2010-08-28 46 -123

The little creek at the bottom of the canyon.

Location

In Clatsop State Forest, roughly 10 miles west of Clatskanie, Oregon.

Participants

Michael5000

Expedition

I parked just off of US30 on a gravel road, and took the bicycle up about two miles past a couple of quarry operations. And when I say "up," I mean that the ride was steeply uphill, and that after having departed from a point where highway thirty leaves the valley of the Columbia to climb over a high ridge. So, what I expected would be a hashpoint in a slight draw by a creek turned out to be a hashpoint in a deep, heavily wooded canyon.

That should have been the end of the story, except that I'm stupid. There was nothing resembling a trail, so I just clung to the idea that "if you can get DOWN it, you can usually get back UP it," and began a long descent into the ravine. This is classic rainforest country, so I was immediately in a dim twilight with poor footing, brambles, logs fallen and rotting every which way, and, of course, a 45+ degree slope. Because the hashpoint was itself basically on the face of a cliff, and because the GPS unit had trouble keeping in touch with the satellites through all that forest canopy, it was not an easy point to zero in on. It was only 400 feet from the road to the hashpoint, but I was in the canyon at least 45 minutes, and emerged filthy, drenched with sweat, and with a pretty good set of bleeding lacerations on my legs and arms. But also triumphant.

Photos

The sign where the side road left the main highway.
The triathlon setup -- hashscot and GPS gadget travel in the bicycle map carrier.
The creek at the bottom of the canyon provided the only easy route to walk on.
Blurry picture of what the canyon landscape looks like. It's dark down there.
At the Hashpoint.
My forest-ravaged legs in the aftermath.
A view of the Columbia Valley from a side trail off of the quarry road.