On friday, Jojo and I tried to get out to the shellrock wagon rd near wyeth and some of the better known falls to see them covered in some ice. We ended up turning around at Bridal Veil because of bad road conditions and called it a day. With the tff's up ahead going for the butte we decided to turn around and do a little bit of yesterday's plans. Seeing everybody in the early morning and getting to chat for a bit was fun, sorry we didnt offer up any trail breaking guys/gal
Back down at the old staircase and nervous about moving the car in the icy lot:
After shellrock we drove back toward town and stopped at Multnomah Falls and Horsetail. At this point it was snowing down to the freeway again and the old hwy was covered in about a 1/2 inch of ice near Ainsworth. Both falls were beautiful and well worth the stops
The old hwy going over Multnomah Creek:
The view from the Benson Bridge was amazing:
The icy cliffs hold a special charm this time of year:
A nice couple was kind enough to offer to take a picture for us:
Over at Horsetail things were equally beautiful:
The icicles around the splash pool were awesome too!
As for the shellrock wagon road it was number 2 fail on my part. When we pulled off I-84 east of the wyeth exit to reach the old spur trail to shellrock mtn there was already a truck pulled over in the spot. We sat for a bit and a man came out of the woods and informed us that he was a licensed hunter that had been hired to trap bobcats. I guess there is a spike in the area's population and he also said there were a lot of mountain lions roaming around as well. He spoke to us was to warn us of the traps he had set so we wouldnt stumble over or disturb them and warned that we wouldnt see them. He said they wouldnt cause us any harm but was also curious if we were activists as he said people sabotage his traps on a regalar basis. Just a hundred yards or so after hopping the gaurd rail I saw one of the traps. Joie and I were careful to stay clear of it on the way in but I pulled a bozo move on the way out and totally forgot it was there. Stepped right on it like an idiot and can now not so proudly claim that I am dumb enough to get "trapped" by the state
Here is the chain and a picture after I triggered it.
There was a lot of evidence of the aforementioned cat on up on the old 1840's portage road near the base of shellrock:
Find Jojo on the old shellrock spur trail:
