Quick Hike up Music Road, off hwy 26

A few hour window Sunday afternoon compelled me to take off and get myself some air and this dog some exercise.  The wonderful thing about Portland is you can drive 30 minutes in any cardinal direction and be out of town.  Each direction provides a different outcome….   East, the Gorge with it’s scenic views and waterfalls.  South, farmland and rivers.  North, the Columbia and wetlands.  West… oh west, you’re my favorite:  Beautiful farmland, followed by foothills, Endless forest and then of course the beach.  Can’t really go wrong heading west… just a matter of when to stop.

Always up for a truck ride, the dog was down.  West we went.

About 30 or 40 minutes out of town you’ll pass a sign for the Clatsop Nat’l Forest.  Thats when you know you went too far.  Right before that sign is a sharp turnoff for “Music road”

So, when you come back after passing it, you’ll find it’s a well maintained logging road.  I can see they just laid new rock for another route about  miles in.  I passed two groups.  the first was a family cutting timber and loading it into a station wagon (I presume they call it Music Road because of all the chain saw noise). The second was an woman with a basket, child in tow.  I’d guess mushrooms…  hopefully the kind that go on a salad.

A ways up you reach a blocked road to the left ( I attempted navigation twice, but even the truck didn’t stand a chance)

We locked up and headed up the hill.  This was a simple, and quick hike to the view point.  Maybe took us 15 minutes. I got a little wind, but I wouldn’t call it a workout.

The wife would like this… remarkably quiet for “Music Road”

A tired dog is a good dog. Good dog

I wish I could say we sat peacefully and enjoyed the view and silence, but thats just boring.  So, we hiked on.  Unfortunately it’s very obvious where the trial ends.  Being the ambitious type I forced the poor German Shepherd to follow me into the brush.  The tip top of the hill was only another 300 feet or so but every square foot of hillside was covered with 2 or 3 feet of choppy wood remains.  We got about 100 feet into that before I realized Gunner wasn’t really enjoying the lack of solid ground.

We slide back down (a controlled fall you might call it) and headed back to the original view point to snap a few pictures.

we’ll call it a day…

Here’s a map..