Читать книгу One Night Wilderness: Portland. Quick and Convenient Backcountry Getaways within Three Hours of the City онлайн

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Preface

Fortune has smiled on outdoor lovers in the Portland metropolitan area. Within a short drive from their homes, hikers face an almost unbelievable array of options. They can choose to walk through massive old-growth forests or to visit any of several hundred waterfalls. They can climb across massive glaciers or traipse through wildflower-covered mountain meadows. They can beachcomb on surf-pounded sand or explore semi-desert canyonlands filled with the aroma of sagebrush. Only one or two other cities in the country can boast such a wide assortment of opportunities so close at hand.

Many, even most, of these wonders are accessible to dayhikers. But as thousands of pedestrians have discovered over the years, to appreciate fully the charms and wonders of the wilderness, nothing compares to packing in your gear and spending the night. The outdoor experience is infinitely richer, more exhilarating, and certainly more memorable if you extend your stay, enjoying a place where the stars outshine the streetlights, where the hooting of owls and the howling of coyotes replaces the honking of horns and the shriek of sirens, and where crowded cityscapes, although closer than you’d think, seem to be a million miles away.