This is part of our Oregon State Park challenge! Check out our progress here.

One of the parks on our list doesn’t appear to have its own parking lot. We checked the map, and we couldn’t find one, so we did the only logical thing: we hiked in from another state park.

Guy W. Talbot State Park is a not-very-long drive up the gorge, and reaching the parking lot requires that you drive through the scenic little hamlet of Latourell (which unfortunately doesn’t appear to have its own website).

After not too long, the trail passes under the old Columbia River Highway.

This is the lower of the two Latourell fallses, and it was quite popular. We managed to take a quick snap without anyone else in the frame, but it took some doing.

Legend tells of another Latourell falls, but reaching it means walking. Needless to say, we were nearly alone for the rest of this trail.

Our picnic log:

At long last, we reached the upper Latourell falls, which was no less scenic than the lower one, and actually lies within the boundaries of an entirely different state park!

Lately, no hiking journey is quite complete without some Geocaching. We had to do a quick grab-sign-and-replace with the cache itself (because Muggles), but here’s a shot of the loot the kids traded for:

Two state parks in one hike! Will wonders never cease!