Oregon Hikers

A sunny spring spell is a good time to visit the Lewis River. The low altitude means that the snow is gone and that you can soak up some of the warmth. My past trips there I always started my backpack at the western end of the trail near Curly Creek Falls. So this time I started at the Road 90 crossing and headed west. First timers on this trail should probably start at the west as the trail spends more time next to the river from that end and has somewhat less ups and downs. Temps were marginally warm enough for shorts and t-shirt but long sleeves and pants were on as soon as I reached camp at 4:30.

The trail soon crosses Cussed Hollow


And a short side trail leads to views of the Lewis


The trail then heads a bit inland and uphill to avoid some river cutbacks. There are some good new bridges


And some in need of serious work


My camp was about 5 miles in. I had a good beach camp.




Saw a herd of elk coming out this morning


I've seen elk on 2 of my 3 trips here.


And of course had to stop by at Lower Falls after coming out this morning

Nice picture of Lower Falls. Never seen it with so much water!

How were the crowds?

romann wrote:Nice picture of Lower Falls. Never seen it with so much water!

How were the crowds?

Nobody there on a weekday. I saw nobody on the trail, nobody at the falls, with my car the only one in Lower Falls day-use parking lot. And one car on the road down there.

A couple of extra notes:

The 90 Road still has a very rough patch just before it crosses the river. It was there last year and apparently they did not have the funds to get it fixed. Low clearance cars could have problems. Don't take your Porsche down there.

Also, I got my first mosquito bite of the year. So I suppose they will come out early with this year's weather.