Dalles Mountain Ranch is located near Dalles, Oregon as its name suggests; however, the exact location is actually on the North side of Columbia River in Washington State. Is is about 90 miles East of Portland and takes about 1.5 hours of driving to get there. Dalles Mountain Ranch trail is part of Columbia Hill State Park. The trail is open to hikers, and bike riders and horse riders. The Mountain Ranch trail is located at the Northern part of Columbia Hill State Park at the end of a gravel road.
We decided to visit Dalles Mountain Ranch near the end of May and hoping that the wildflowers are still in bloom, although we knew that the chance was very slim. Wildflowers along the Columbia Gorge are usually in full bloom in the beginning of May.
We got to Dalles Mountain Ranch by 8:30 in the morning and we were the only one there. The day use fee is $10 or you can get a Discovery Pass which is $30 for the whole year. The parking lot isn't very big but we were guessing that not many people actually come here.
When we got off the car, it was extremely windy outside. We could barely walk against the wind. Since we already drove 2 hours to get here, we still decided to do a loop hike around Dalles Mountain Ranch trail.
As we walked down the trail, we could see very abandoned farmstead along the side. THe green grass on the hill with abandoned barn was quite a scenery to enjoy. When we got to the intersection point of the 8 miles loop, we found that the West side of the loop got blocked off. That was the path towards the Dalles Mountain Ranch car. The path has now been cut off with fence and there were groups of cattle in there. We were not sure why it got blocked off, but we were extremely disappointed. We had no choice but to go the other way but could not complete the loop anymore. In addition, all the wildflowers were pretty much gone.
It was not the best hike that we wanted due to the loop is no longer available, no mountain ranch car, and no wildflower. We should have done more research on this when we went for a hike. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant weather for hiking along Columbia Gorge other than being a bit windy.
Silver Falls is located within Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. It is about 1.5 hours South of Portland and it is truly a marvelous gem of Oregon. There is a total of 10 water falls within Silver Falls State Park. Most notably the North Falls and the South Falls. There is a total of 4 water falls where people can go behind the falls to view the water fall from a different perspective.
Oregon has been in a self lock down mode for over 2 months and started slowly opening up the state parks for visitors. Thus during the Memorial Day long weekend, we decided to pay a visit to Silver Falls and it would be our first outdoor activity over the past 3 months.
We got to Silver Falls State Park around 9AM and the parking lot was about 30% full. We expected that the parking lot will fill up very quickly within the next 2 hours. Unfortunately NW Forest Pass and Discovery Pass do not work here. Thus a day fee is $5 needs to be paid at the pay station.
We started our hike from the South Falls. The first part of the trail takes people all the way down to the bottom of the valley to view the water fall. People can choose to take the path that goes behind the water falls, or there is a different path that leads to the front of the water falls. We then made our way towards North.
After about 30 minutes we got to the Lower South Falls. The amount of water that came down the cliff was huge. The trail goes right behind the water falls and very close to the water. We were soaking wet when walking behind it. The trail was partially flooded as well but we were able to step on the rocks to avoid getting our shoes wet.
After another 1.5 hours, we finally got to North Falls. We could hear the thunderous sound of water pouring down the cliff to the pond below. It was just an amazing sight. The trail behind the North Falls was dry and wide. It was very easy to walk on.
Getting back to the South Falls was a lot easier from here. The Rim Trail at the top of the valley is a much shorter trail that is only 2.5 miles and we were able to get back within an hour.
Overall, Silver Falls is a great place to go to during a sunny weather and enjoy the outdoor. The park is open all year round and thus it could be interesting to visit during the winter when snow falls.
Hole in the Wall Falls is one of the waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. At Hole in the Wall Falls, stream of water flows through a whole on the cliff wall. To get to Hole in the Wall Falls, the closest access point is from Starvation Creek. Starvation Creek is about 1 hour East of Portland and it is right off the highway I-84. From Starvation Creek parking area, Hole in the Wall Falls is only 0.5 miles away and the trail is completely paved. So it is very family friendly.
We went to visit Hole in the Wall Falls during the early Spring season near the end of March. The trees along Columbia Gorge did not have any leafs yet and we could still see patches of snow along the mountain top. Although it was early in the spring, the temperature was getting warmer up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
We got to Starvation Creek parking area around 9AM in the morning and we were one of the only 3 cars there. We were thinking that maybe it was due to the Coronavirus outbreak and thus people chose to stay home, but we were proven very wrong later.
We started heading West along the hiking trail and just within a minute we saw Cabin Creek Falls. It was right along the trail and there was no way to miss it. We continued on without seeing any other hikers and got to Hole in the Wall Falls after 10 minutes. Hole in the Wall Falls has been here since 1938. The hole on the cliff seems to be man made because it was very round. There is a bridge the crosses the creek and also allow people to get closer. There was also a picnic table for people to enjoy the view and food at the same time.
