This weekend we took a weekend trip to Ramona falls, which is in the shadow of Mt. Hood. Heather's trusty guide book said that the trial would be open by late april.

We leave the house at 8am. Fortunately we had one of the most glorious days we've had in months -- in Portland it reached 70+ degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky.


As we reached our trail head, there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot. A sign decreed that the bridge was taken down for the winter and had not be reinstalled. We decided to hike the 1.5 miles in the snow to the river and see if we could cross.

As fate would have it there were two logs down across the river right where the bridge would be. We crossed the creek, continuing on our way following the tracks in the snow towards the water fall. Eventually the tracks stopped in the woods because the snow became too deep. We opted to hike in the Sandy River bed which provided an ample dose of vitamin D for these pasty Portlanders.

Hiking, well spending time being alone in nature, is the best way for me to connect with the divine. It puts me in a state of wonder at the mystery of life. It gives me a sense of how small and trivial all of our concerns are. It allows me to glimpse how my many ancestors lived each day -- not hustling from one piece of technology to another, not tuning out to mindless television, but being keenly aware of the multitude of connections between all of existence. For me those connections: the trees, the mountains, the river from snow melt, the spiders, the birds, the deer, the rocks, etc are God manifested for all of us to marvel at in a state of awe.