Why Hiking Has Got to Be the Best Form of Exercise

Upon the strong recommendation of my traveled-all-50-states by car friend Jan, Russ and I went out to the Columbia River Gorge this morning.  Everyone needs a friend who has purposefully driven to each state to see every major attraction, like the St. Louis Arch or the Corn Palace and most minor ones like the Largest Ball of String or the Corn Palace because then no matter where you travel you have someone who can give you an unbiased and education opinion on what to see and what to skip.

Jan was right, as usual; the Gorge or whatever the locals call it is beautiful.  One of the highlights is that it being a gorge and all it has very high mountains right beside the river with a number of fabulous waterfalls feeding the already giant river.

Sometime ago when some president was looking for shovel ready work, the government created these fabulous trails that lead up and down the mountains right to the various waterfalls.  Many shovels were needed to move a bunch of boulders around to make switch back paths just wide enough for two hikers to pass each other going in opposite directions and not have one of them lose footing and slide thousands of feet down the steep banks of the mountains.

Russ and I drove out to the Multnomah Falls Lodge this morning and had breakfast practically in the mist of the second tallest year round running waterfall.  After breakfast we hiked the quarter mile up to the bridge that was perched at the halfway point of the falls.  It was not much of a hike to me since the path was paved.  The trail continued what appeared to be straight up and I suggested we return to the car and go to the next trail head that had three different waterfalls on it.

Now, I know you think that I just did not want to climb straight up, and that certainly was part of my reasoning, but actually I just did not like the other multi-hundreds of people who were planning on making the climb.  I really like my wilderness as a lonely exercise.

So off we headed to Horsetail, Upper Horsetail (referred to as pony tail) and Oneonta Falls.  We had a fairly rudimentary trail map that showed some distances between major sights, but no information on elevation changes or levels of difficulty.  Russ is a great hiker and I am, well middle-aged.  He is good about checking with me if I want to continue or go back.

The first waterfall was right at the parking area so no exercise to see that one.  The second was an incredibly steep ½ mile climb, but one that very few other hikers were taking so we did not have to hear any annoying chatter.  Russ was sure I was going to say let’s turn around now, but I didn’t.  The trail ahead was not as steep so I just kept going.  The views were gorgeous, must be where the word came from and the temperature was perfect.

By the time we got to the third falls we had gone exactly half the distance of the almost three mile trail.  No reason to turn back there, just keep going forward to complete the loop.  Which we did.

The reason I consider hiking the practically perfect exercise is that once you are in the middle of it you have to keep going or decide to take up residence in the woods or die.  You are usually going up or down, rarely flat for very long and your core is improving as you are balancing from one rock to the next.

But the best part about it is you get to enjoy the spectacular forest and mountains somehow preserved by fore thinking people.  Calling it exercise is an insult to hiking.  It is much closer to praying.