I was looking for a good hike. My friend and co-worker Matt suggested Ramona Falls. I knew nothing about it. My sister and I are not strong hikers. We are weak actually. I googled the hike and it was rated ‘moderate.’ I had no idea what that meant but in retrospect I’m pretty sure it can be loosely translated as ‘straight up.’

Ramona is on majestic Mt. Hood (I only ever refer to Mt. Hood as ‘majestic Mt. Hood’). The trail intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail so there are all sorts of options. There is also a loop so you don’t have to entirely retrace your steps on the way back down. I recommend it. The hike is 7.1 miles. You start on one side of the river, twist and turn a bit in a mostly flat and totally breathtaking forest, then you cross a bridge. It is only in place during the summer. They remove it for high water. Once you cross to the other side the real hike begins. From then on it is basically uphill all the way to the beautiful and totally worth it falls.  I called it the ‘endless slight incline.’

Our hike was on a very very hot day. The majority of the hike is in the sun. We stopped a lot. My sister was actually okay, but there were times when I stopped nearly every 10 feet to catch my breath. When I get winded, particularly when I’m fat, I tend to hyperventilate. Despite all of the rests, we made it. The waterfall was even more incredible than I imagined. People mingled around it. There were lots of photographs.

There were black flies everywhere. They bothered us on the way up, but when we stopped at the falls for our Subway, it was unbearable. Upwards of 30 flies were on you at any given time. We couldn’t stand it. We ate fast and practically ran back down the trail.

This hike was amazing. We loved it and will definitely do it again. My sister fell in the parking lot before we even started and the outhouses at the beginning of the hike were the grossest I’ve ever seen in my entire life, but we’re going back. It was so beautiful. We both have little bites covering our bodies, war wounds from the flies; they make us infinitely cooler.

For information about Ramona Falls click here.