Getting Out: Wahkeena Falls Trail

Multnomah Falls

Have you ever done something and immediately regretted it? Something stupid/silly/regretful that is 100% irrevocable? Do you ever wish you could go back in time and just undo something?

That is how I felt on Sunday after I accidentally deleted all of my beautiful photos from this hike. This trail was the most scenic I've hiked yet, and I had some pretty pictures to show for it. I even took probably the best picture ever of my dog. But you'll never see them. They're gone. I erased them.

When I looked for the photos and realized that they were completely gone, I was deeply disappointed. How is it that in this infinite universe, where every action has a reaction, something can disappear into nothingness? Why can't I just zip back in time to that one second to not push that button? I don't have questions to these answers- none of us do. It's just the way it is. And sometimes, the disappointment I feel is a hard pill to swallow.

I don't handle disappointment very well. I've been known to cry when someone cancels their plans with me (especially when it was something I was really looking forward to). Last Thursday, my sister in law texted me to tell me she couldn't go roller skating with me Friday night, something I'd been looking forward to for weeks, and I felt really let down. I sulked. And then my car freaked out and I had to call a tow truck. There were lots of tears involved.

Then there's the disappointment in myself. When I don't say the thing I meant to say. When I'm too nice, without even thinking (like doing way more for a person than they would do for me, to my own detriment). When I mess something up, big time. When I mess around with my camera and end up deleting a bunch of pictures from my beautiful hike.

I try to stay positive when I face severe disappointment. I try to reframe it. But there are times when I just feel so sulky it's hard to come out of it. That's when I need to reverse the feeling with a better positive experience. Sometimes, that means a trip to VooDoo donuts. Sometimes, it's curling up with a comfort movie (does anyone else have those- like comfort food, but in movie form?). Sunday night, post-incident, I curled up with some hot cocoa (which I under-cooked, making me sulky again) and the season finale of Mad Men. It didn't make it better, but it did take my mind off of my disappointment.

Now that I've said all that, I do want to share my hike with you. The pictures here are from my friend, Katie's, camera. Notice the picture of me taking a picture of Lucy. The picture. Ah, well. 

We hiked the Wahkeena Falls to Multnomah Falls loop, starting at Wahkeena and ending at Multnomah. This was a tough hike, in that I still don't have hiking shoes and given the rocky terrain, there was a lot of ankle rolling (and now, soreness). The first half is all uphill, so we took tons of wimp breaks, and I began to worry about my water supply (note to self: you're gonna need more than 20oz of water for a 5-mile hike). This may have been quite the workout, but it was so worth it. 

We followed along a creek and saw plenty of waterfalls all along the way. There were times I thought of Lord of the Rings, and times I thought of LOST (okay, I probably reference LOST at least once during every hike). There were cool rock formations, water cascading over fallen trees, and bits of creek without any stepping stones to cross (Lucy just braved it by padding through the water). The last part of the trail followed along Multnomah Creek, taking us to the top of Multnomah Falls. Let me tell you, it pays to go this way. By ending at Multnomah Falls, you can get past the crowds pretty quickly (and feel like a badass after completing 5 miles and the tourists are complaining about the .2 miles they've gone), and then you can get ice cream at the snack shop. I totally scored me some swirl soft serve- I earned it!

How do you handle disappointment? Do you have any tips?

13 comments getting out, Portland, waterfalls

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