in your vehicle for most of the loop, but there is one area you can walk around.

A family of Canada geese. 

We saw beaver and nutria (pictured below- looks similar to a beaver but with a long, skinny tail).

This was a fantastic birding location. I counted 40 species including the 

Purple Martins nesting here, a life bird for me. Love the picture of these two. 

A few days later, we visited the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge next to Olympic National Park. Their trail leads down the mountain to the 5.5 mile long spit, one of the world's longest natural sand spits.

When I first arrived, the mountains were hidden by clouds, but they appeared before I left.

All of these heavy trees are what holds the spit. If they were cleared out of the area, the waves would wash the spit away.

Beautiful green trails thru this refuge.

More Oregon Waterfalls

There are just so many gorgeous waterfalls in this area, most accessible via a short trail from the Historic Columbia River Highway. You can even see many from the main highway. My kids enjoyed counting waterfalls along our drive everyday.

Multnomah Falls at 611 feet is the tallest waterfall in Oregon and second tallest (year-round) in the US. This is probably the most popular because you don't even have to hike to see it. You can see it from your car if you choose.

Daddy took the kids up to walk across the bridge between the falls.

On our last day, we spent some time at Bridal Veil Falls which required a decent hike down to the falls.

The rocky river made for a great play area for the kids. Next time, we'll have to pack a lunch and spend the entire day here.

I saw my first Dipper (bird) here in the river.

Oneonta Gorge

As soon as we decided to check out Portland, I looked up Oneonta Gorge to make sure we stayed close enough that I could finally cross this on off of my list. Pronounced "O-nee-ohn-tuh", it's a narrow gorge with steep, green walls and a waterfall at the end. I'd seen photographs and it's been on my list of things to see for years. The water is extremely cold, and what I'd read about the hike meant the kids couldn't go, which meant I had to do this alone. I had read about an enormous bone-braking, camera-steeling log jam and once you get past that, come the chest-deep ice cold water. Sounds like fun, eh?

Earlier in the week I had hiked over the top of the gorge, and saw this magnificent view of it. I just couldn't leave town without hiking thru the bottom of that gorge!

I watched the weather report and saw some record highs were coming our way. 

I had the great fortune of hiking this during one of those 80 degree days! 

The infamous log jam.

It is really a long jam to cross. I was only about half way across when I took this picture. You can see the size relative to the man coming towards me.

On the other side is the water. It was only ankle/shin deep for the most part.

Looking back at the log jam. 

It really wasn't THAT bad if you go really slow and carefully, but I can see how people get hurt. 

Right around here is where the water gets to be chest deep. I REALLY didn't want to experience that. I put my rock climbing skills to use and managed to climb up the wall and over the deepest part. I still ended up in waist-deep water, but that's better than the alternative.

Tall, narrow, green walls and ice cold, clear water.

And then I made it to the waterfall!

A fantastic hike! I hope to take my kids back one day when they are old enough to do this hike safely.