Why is Multnomah Basin so spooky?

[Charley]

I've never noticed Portland (or Troutdale, or Corbett, etc.) to be spooky. Neither have I noticed the truly empty wildernesses (high up in federally protected mountains; out in sagebrush BLM country) of the Northwest to be spooky. But the areas in between, the liminal areas, those can be a little unnerving.

In town, one is surrounded by society, which, I think we would have to agree, is mostly safe and mostly predictable. In wildernesses, one is surrounded by neutral nature, and the only other human presences are usually similarly minded seekers of the natural experience. (Not coincidentally, the exceptions to this "similarly minded" aspect are perennial subjects of controversy on this forum- hunters, shooters, ATVer's, mountain bikers, young men with stereos, etc.)

In the case of wilderness, aloneness is often the goal, and aloneness confers on the wilderness traveler some kinds of protection. That's one reason most of us abhor wilderness crowding, though we would usually concede that well-loved wildernesses are less likely to be despoiled by resource extraction industry.

Multnomah Basin and Bridal Veil Plateau are geographically between wild areas and inhabited areas. In such a liminal space, one is further from the protections of law (in town), yet still close to the seedier side of humanity; one is in a less peopled area (not so near another human that they could help you if you called out), yet due to the locations proximity to town, there are signs of human presence all around.

In short, at Multnomah Basin, there are enough signs of human presence to get your guard up against crazies or criminals, yet you are outside the reassuring presence of actual society. It's like there's a critical mass of either solitude or society; in between those two figures is a no-man's land of unnerving possibility.