Visitor from the East

[Lamoka]

Found this excellent site from one of the Oregon visitor sites.
I'm from western NYS and will be visiting the Portland area Sept 14 - 20.
Wife has a conference and I'm gonna carry the suitcase

I'll have several days to myself and was hoping for some great recommendations for exploring
the PNW. I've traveled this great land of ours a bit but never had the opportunity in this region.
Closest I came was lay over in Seattle in route to Maui and a trip to the Vancouver airport
off an inland waterway cruise from Alaska.

Anyway looking for some hiking recommendations either on your north coast, Mt Hood or
the Columbia river gorge.
Either a day trip from Portland or an overnight in a nearby town is fine.
I've got experience hiking some of the Adirondack peaks and would target
Moderate 10 mile type outings.

Any recommedations would be appreciated

[Grannyhiker]

Glad to have you here! Normally, mid-September is a great time for hiking around here!

Check out the Field Guide section of this website for ideas. There are more than enough beautiful hikes in all the locations you've mentioned to have you salivating!

[jeffstatt]

Western NY huh? I lived most my life in Rochester and hiked a ton of the Adirondacks! Where do you live?

[Lamoka]

Well Jeff, Roch it is...Actually Perinton.
Worked a bunch of years with a John Statt at the big yellow box.
Any relation?

[jeffstatt]

My Dad worked at Kodak for 40+ years, but his name is David. I worked summers there as a truck driver back when I was a school teacher (Penfield) but that was like 15 years ago now. I do have a brother John who still lives there but he works at a small (computer) network company.

Ok so back to your question: Mid-september is a great time to go!

Here's a few suggestions that are relatively close to Portland:

For a great waterfall hike go to Eagle Creek:
http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... Falls_Hike

Nice easy hike to bald summit with great views: Silver Star Mountain
http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... Vista_Hike

Cool scramble: Munra Point:
http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... lhead_Hike

Ok - so you said you don't mind a drive:
I'm going to suggest you drive down I5 and do the McKenzie Scenic Hwy to Bend. Find a cheap hotel and find some hiking opportunities down there, like Tumolo Mt, Black Butte, or if you want a really great fun challenge climb South Sister Mt (although you'll want to ask some follow up questions before you launch into that one). Then you could pull off a (long) day trip down to Newberry Crater or even Crater Lake

I like to send people northward to the Mt St Helens visitor center. Mt St Helens is amazing for it's stark beauty and the visitor center is very interesting for it's stories of survival and regrowth. Depending on your experience level you could also climb Mt St Helens, but again that takes a bit of preparation and know-how

One last suggestion, and this is a good compromise for drive-time from Portland vs. reward for effort: Try Olallie Butte
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... butte.html
This is a good suggestion for lovers of the Adirondacks because it has more of the lakes that you're used to out there. This has a great view of Mount Jefferson.

Ok one more suggestion for effort vs reward: Mount Mitchell
http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... chell_Hike

[retired jerry]

Mount Hood

Check out the field guide, for example http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... Lodge_Hike or http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org ... Point_Hike