Oregon is GORGEous!

(See previous post for our Wine Country experience! Was late in blogging about it. Oops)

Oregon is GORGEous. Thanks to this state, I am officially running out of adjectives.

On our way here, Pete and I had ranked the places we’d visited and put them in order based on the spots we liked most.  But, after our day in Oregon, I’ve had to totally rearrange my list. It pushed it’s way to the top for me, and for Pete it’s pretty far up there. Everything about this area is beautiful. The trees are so tall and there’s a plush deep green moss that grows over everything. The air is clean, the breeze is refreshing, and there’s a serenity here that I haven’t found anywhere else. The forests of the west coast put those in New England to shame. They’re denser, greener, and definitely more inviting. For a stop where we didn’t have much planned, we certainly experienced a lot. We did something today that will stand the test of time as a once in a lifetime experience. Even if we come back to do it again, our adventures today were so special because they were unexpected and unknown to us. This day could not have been more awe inspiring and thrilling. I think it’s been my favorite day on the trip so far…

It’s funny, we weren’t even going to stray outside of the city today. But, last night I called my godmother in Seattle to touch base and she insisted that we see something called the Columbia River Gorge. We’d done plenty of cites, she said, and this was not to be missed. She did warn me, though; it would be a serious challenge. Not for the faint of heart and definitely not for the unadventurous. I left it up to her expertise and took her suggestion, not knowing quite what to expect. My godparents are two of my very favorite people in the world, but they do like extreme outings. I wasn’t sure what I was dragging Pete into, but I knew it would be exciting and possible just a tad insane. I just didn’t realize that in one day, Oregon would completely would steal my heart and take my breath away. Literally.

Unreal! 

The next morning, we woke in front of a Wal Mart Market, picked up some cheap water shoes at Walgreens, and headed for the gorge. Hidden behind the town of Trout Dale, the Historic Oregon Trail route drives alongside the Columbia River and leads to a series of stunning waterfalls. Pete and I didn’t know that places like this existed. We’ve seen them in movies, but beholding them in person is a whole different story. Each waterfall was a mile or two apart, each more magnificent than the one before.  It was truly like something out of a movie. The water cascaded down from the forest canopy, thundering onto the rocks below and sending mist in every direction. We felt a steady wind coming from the falls and were glad to be wearing sweatshirts and water shoes. (For now.) We went to Latourell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Wah-keena Falls, and Multnomah Falls, but the one my godmother insisted upon most was Oneonta. She’s warned us that we would get wet, but that it was TOTALLY worth the trip, so we went along with her directions. We figured we’d give it a shot and see how we felt. Her instructions were pretty bizarre, asking us to climb, wade, and swim. Ha, we thought, no way we’re doing that. But, once we started shuffling our way through streams and greenery, we were hooked.

Me, while I as still warmish and happy 

Oneonta Gorge was the most spectacular and challenging place we have seen on this entire trip. The walls of the gorge went up higher than we could see, and at the bottom was a strong stream, lined with mossy rocks that seemed to be raining down the canyon. The water was beyond freezing, we could barely step in without squealing. But, we really wanted to see what was ahead. The scenery was too good to pass up! Why else would my godparents have sent us there? Sure, the weather was cool, and the gorge was breezy and damp, but it was all so beautiful! We had to go on. So, we went up to our ankles… then shins… then knees…

Pete, rockin' the short shorts 

The walls were very tall and green and drippy, the stream was cheery and bubbling, the trees swayed gently in the wind. This wasn’t so bad. The farther we walked though, the worse it became. The rocks beneath the stream became increasingly slick and the water became deeper and deeper. A huge pile of logs stood in our way, some of which were only floating and not sturdy at all! We found this out the hard way… 

Oof... 

This is way harder than it looks. 

We had to clamber over these obstacles, cutting and bruising ourselves in hopes of seeing the waterfall. As we proceeded, other tourists hastily passed us, heading in the opposite direction. “Go back, “ they said, “there’s no way to get to the falls unless you want to swim.” Swim? You’ve GOT to be kidding me. Penguins would have been at home in these waters, they were positively icy. It took a serious amount of tongue biting and cursing to get each of us up to our knees, and now we were supposed to swim? We were thankful for our water shoes and long sleeves, but we weren’t walruses, we didn’t exactly have much as far as insulation. We could hear the falls though, and the gorge was so incredibly breathtaking, we trudged onward. We’d come all this way, we weren’t going to let a little cold water scare us off. We figured we’d go as far as we could and then see how we felt. Maybe those other people were just weaklings? Maybe it wasn’t actually as bad as they claimed.