We were thinking that today's hike was way too short and decided to venture further West. We continued on and the elevation start to climb. After about 10 minutes, we came to Lancaster Falls. Lancaster Falls is essentially splashing water down onto the trail. We have never been this close to a waterfall before. It was a very cool experience.
Overall, the hike to Hole in the Wall Falls was quite easy and short. It was nothing exciting but a good short hike to start the season and enjoy the fresh air. The trails at Starvation Creek also lead to many different places which we will probably choose to explore in the future.
Tillamook Creamery is a famous cheese factory located by the Oregon Coast. It originally started as a factory that only produces cheese, but slowly expanded into other dairy related territories such as ice cream and butter. Tillamook Creamery is also open to public to visit its assembly line and offer food and related products in its visitor area. Tillamook Creamery is only about 1.5 hours West of Portland and it was recently renovated in 2018, thus we wanted to visit the newly renovated creamery.
We left Portland around 9AM in the morning and it was raining really hard outside. The rain did not stop us from going to Tillamook Creamery, but we initially wanted to head to the coast to have some fun first before heading to the creamery. So since it was raining, we just headed straight to the creamery.
The drive to the creamery was simple and easy. We got there around 10:30AM and the parking lot was not even half full. We could tell Tillamook Creamery looked so different now with a much better looking exterior and much more tourist like. As we entered the facility, the ceiling was quite high and the hallway wall has a historical timeline of the creamery.
The left side of the creamery is where the food is. This is where we could get food and ice cream. The cafeteria is much larger than before with the entire wall of glass allowing natural light to come through. The lunch hour starts at 10:45AM, and we got the classic grill cheese with tomato soup and fries. The grill cheese was not so special but did taste good. The tomato soup was extraordinary. We liked it very much. It also had cheese curd in it.
The second floor of the facility is where tourists can overlook the assembly line and see how cheese is made. From the top, we could see assembly line workers at each station doing the inspection and packaging. Most of the process are automated but still required some manual inspection.
Before we left, we went to grab ice cream. The ice cream was very creamy with some special flavors. Some people chose to grab an ice cream blend, like milk shake, but we saw people having a hard time sucking up the creamy drink due to the thickness.
Overall, the newly renovated facility is much more tourist friendly and offers a lot more things to do and look at. It is definitely a great place to go after having a fun day at the coast.
Mirror Lake is a very popular trail for snowshoeing in Oregon. This is due to its close proximity to Portland and the trail is only about 2 miles long with little elevation gain. Mirror Lake trail head is located right by Skibowl off Highway 26, and it is only about 1 hour East to Portland. Due to the winter storm over Pacific Northwest, there has been a good amount of snow over the mountain and it was perfect for snowshoeing.
We left Portland around 7:30 AM in the morning when the sky was still a bit dark, but we wanted to get there early due to the long weekend and we expected a lot of cars heading to Mount Hood. As we were about 10 miles out from Mirror Lake trail head, the traffic stopped and was moving extremely slow. We were not sure why. As we moved along further, we realized it was because people were pulling over to the side to put on chains. We were driving an all wheel drive SUV and Mirror Lake trail head was only about 3 miles out, we did not bother to put on the chains.
We were able to get to Mirror Lake trail head quite easily without worrying about the snow on the road. However, the parking lot at Mirror Lake trail head was full and we had to find a parking space at Skibowl. We were extremely lucky to find a parking spot and it was only 9:30AM in the morning. There were so many people at Skibowl.
As we got off the car to purchase the parking pass, many people were simply just wondering around and we found out that the power was out at Skibowl's lift. Thus people were waiting for the power to recover.
We put on our snowshoes that we rented from REI for $18 per day and headed towards the Mirror Lake trail. As we walked further in into the trail, it was just beautiful. There were so much snow on the pine trees and it was a winter wonderland. From time to time, huge chunk of snow would fall down from the tree trunk. We were hit multiple times while we were on the trail.
It took us about an hour to get to Mirror Lake. The Mirror Lake was simply frozen and the snow accumulated on top of it. We did not walk onto the frozen lake of course as it would be dangerous.
Along the trail, we also saw many dogs enjoying the snow. However, we saw many dog poops along the trail, which was disappointing. We expected better from dog owners to take good care of these kind of things.
Overall, it was a great experience and we absolutely lover the snowshoeing at Mirror Lake. We recommend to get to Skibowl at least by 9AM in the morning to guarantee a parking space.
Tasty Pot is a chain restaurant that specializes in Taiwanese hot pot dishes. It originated from Taiwan, but has expanded to North America with multiple locations across US on both East and West coast. It also has a restaurant located in Canada. Tasty Pot has recently expanded to Oregon and opened a new location at Beaverton, thus we decided to give it a try.
We got to Tasty Pot at Beaverton around 1PM in the afternoon. The restaurant was not entirely full but was still crowded. The waitress politely took us to an open table and gave us the menu. On the menu, there were 12 different hot pot dishes with 3 different prices. The cheapest was $14 and the most expensive one with lobster was $18. The expensive hot pot was also served with a larger pot. We ordered Beef and Curry hot pot and chose rice and black tea.
