This hike was one of the more profound trips I have ever taken. The history of the place, the untouched nature of it, the sheer reward you get from the steep climb up the mountain, meant that when I reached the top, I was very moved.
I found out about this place from instagram of all places. I have been following this local guy from Oregon who happened to 'like' one of my Portland pictures when I was here in January visiting. His pictures always show some epic Oregon adventure and inspire me to do something. This time he was the inspiration for the entire trip.
So the Spirit Quest: its a Native American right of passage. The quest itself could take many days of seclusion in the wild. The goal was to gather greater meaning and purpose for your life by meeting your Spirit Guide, or Spirit Animal whilst out braving the elements on your own. You would hike up the mountain on your own, carrying rocks up as you went and then build these small circles from the stones. Then meditate inside the circle structure and wait until your vision came. The experience for me was quite intense, so for teenager taking this trip on their own and being up there overnight, I can only imagine the depths their thoughts would take them.
I want to say that this was my favorite experience so far. I was extremely humbled by how I felt sitting at the top of the mountain on the rocks likely carried by hand, over looking the river over 1000 ft below.
(Also, this was my first time in the State of Washington, which is the other side of the Columbia river gorge. So that was fun in itself. I always get cheap thrills when I enter a State I've never been into before)
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