"Wait, I have to do WHAT?" 

Nope, it was worse. Not only were there ample amounts of slippery, moss covered fallen trees and rocks to climb over, but there was a dip in the pathway so deep, that we would certainly have to swim to cross it. Veteran gorge forgers Hank and Randy, advised that if we were going to cross, we should leave our shirts and sweatshirts behind so that we’d have something warm to put on for the way back. We reluctantly removed our only source of warmth and we left wishing we had blubber. Randy, who was just ahead of us and completely drenched, warned us that the water was chest-deep. Keep in mind that water that reaches up to the chest of an average adult is well over my head and this deep water was COLD. We’re not talking “Hey! Who used up all the hot water in the shower” cold, we mean freezing, polar bears, icicles, numbness, purple appendages, never feeling anything ever again- COLD. We have never been colder in our lives, even at the top of a ski mountain in winter, with frostbite. This water was so cold; it made me miss Rhode Island beaches in January. It made us long for prison in Siberia. There is no way this water was warmer than 35 degrees. The only things that lead us to believe it wasn’t less, was the lack of snowmen and frost. Randy and Hank were very encouraging. “You’ve come this far,” they said, “You’ll regret it if you chicken out.” They had a good point. We were already up to our knees, and we had a feeling that this was something we would regret not doing. We’d come all this way in a beat up wagon that Pete rebuilt with his own two hands. We had literally crossed the entire country in a death trap; we were daring and we could do this. So, I plunged in.

You know that cliché about cold water that goes, “it felt like a thousand little knives were stabbing into me”? Yeah, well these weren’t little knives, they were samurai swords and they were slicing me clean through.  I could not breathe, and yet I heard a thwarted gasping shriek that I could only assume was my own voice. In reality, my swim only lasted seconds, but it felt like a torturous eternity. I have never felt more alive or more dead. My limbs were moving, but I couldn’t feel them. It felt like an out of body experience as I watched myself fight the current to reach higher ground. I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t breathe, I thought my heart was going to stop. I could, however, hear Pete’s voice in the background cheering me on. What a guy! He hadn’t dove in yet, so he was still in good spirits.  When I reached the other side, I turned back to see Pete struggling the same downstream I’d just fought. He was carrying the GoPro camera between his teeth and I could barely hear his squeaks of pain as he swam forward. When he joined me in shallow waters, Randy and Hank gave us fist bumps and pats on the back—I think, of course, because I could not feel this, but the best reward we got was a view of the falls at last. It was spectacular.  The rumble was almost as strong as the winds coming from the water as it tumbled down. I could barely stand upright in front of it. We were still numb, of course, so the wind didn’t bother us much. We felt as though we’d joined some elite club of badasses; only the bravest and strongest get to see these falls up close. And now, we were two of them. We basked in that glory for awhile, forgetting that our lips were blue and we were possibly losing valuable body parts. Then, we remembered that we still had to go back. Oh boy

Hank, Randy and the GORGEous gorge

Nothing could have properly prepared us for this day, but our ten-dollar water shoes turned out to be our best investment of the entire trip. Randy’s advice about disrobing was quite valuable too, and we were happy to have something dry to put on for the trek back. The teeth chattering and severe body shakes made us quite the spectacle as we stumbled back to our car. Carla warmed us as quickly as she could with all the high heat she could muster and we basked in the brilliance of our accomplishment.  We have never been so grateful to get our trembling blue hands on a cup of steaming coffee. When we reached a shower, I cranked the water up to SCALDING.

Maybe it was no award-winning feat, maybe other have done it, we really don’t care. We conquered some intense fears today, not to mention some strong natural instincts. Humans were not designed for that kind of torture, but the adrenaline and adventure made it all worthwhile. I mean, how awesome are we? How many people can say that they’ve done what we have, and at our age? THIS is living. This kind of stuff is why we took this trip in the first place. Nobody really mentions how the unexpected wonders of your life will be the most memorable, the most important. This day is one we’re going to tell about forever, how we forged the gorge…  I am way past being ashamed of tooting our own horn, because WE ARE SO COOL.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Seattle to thank my awesome godparents for their suggestion.  I have been awaiting our visit with them ever since we bough our plane tickets home and I can’t WAIT. There will be no better way to finish off this vacation…

~ Triumphant Liz and Pete, and a concerned Carla 

We did it! 

<3 Oregon