Hiking at Ollalie State Park

I was lucky enough to have last weekend off of work, so Keenan and I decided to make a fun date day out of Saturday!  I’m horrible at coming up with things to do, so when my wonderful boyfriend suggested heading out to North Bend, a little town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, I was totally down.  He planned us out a beautiful day of hiking, outlet shopping, and dinner at a cute restaurant with live jazz music.

Funny thing was that we were completely stoked about getting to go play in the snow, and then the next day started our week of Snowpocalype 2012 down at home.  Maybe it followed us??

Our main event of the day was hiking at Ollalie State Park out to see Twin Falls.  I’d never heard of it, but it was just a few miles down the freeway from the outlet malls at North Bend, and was really easy to find.

It was so incredibly beautiful up there.  Have I mentioned that I’m a bit obsessed with the Northwest??

It was Arlo’s first time out in the snow, and he wasn’t quite sure what to think.

He actually ended up being carried inside my jacket for the majority of the hike, so his little tail didn’t freeze off.

We saw some sweet icicle formations.

The majority of our hike to the falls was downhill, and we actually ended up hiking down below the snowline.

As the name Twin Falls suggests, there were two incredible waterfalls once we reached our destination.

This was the first waterfall.  After taking in it’s beauty for a few minutes, we kept hiking down the trail a bit further until we came to a sweet wooden bridge.

On one side of the bridge was the second waterfall.

On the other side of the bridge was the view down the river, which was equally as impressive.

I think waterfalls have a special place in my heart because when I visited Keenan in Astoria during the first week we were dating, he took me to a gorgeous waterfall down there.

After sufficiently taking in the view, we turned around and headed back to the car.

It stopped snowing by the time we reached the snow level again, and the sun decided to peek out for a bit.

Overall, we probably hiked about five miles or so, but that’s just an estimation.  My little leggys were burning by the time we made it up that hill though!

The hike was definitely the highlight of my week.  I feel so blessed to live in an area where I can drive less than an hour to such amazing scenery.  (Not that it’s much worse looking out of my window at home!)

We decided that we’d like to start planning out fun new hikes at least once a month.  We both love the outdoors, hiking is pretty much free, and it’s something that all three of us (including Arlo) can enjoy equally.  If you ever feel like joining us, just let me know!

What are your favorite outdoor activities?

Enjoy your Sunday!

<3 Lindsay