The Elixers of life:

A water/wine/wilderness odyssey back to Portland.
4 days, 3 nights

Dates to be Determined

Day 1
Meet early this morning in Portland for a ride to Mount Hood by way of the Columbia River Gorge.  We will stop to walk and to visit some wineries along the way while exploring the natural and cultural history of the gorge.  In the late afternoon, we will arrive on Mount Hood at Timberline Lodge.  From here we will snowshoe a mile up the mountain to a historic WPA-built warming hut for dinner, an evening program and to stay for the night.

Day 2
Today starts with an early breakfast and the beginning of our journey back to Portland.  We will snowshoe (and then hike) back down the mountain and through the forest while exploring mountain and temperate rainforest ecosystems.  In the late afternoon we’ll arrive in the small town of Zigzag.  Here we will have dinner and an evening program with a forest service naturalist and stay for the night. 

Day 3
Wake up early again to continue on our journey through the valley towards Portland.  On this day, most of our time will be spent walking and our focus will turn more toward the cultural history of the area and connections of agriculture and rural life to the life of the city as well as the wilderness.  We will arrive at a bed in breakfast in Sandy Oregon to stay for the night. 

Day 4
On our final day we will take public transportation the final distance left to downtown Portland.  In Portland we will have a more leisurely walking day with explorations of the natural and cultural history of the city, tastings to compare Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley wines, and art and poetry workshops.

 

Walking Terrain: deep snow, rough and rugged trails and some roads

Accomodations: warming hut a mile above Timberline on Mount Hood, bed and breakfasts
Meals: provided at hut, bed and breakfast and restaurants

Cost: $725/person

(discount for couples)

This trip will be led by Adrianna Hirtler and James McGrew . As well as being a phenomenal naturalist, James is a professional artist . Some of his amazing work can be seen on his website at www.jamesmcgrewfineart.com.  Both of us are very interested in intersections between science and art and hope that you will come away from this Place Odyssey experience seeing the world around you in a new light...