Walking the Miles ...: Little North Santiam Trail

Today’s hike was through a very lush green, old growth forest along a gorgeous, crystal clear, turquoise/green river located in the Willamette National Forest in Central Oregon. I haven’t done much hiking in Central Oregon but I definitely want to explore the area more. I love the Gorge but it’s nice to venture out and see other areas.

I went with a Mazamas group of nine, all very nice, friendly and knowledgeable hikers. I hiked with five of these people previously, including the hike leader, and enjoyed seeing their familiar faces. Three of the ladies and I rode together and spent a lot of time talking and sharing our hiking stories. We have each other’s emails and I truly look forward to meeting up with them again! I remember the first few hikes I went on with the Mazamas three years ago - I was very shy and timid about meeting a group of unknown people and really had to push myself out of my comfort zone to go. Now I don’t think twice about whether or not I will know anyone in the group because it doesn’t matter. I’ve met some amazing people through this organization, become good friends with some of them (especially my adventure sister, Lidia) and always look forward to meeting more people who enjoy the outdoors as much as I do.

I went into this hike believing it was going to be a casual stroll alongside a beautiful river - that’s what I had envisioned anyway (I should read more about what I’m signing up for). Well… casual it was not! haha It had many ups and downs and several switchbacks… steep switchbacks… both up and down… coming and going. My thighs and rear-end got quite the little burn... eh, workout! I thoroughly enjoyed it too! At times we were next to the river and other times we were high above it looking over a cliff. We took little short excursions off of the main trail (I love those kinds of hikes!) to get a better view or to get next to the water. The trail was rocky, rooty and had many ruts. We crossed several little streams, a few foot bridges and once had to climb down into a little gully and back out because the bridge had collapsed. Thank goodness there wasn’t a raging, roaring river beneath it. Oh… and did I mention there were steep switchbacks?? ;)

The color of the Santiam River…. oh my gosh… amazing!! The deep pools looked so inviting and I could just imagine being out there on a hot summer day enjoying that beautiful water. (Reality is… BURR. I probably wouldn’t get in it no matter how hot the day was because that water is C.O.L.D.) But wow… so beautiful.

We hiked to a campground and found an empty picnic table where we sat and enjoyed our lunch. I struck up a conversation with one of the men in our group and it turned out he had spent four years living in Houston, Texas and had also visited and hiked in the Big Bend National Park on three different occasions. It was great sharing memories of what the Big Bend and Terlingua (the ghost town) were like when I was growing up compared to what they are now. Sadly, they are very different. He hiked around the Chisos Mountains which is something my brother and I are planning to do too in hopefully the very near future.

After lunch we headed back the way we came … up and down those switchbacks again! ;) We were lucky enough to beat the rain (it sprinkled just a little) but we could hear thunder in the distance and it became quite humid.... something I haven't felt in a very long time.

We hiked a total of 10.68 miles and had an elevation gain of 1792 feet. I had a fantastic day!