The Pacific Crest Trail started out as a simple dream of Catherine Montgomery’s back in 1962. She envisioned a trailway that ran along the crest of the western mountains from Mexico through California, Oregon and Washington to Canada. Her dream started to form into reality in 1932 when Clinton C. Clarke began getting the backing from area leaders to set aside land for the trail. That effort is part of what pushed President Johnson to enact the National Trails System Act in 1968 which established two of the greatest scenic trail efforts in the National - the Appalachian Trail system and the Pacific Crest. The governments enthusiasm for preserving the trailway and building them out for future generations is waning.

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Phyllis E. Hall hoped to hike the Pacific Crest Trial from Canada to Mexico during her lifetime. The Happy Valley, Oregon woman had completed hiking the Oregon and Washington portions of the trailway and was in the middle of working through the California portion in sections.

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Many Oregonians, and the majority of the rest of the world, don’t remember that nearly 66 years ago, a Japanese fighter pilot bombed the southern Oregon Coast near Brookings during World War II. On September 9, 1942, in the early hours of the morning, Nobuo Fujita, a Japanese pilot along with a submarine crew approached the Oregon coast aimed at starting forest fires in the U.S. that would distract the U.S. and its manpower during a critical junction in the war. Luckily, Oregon’s damp weather hampered the two bombs from doing much damage other than creating a large crater that remains there today.

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Skamania County Commissioner Paul Pearce will be leading a hike through the Washington old-growth forests and up to the 250 feet three-tiered lower creek falls on Monday, October 6, 2008 as part of the Friends of the Columbia Gorge organization’s planned vents. While hiking the 3.4 miles, participants will get to hear about what is happening in the Skamania area and how it will shape the area’s landscape. The hike is free and interested participants can register at the Friends of The Columbia Gorge site or call 503.241.3762 x103.

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Five hikers were lost along the Columbia River Gorge this Labor Day Weekend forcing them to spend a night outdoors without the proper survival gear. A group of 7 church friends went on a 10-mile hike near Horsetail Falls on Monday, September 1. They chose to separate at nightfall - 2 finding their way back out of the wilderness that evening and 5 who did not. Temperatures dropped into the 40s Monday night but the remaining hikers were lucky to be wearing appropriate hiking clothes and were carrying enough food and water to sustain them for the evening. Authorities noted that the downfall of the hikers was that not all of them had cell phones or maps and they set out to hike at 1pm, far too late for a 10-mile hike in that area.

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