Gotta get those dots...

The original weather forecast for today put as 100 which is miserable hot no matter where you are but when you are of the belief that anything over 85 is torture it's really the pits. We are in a really hot stretch. After a crazy warm winter that led to no snow pack which means the state is dry. Well dry for Oregon, not like California dry which has been doing this for a few years now, but dry. But the heat and the dry makes it look like a bad bad fire season and miserable summer on the horizon. Which means that I will be whining about the heat all summer long. Brent is really excited. He's not a big fan of the whining. He could have said on more than one occasion, "You grew up in the desert for goodness sake!" Well yeah, sure, but I left it....

So yesterday when I picked him up from work he asked what the weekend plans were and I said, "Laying around whining about the heat?" he wasn't on board for that so I told him my plan B. Get up early and go up to Multnomah Falls and hike to the top before it gets too hot then we can go from there. See, I have to get those dots and if I don't get them early when it's not as hot the odds of me getting them late when it is are slim to none.

Since he's very supportive in most all of my wacky obsessions he was on board for an early hike so off we went.

In all of the years we've lived here I've never actually gone to the top of the falls. We have either been with people who couldn't make it all the way, the trail has been rained out or the bridge has been bashed in by a boulder. So I've gone to the mid point but never all the way up. Brent and C went a few years ago when Kim and Dave were visiting but it was the weekend Dad died so I was back in Albuquerque and missed it. Today I was going to the top! The sign says it's a mile and the trail is mostly paved now so it should be easy peasy lemon squeazy right?

The bottom. Normally we go to that first bridge and turn around. Not today!

Oh wait...11 switchbacks? Uh oh...

Looking down on the parking lot and lodge from about halfway up. I might have been taking pictures to stall.

Wait a second...you said the whole hike was a mile, how can I be only at 7 and be at a mile??

No matter how exhausted sometimes a side trail must be explored.

Because then you get to places like this one. 

This is standing at the top of the falls looking down. Wheeee....

Little falls and pool above what we think of as the start of the falls.

Time to head back...Back up the stairs...oh my...

Just to show a little perspective on one of the switchbacks and how steep they could be.

Looking back up at the falls from the bridge area. Made it!

So the mile sign was a lie. And considering it tells you it's a mile from the base area and from the first bridge I should have guessed that...I was just too focused on doing it. Bring water. Go when it's still cool outside. Expect to sweat like a pig. But also do it sometime if you can. It's gorgeous.

And just to be humbled a bit, Dave did the hike before he got his knee replacement surgery. If I had felt like giving up at any point that would have stopped me. I won't be out stubborned!

And? I've got all my dots...