Fog is quickly becoming one of my favorite things.
I mean, I still hate driving in it, thanks to the night we drove on mountaintops in the dark, but I’m loving the way it looks on a hike.
On this particular morning, after sending Eric off to work, I peeked out the window and saw the entire city enclosed in fog. And knowing how glorious it is to hike through fog, I scrambled to get out the door and chase the fog through the woods.
Originally, I was just going to hike a short little familiar section of Forest Park. But after finishing that section, I thought it might be even prettier up ahead. So I planned the next place I would stop and turn around. But once I got there, I thought it might be even better up ahead. And once I got there, I figured I was already pretty darn close to Pittock Mansion, so I might as well just carry on, in hopes that I would be able to hike above the fog (which we seemed to be able to do pretty easily back in Eugene). But the fog was even thicker up at Pittock Mansion! It was so thick that I couldn’t even see the mansion from about 20 feet away. It was the oddest sensation, like I was going blind or something. Since I’ve been there a few times before, I had a general idea of what things should look like and where things were, but I couldn’t see any of it! It was so wild. On a clear day, there’s a pretty incredible view of the city of Portland with Mt. Hood in the background. But when I looked in that direction, it was just a white cloud.
In the end, I wound up hiking a little less than 6 miles through the glorious, enchanting fog.
To do this hike yourself, which is beautiful in the fog and the sun, start at the Aspen Trailhead on NW Aspen Ave (there’s parking all along the street). Take the Aspen Trail for .23 miles until it connects with the Wildwood Trail. Take Wildwood to the left, and follow it all the way up to Pittock Mansion (you’ll cross NW Cornell and continue on the trail across the street). There’s a bit of a climb at the beginning of the Aspen Trail, but it levels out pretty quickly, giving you a nice, easy stroll until you get close to the intersection with the Lower Macleay Trail. From there, it’s basically up, up, up until you reach Pittock Mansion. The good news is, it’s down, down, down on your way back.
-Ally
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