More shots from Smith Rock. It was a spur-of-the-moment stop on the way back from Lava Lake in the Three Sisters Wilderness, and I’m so glad we did it. We ended up hiking across bits of the Canyon, River, Misery Ridge, Mesa Verde, and Rim Rock trails for about seven miles worth of walking. The Misery Ridge trail was pretty strenuous both as a hard hike up to the summit, then as a precarious descent where periodic stretches of scree across the trail forced us to inch down. It was all worth it, even if we wish we’d taken along our hiking poles for the descent. It was also surprisingly uncrowded for a park so close to the highway on such a beautiful day: Plenty of people on the lower trails, but Misery Ridge, Mesa Verde, and the River trail were all pretty quiet. I’ve got more pictures to put on SmugMug, but these are my ten favorite.
