The Journey Inward

From Mount Rainier, we drove home to Gillian’s place in Warrenton, Oregon. Her two roommates are also in the Coast Guard, and it was nice catching up with them.

It was so wonderful having this time with my girl, and with each day holding a different hike, we soon realized we had to keep our streak. We ended up doing a hike a day and logged many miles.

On our first day, we went to Cannon Beach and witnessed talented sand sculptors build designs for the annual contest. We walked down and stood by Haystack Rock, dwarfed by its immensity. We also took a sightseeing walk through town and got some coffee and tea.

From there, we hiked Neahkahnie Mountain. It was a strenuous one with a quick ascent, but the switchbacks were delightful. It felt so wonderful to be enveloped by the lush green forest. The true challenge for me came at the end. There were some pure rock scrabbles and then a large exposed one to the top. I crawled my way up and was rewarded with a spectacular view. I once again realized that my fear of heights is severe, but not debilitating. My poor daughter kept trying to soothe me by saying the path was wide, or the plateau at the top was not right on the edge, but fear of heights is not rational. Instead, I do my own dialogue that helps me through.

We went to a sweet farmers market in Astoria on Sunday and I met some nice vendors and bought unneeded jam and granola at exorbitantly high prices! They both had such good stories and that is what always hooks me.

The hike that day was the Lewis and Clark Fort to Sea. Gillian ran it while I walked, but as I started down the path through the forest, I began to run and didn’t stop! I felt like a small child again, running through the woods in my town! I walked back up, but then ran down the trail again. This is the first I’ve run outdoors in several years, since my hamstring injury. I paid for it that night and the next day, but on the descent of each hike to come I ran whenever it was clear enough and my hip pain cleared away.

Gillian had to work two days, so I took advantage of the time and went to my favorite cafes and shopped around town, as well as walking along the Columbia River. I love the history of the town and how warm and welcoming the people are. I had so many wonderful conversations.

Perhaps the highlight of our hiking week was Saddle Mountain, which I completed with 3 22-year-olds! It was a gorgeous hike on an impressive mountain. We hiked through forests, across meadows and up steep inclines. It was windy at the top and relatively clear. Apparently on a crystal clear day, you can see Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, and Mount Saint Helens.

Some of Gillian‘s crew did a fitness challenge on Wednesday that took her out of commission for the rest of the week. They did lunges for a quarter mile around the track, then a bear crawl for a quarter mile, burpees into push-ups for a quarter mile and then a jog. The whole thing took two hours and she could barely move for days after.

We wrapped our week of adventures with some time in Portland. Powell‘s was my favorite stop.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to my youngest, but it had been an extraordinary week and a half.