Hiking at Project Patch Family Conference Center

Wood art made by Robbie, who works at the conference center

One of the delightful things at the family conference center near Goldendale is the land and wildlife around it. We had heard about a tall waterfall on the property, and wanted to go see it. A guy named Garry has worked there for the past six years, helping with the building of the conference center. They told us Garry knows “everything” about the property, and he seemed happy to take us on a hike to see the waterfall and property. My colleague Glenn joined us for the hike, rounding out our pleasant little group.

I invite you to come along, too.

First we pass the cabin where Husband and I stayed. It’s a lovely and simple little place with a bedroom, bathroom, and front room with kitchenette and sitting area.

The dirt road slopes down behind the lodge on its way to the creek.

From the lodge you can see Mount Adams, capped by clouds for about half the time we were staying at the retreat center. There was a lot of snow last winter, and it's still wrapped around the shoulders of the mountain. Husband climbed the mountain in his younger days, and tells a harrowing story of glissading down the mountainside on his way down, scaring him spitless. Apparently it’s the typical way for climbers to get down quickly and "easily."

Down by the creek, I spotted a ponderosa pine and stopped to sniff the crack in the bark. Sure enough, there was the lovely scent of vanilla. Depending on the tree and the crack you sniff, you can catch a whiff of vanilla or caramel.

The bark of the ponderosa pine is made up of puzzle-like pieces, which give the trunk a wonderful, textured look.

Glenn spotted a gall on a young oak. This is made when a wasp secretes a chemical into the oak and then lays its eggs. The tree creates this big gall around the eggs, and after two years or more, they hatch out. What an odd thing!

Walking downstream, we came to a picnic area that Garry has built, named Tupper Park. In the evening our group walked down the hill to have evening worship by the campfire, followed by a time of enthusiastic S’mores-making by the kids and helpful adults.

By the park is a bridge over the creek, which we crossed later as we took a different route back to the lodge.

At one point on the trail, the men stopped, looking up at the hill. What were they looking at, I wondered?

A deer! Do you see it? It seemed as interested in the guys as they were in the deer.

I love the summer wildflowers, especially the ones that are deep colors, as this cornflower is.

This year, the rains having been so prevalent throughout the spring, there are lovely wildflowers everywhere. This columbine was found in the woods not too far from the creek.

And then we got to the waterfall! It’s 56-feet high, and we looked down on it from above.

The guys stopped to discuss how the waterfall came to be, prompted by Garry’s question: How did it carve out that bowl into which it falls on its way to the Little Klickitat River?

Down the way from the falls, the stream joins the Little Klickitat River with its smaller falls, which are not easily accessible.

Finally, we took a different route back through grasses that shoved their little pointy noses into our shoes and refused to back out without much persuasion once we were back. Having gotten hot and sweaty and simply wanting to get back to "camp," this was the last photo I took on the way back from a truly delightful hike. How blessed people are who get to live here at the family conference center year-round!