Walking the Miles ...: Indian Point

Another great hike in the Columbia River Gorge – Indian Point! Yes! It’s on the Oregon side of the river and comparable to Dog Mountain on the Washington side. In fact, at the “point” I sat there looking at Dog Mountain. I don’t know what my obsession is with the ol’ Dog but I do love it and get excited just seeing it! Anyway, this was my first time to hike up Indian Point. My adventure sister and I are trying to go on hikes I have not been on before. She has been on so many of them but I found a few in a book of hers that will be new to her too. I can't wait for us to discover those together! It's always great seeing something for the first time!

Indian Point has different routes to get up it, like many mountains do. We happened to go up the route Lidia meant for us to come down (a tad bit easier) but as I was taking breathing breaks along the way, I was happy we made that little error down below. I’m still packing too much weight around my middle (story of my life!!) and going up on such a steep slope is difficult at times because of it. The other route is much steeper than the one we took. We will eventually go back and take the tougher route (We definitely need the training to prepare for another climb up St. Helens next month! woohoo!) but today I was happy with the route we were on. It was work but I still enjoyed it.

To get to Indian Point you have to go through a burn area from the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. The trees are charred black but the new growth on the forest floor is bright green with a beautiful assortment of colorful flowers everywhere you look. As usual, we took our time hiking up that mountain and stopped to take pictures at every turn. :)

You reach a high point where you can see Indian Point down below through the trees. Not far from this point you leave the trail and scramble down the steep hillside to get to the rock saddle and Point. Getting out to the saddle is very narrow for a few feet (I only had one small heart attack moment) but then it opens up wider. Me, the often times timid one, was able to walk out there without panic. Of course I wasn't going to climb on the actual Point but Lidia climbed about half way up it (I had a hard time watching her!). When we were hiking out of there, we saw a man sitting on the very top of it! Yikes!!

After climbing back up to the trail, the hike down the mountain was painless and naturally a lot faster than going up. We talked a lot, took more pictures and soaked in the beauty surrounding us. I can never get enough of the mountains and would rather be out there than anywhere else. Lidia and I hiked 9.06 miles today and had a total elevation gain of 2,988 feet. An awesome day!

My entire weekend was awesome! Between the two hikes I hike 18.1 miles and had a total elevation gain of 4538 feet. Not too shabby for a weekend warrior! ;)