Hike Distance: 6.6 miles      Yearly Hike Distance: 787.2 miles

Elevation Gain: 277 feet      Yearly Elevation Gain: 91407 feet

Hot, sunny and humid is the weather of the day. You can see the rain clouds forming in the Cascade mountain range and it’s quite beautiful.

I started out by visiting Cottonwood Beach, except there really isn’t much beach because the Columbia river is very high today. So after walking on a path that is parallel to the water I went back out in the Dike.   I’m going east until the end of the dike.

Walking East on the dike I passed by a whole bunch of purple martin bird houses and they all seem to be occupied at this point. I stood there and watched them flying back and forth, and it’s interesting to see how much is this big community of birds.

I walk towards the end of the dike, and there’s a bench there, and I sat down.   I got a chance to talk with two gentleman.   It was very nice and it’s always a pleasure to be with other people.

There’s a section of Steigerwald NWR that is normally closed seasonally but is now open now. I use this Trail to go and make a loop around me National Wildlife Refuge. There’s a couple of bridges, steigerwald Lake and a beautiful view of the Gorge (also Mt. Hood when clear).   I saw turtles, red-winged blackbirds, turtles and Blue Herons!

I then just headed back West on the Dike, and to my car.   It was definitely a wonderful day and well worth getting out in the fresh air.