I love the Pacific NW and that was confirmed even further with my visit to see Julia in Portland last week. Over a year and a half ago, I tried to leave Port Townsend. I went on a roadtrip with no destination and the vortex sucked me back. Along the way I saw some awesome sites: Mt. Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Crater Lake, relatives in Central Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge, the Redwoods.
On that trip, I hiked halfway to Tunnel Falls, stopping at the beautiful Punchbowl Falls. Signs about bears and my 6am start time left me feeling uneasy at the trailhead. I closely followed a man hiking until he got to the falls, then I decided to turn back. I'd found out about the trail one day searching the internet. I recall that I wasn't even searching hikes, it was a random stumble. Well, Julia my friend who grew up in Portland hadn't even done that hike at that point. And of what I had hiked, it was amazing.
Speed up to last week. Julia hiked it for the first time a few weeks ago with her dad and confirmed the hike to the Tunnel Falls was worth the trek. It was raining in the a.m. as we geared up and continued about every minute of the hike until our rain jackets were no longer waterproof.
We talked a lot, saw many people on a trip back out, but the falls was as the pictures I'd seen on the internet and as Julia had said, completely worth the six mile hike in to the forest (12 miles roundtrip). I took many photos and a video at the tunnel falls, but none do the scenery justice. Also, excitingly, it connects to the Pacific Crest trail, which I fantasize about hiking after reading the book WILD. Have a look at my photos and video, what do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EFuUsvezJo&feature=youtu.be
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