The Spirit Quest

On Wednesday, August 3rd, I was a participant in an 8-hour (!!) Popular Education training seminar in Gresham, OR. The day before the seminar, I developed a sense of dread. To be stuck in a room for more than 5-hours with some random peeps, relearning something that I thoroughly studied during my recent Spring semester at Portland State, did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. However, I decided to stick it out because I knew that (a) my good friend Erica Ho was going to be participating as well and she is always fun to be around (b) that the facilitator running the event was going to be the amazing Noelle Wiggins and (c) that I really enjoy learning about Popular Education (and hope to use it in my future career). Thank God that I decided to attend and spend 8-hours cooped up in a small room with 20 other people because I was given a JUICY nugget of information that changed my life for the better.

During lunchtime, we were all encouraged to mingle to get to know one another. I decided to sit next to this girl who worked for the Multnomah County Public Health department in an attempt to get her opinion about working for an Oregon public health department. As I sat down next to her, she turned to me and asked, "Are you going to enjoy the sun this weekend?" I quickly and enthusiastically shouted, "YES!" I didn't mean to shout, it just came blurting out due to excitement. I was so excited for the weekend because it was the first really sunny week that Portland had seen all summer and I was ready for some tan lines. Katie and I decided the day before that we would take Uma dog out on an awesome hike in the Gorge. We both heard about a hike on the Washington side of the Gorge within Dog Mountain that was supposed to be spectacular, so we decided that was the hike we were going to do.

After explaining to the girl about Katie and my hiking plans, she just looked at me like I was crazy. She then began to explain how Dog Mountain is terrible because it has become so popular that hiking felt more like being stuck in commuter traffic. Also, to my surprise, she informed me that Dog Mountain is a SERIOUS hike. It is actually a training hike for larger trips like St. Helens. Then, out of nowhere, she hunched over and began looking side to side to make sure she was not being watched. She then partially covered her mouth, as to conceal what she was about to say and said, "I know of a hike. A hike that is so mystical that Native Americans used it as a spirit quest (a rites of passage ritual used by many tribes to mark the journey from child to manhood) thousands of years ago." Right when I heard the words "spirit quest" I started to have the most amazing visions of going into the woods and having apparitions appear to me just like how Peter Griffin saw the Fonz on his spirit quest (personally I was hoping for Jimmy Stewart or William Shatner). But, before she told me more about this hike, she made me swear that I would not tell anyone about it because it would then become super popular and potentially turn into what Dog Mountain is now. I guess this post means that I didn't keep that promise (Ha!). After swearing, she told me to look up the next two words: Wind Mountain.

As you can see in the topo map below, Wind Mountain is located on the Washington side of the Gorge, surprisingly, only a couple of minutes away from Dog Mountain.            

Wind Mountain Trail Topo

Katie and I were super excited for this trip however we felt a bit selfish knowing about this quest and not sharing it with people. So we decided that we needed to share this adventure with someone else and we knew the perfect person: Liz Paterson. Liz is our amazing friend from Portland, originally from Gilroy (Woot! Go Garlic!), who loves these types of outdoor adventures. We decide that Saturday (August 6th) would be the day that we hike this majestic mountain. Saturday comes along and we head out on our adventure. Down highway 84 we travel, across the Bridge of the Gods, and east on highway 14 until we reached a dirt road that took us to deep into the woods.

Tobias Fünke and Liz

After aimlessly driving through the woods on this random dirt road, we finally found the parking area and the hidden trailhead. Liz and I start to psych each other out to get pumped for the trip ahead (as you can see --->). The thing about this hike is that it is very short (only a 2.5 mile round trip route), however it has close to a 1,200 foot elevation gain. This meant that the hike was pretty steep. Due to how steep it was, this 2.5 mile hike was a pretty intense workout. However, the workout was worth every drop of sweat because the views from the top of this mountain were breathtaking. I feel fortunate enough to have seen a lot of beauty during my trips throughout the world but I have to say that this view from Wind Mountain was one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen.

Hipster View from the Top of Wind Mountain

As you can see from the picture to the left, you have this stunning view of the Columbia River (the river that separates Washington and Oregon). However, the coolest thing about the hike was that the top of the mountain was covered in loose granite. The loose granite made the top of the hike a bit treacherous because the footing wasn't the best but it allowed for some amazing artifacts to be built. According to signs posted at the top, the Native American participating in the spirit quests would get to the top of the mountain and build sculptures and sleeping nests from the loose granite. I could definitely see the usefulness of these nests because Wind Mountain doesn't get its name due to the breezy conditions at the top. It gets its name because it is windy as hell.    

We did it!

Liz taking in the view

After having lunch and taking some super cool photos (like the one of Uma dog below) we decided to head back down to the trailhead.

Uma dog FTW!

About halfway down the trail, Katie happen to notice a path that split off from the main trail and headed into the woods. Katie was intrigued because before our hike, she was reading about a spur of Wind Mountain that offered spectacular views. Confidently, Katie followed the little path and disappeared into the woods. Excited, she rushed back and told us that we needed to check out what was at the end of the path. We trekked on down the path and came to the spur that Katie was hoping to find. It was amazing and offered a totally different view than from the top. Rather than spectacular views over looking the the Columbia River, it was a view of nothing but forest. It was mesmerizing to see nothing but green as far as the eyes can see. It felt kind of like those magic eye posters. Also, we met a new friend on the spur. Below is a photo of the view and our new happy friend. 

Katie and I with a happy Leonardo DiCaprio

After a day of breathtaking views and steep hiking, we decided to head to a local brewery for some delicious foods and beers. A great end to a wonderful day!