After about 5 minutes, the hot pot was delivered to us. The hot pot plate was quite unique and detailed. It definitely looked different from the one at boiling point. In addition, we could hardly spot the fire underneath the pot.
The Curry hot pot had very similar ingredient as the one at Boiling Point with fish balls, beef, imitated crab meat, cabbage, etc. The difference was that there was a raw egg placed in here and the curry taste though was much lighter. The Beef hot pot was similar to the one at Boiling Point as well, but less spicy. The additional ingredient in the Beef hot pot includes clam and taro. One thing that was different at Tasty pot was that there was a tomato in all the hot pot dishes.
Tasty Pot also served bubble tea as A-Cha brand. We did not order it however as we already got black tea from the lunch meal.
Overall, Tasty Pot was not bad and had the essentials of Taiwanese hot pot dish. Since it has a restaurant located in Oregon and Oregon does not have sales tax, we no longer need to drive 3 hours to go to Seattle to enjoy Taiwanese hot pot.
Valley of Fire State Park is the first state park in Nevada. It is located an hour East of Las Vegas and very close to Lake Mead. Valley of Fire State Park is not as famous as Red Rock Canyon National Park, but it does offer an amazing view of cool land formation just like Red Rock National Park. Valley of Fire State Park is a very popular park for local people. When we were at Las Vegas last time, Valley of Fire State Park was the place the the taxi driver highly recommend.
As we were visiting Death Valley National Park, we had more time on our hand and decided to check out Valley of Fire State Park. We got to the entrance of the park around 9AM in the morning. The entrance fee was $10 for the day. The first place we stopped at was at the Bee Hives. There wasn't any trails here, but it was a great spot for photography. We had a full view of the red rocks around us and there were many special and cool rocks with holes that we could use as frames to take pictures with.
The next place that we wanted to visit is the famous Fire Wave trail. As we were driving on the road, we saw a group of Bighorn Sheep on the side of the road! What are the chances? It was amazing to see these sheep and they were eating and crossing the road. We did not dare to get off the car to get close to them because we were worried that they might get aggressive. We really loved that fact that we could see wild animals at Valley of Fire State Park.
Fire Wave trail was an amazing trail and we loved the color of the rock along the trail. We enjoyed it so much that we actually get wondered off the trail a bit without knowing it. The next trial we did was White Domes trail. This was another wonderful trail with its own uniqueness to it. It also had beautiful colors on the rock and we could not get our eyes off from it.
Then we drove to Fire Canyon view point. From the view point, we could see the land formation of the red rocks from the top. We could see that the bottom of the rocks had white color, but it became red at the top. We could even see the clear cut line between red and white color. While we were there, it was extremely quiet and felt like a zen moment.
The last trail we did was the Mouse Tank trail, or the Petroglyph Canyon trail. This was the trail with petroglyphs from the primitives on the rocks along the trail. It was a wonderful experience to see these petroglyphs.
It was a great experience visiting Valley of Fire State Park. We were so excited and happy that we visited this place. In fact, we actually think that Valley of Fire State Park is more interesting than Death Valley National Park. Thus we highly recommend to visit Valley of Fire State Park when time permits!
Mouse Tank trail is one of the first hiking trail after driving pass Valley of Fire State Park. The trail is essentially composed of red sand and all the rocks on the side of the trail are red as well. Most importantly, the most interesting part of Mouse Tank trail is that there are petroglyphs on the rock from the primitives who used to live in this area. Most of the petroglyphs are still kept in great shape for people to study and look at.
The trail itself is only about 0.8 miles round trip. It is rather short, but interesting. As we started the hike, we could see all the red sand on the trail. The color of the red sand was beautiful and looked like clay to us.
At the beginning of the trail, there was also a board showing many of the common petroglyph symbols that we would see along the trail and the board also stated the possible translation of each symbols. We took a photo of the board to see we could translate the petroglyph when we see it.
As we hiked into the canyon, we started to see the first rock with petroglyph symbols. The symbols were carved on the rock wall that has black stain on it. The symbol was kept in great shape and we could still clearly see what the symbol is. There were symbols for the sun, rain, people, and some strange bat like human creature. We were thinking that maybe the primitives were trying to indicate some alien like creature with that bat like symbol.
Then we walked further in, we saw even more symbols carved along the rock wall. There were just so many and it was so exciting to see these historic carvings. Walking on the red sandy trail and seeing these ancient petroglyphs made us feel like archaeologists! It was an amazing experience to have!
At the end of the trail was where Mouse Tank was. Mouse Tank was like a water tank in between the rocks and never got drained. We imagined that the primitive people could have used this water tank to preserve water and use it for later.
Overall, we highly recommend visiting Mouse Tank trail to get a great experience with petroglyphs. It was so wonderful to see the left over of the primitives and trying to translate these symbols were very fun as well.
