After relocating successfully to the West Side and eating lunch we are reinvigorated and decide to try a short hike inthe Audubon sanctuary near Forest Park. However as we arrive we notice that there are no obvious trails so we move on searching for a short hike. In the end after a few false starts due to the lack of parking we find a spot at the Wildwood Trail TH so that is what we choose. The map is showing that we might be able to reach the Witch’s Castle a point that we wanted to see so on we go.
The trail is going downhill immediately and the more we go the more we have to climb back of course. It is quite dark in the forest and with the lack of sun it is quite cold as we descend towards the creek.
There are lots of switchbacks and we can glimpse them as we look down which makes the descent even more difficult…again we have to climb all of this back up again.
And then we see the creek, the trail levels and all seems well until we see the bridge and notice the trail continues to descend afterwards, this should be impossible physically but who cares about physics in Oregon?
And then finally the trail levels up and we start walking towards where we assume the house is. Until now we just descended with barely any horizontal movement….
Soon we are at the house and we are surprised at how many people are making the trek here, it seems it is quite popular turn around point and quite a few also proceed past it. In our case this is our turn around point but first we have to explore the ruins.
Somehow as we explore the stream of visitors is reduced to a trickle and we can visit it without other ten people standing next to us. What impresses us most are the graffiti, every inch of the house seems to be covered and the mix is quite interesting and colorful.
Now it is time to climb back and honestly…it is not that bad. The workout also gives us an opportunity to warm ourselves after the cold entered our bones while we were walking next to the river. Still after arriving at the car it is time for a drive to the accomodation to warm ourselves near the heater for the next day.
