{"id":1171,"date":"2013-03-30T18:44:36","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T01:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peachylife.net\/blog\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2013-03-30T18:44:36","modified_gmt":"2013-03-31T01:44:36","slug":"indian-point-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2013\/03\/30\/indian-point-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Point hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a sedentary job and I’ve been disgustingly sedentary on my free time this winter. So today I was looking for a whip-my-ass-into-shape hike where I wouldn’t encounter mobs of people. So I settled on Indian Point.<\/p>\n

The gate is open at the Herman Creek Campground so you can drive all way the trailhead. The lot there had more than 30 cars when I pulled in right after 10:00. Yikes!<\/p>\n

Within the first quarter mile I saw several trillium blooming alongside the trail. The forest is very much cloaked in winter right now, though, with no vegetation leafing out yet.<\/p>\n

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Cool tree leaning over the trail:<\/p>\n

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So much moss!<\/p>\n

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I decided to take the Gorton Creek Trail up and the Nick Eaton Ridge Trail down. There’s no scenery along the GCT so I just powered up the trail one step at a time, wondering how I could let myself get so out of shape over the winter.<\/p>\n

I finally made it to the steep booth path that goes down to the point and made my way down. When I got to Indian Point I was surprised to see that the place was deserted. I headed out on the rocks a short ways, took a few quick pics, and then beat a hasty retreat. A fierce icy cold wind was blowing and it instantly numbed my bare fingers.<\/p>\n

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I ate a quick snack in the trees where it was slightly less windy before heading back up to the main trail. I picked up the cutoff trail and headed over to Nick Eaton Ridge, then headed downhill. I was pleasantly surprised to find a series of small meadows, and then a huge meadow, along the upper stretches of this trail. I could see Bonneville Dam and I even got a peekaboo view of Mt. Hood!<\/p>\n

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Except for the trillium near the trailhead these grass widows and goldstars were the only signs of spring on the whole hike.<\/p>\n

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After a long grueling descent down all those switchbacks (oh my poor knees!) I finally reached the Herman Creek Trail. There’s an old mossy trail sign near the junction, although not as near as you would think.<\/p>\n

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Back at the trailhead I saw that parking had overflowed and cars were parked in the campground, and I saw some parked down on the road as well. Sheesh! I feel lucky that I only saw 20 people on my hike!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a sedentary job and I’ve been disgustingly sedentary on my free time this winter. So today I was<\/p>\n

Continue readingIndian Point hike<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45,71],"tags":[127,141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}