Sunday, June 07, 2015

2015.6.6. Summit to Sea

6/6. Saturday, 88F in Portland, 64F at the beach. Fog -> sun. Jim, today's event host titled today's outing as Summit (lunch at Mt Hebo) to Sea (dinner at Cape Kiwanda). 12 met at Hillsboro P&R (took me a good 10 minutes to find them), and 2 waited for us at Hebo Lake, south of Tillamook. Today, it's very busy: a free fishing weekend. Lots of kids. The day use parking was completely full. One camper family kindly let us park 2 cars on their site.

We took Pioneer Indian Trail (#1300). Gradual and smooth trail. Mossy trees and miner's lettuce first, the dryer salah bushes, until a grassy plateau, with many purple irises. Here, we walked back on road and followed a spur to the summit: a rocky flat plateau full of penstemons and radio towers. You can see the coast, now in thick clouds. Also saw St Helens, Adams, and Hood. Total today is ~10 miles, 1500'. A slower group, but a nice bunch none the less.

We arrived at Cape Kiwanda's Pelican Pub and Brewery at 5pm. Wait time was only 20 minutes. So we were told to call back and off we went. This time I walked up the dunes and to the other side: took longer than I thought. 62F and windy. Need a jacket here. At 6:30pm, we reconvene at a table by the window (yes, indoor) for food and beer. Here, all food item come with beer recommendation. Some of us are quite chatty. Left the restaurant ~8pm, and back to Hillsboro P&R at 10pm. Temperature then was 75F! I put my headlamp on, and biked home. Quite pleasant, the bike ride, actually.

Forgot a phone in the car.