Sometimes I forget that I’m surrounded by an incredible amount of natural beauty just a short drive away. This weekend we decided to take a little hike to a place in Washington a friend had told us about, Beacon Rock. It actually has a pretty funny history: It was named by Lewis and Clark in 1805, though they started out calling it “Beaten Rock,” but just switched the name with no explanation. Then a man named Henry Biddle bought it in 1915 for $1 and constructed a trail to the top. To save it from being blown up (the Army Corps of Engineers wanted to use the rubble to construct a river jetty) his family tried to get it turned into a state park, but Washington didn’t want it until Oregon offered to accept. They don’t put that part on the official park signs, ha!

It rained on the way there, and started pouring on the way home, but mostly left us dry while hiking. The weather made for very dramatic clouds, though. I didn’t bring my real camera, just my phone, so these photos don’t really do it justice.

This is part of the switchback trail that leads to the top of the rock. It looks a lot more difficult than it was.

And here’s a view from the walk up:

The wildlife waiting for us at the top wasn’t exactly wild–there were several chipmunks who were clearly used to being fed. All this guy got from Steven’s palm was some trail mix crumbs.

After hiking I worked on my vegetable garden and planted a bunch of ferns and other woodland plants in a shady bed I made in our yard. Look at those cute little radish seeds coming up!

On Sunday we went to the Portland Flea/Rejuvenation Sunday Emporium. It was quite lovely, and I might have to go back to the next one to pick up one of those geometric vessels from Caravan Pacific.

After all that, some of us needed a nap.

Hope you had a great weekend, too!