Skamania Lodge: Hiking Wind Mountain and Finding Community

Endless Winter: the Pacific Northwest’s foggy-damp dreamscape film, and I’m the star. I imagine myself a Twilight Blond Bella, just as forlorn, slightly better at acting (I pretend) rolling out in her Jeep Wrangler across a frozen Tundra (Highway 97) past a ghost Town (Shaniko) through the wind mill monolith passage of Dufur to the wide, nearly impassible Columbia Gorge.

I teeter on the Edge; to the East a vast and barren desert land and to the West a progressively verdant and increasingly poisonous canyon fernland. I turn Left, drifting into place amongst a stream of semis. 84 to the Bridge of The Gods. No wind today, smooth sailing.

I am Skamania bound. In the three years I have spent pilgrimaging solo to this resort, I have dubbed it “Ska- Mania” a comedic moniker, a familiar tune, a place that inspires its own rhythm.

Let me explain. I first got a call after a solo hike along the coast. “Would I become a storyteller for Skamania?” I was certainly living a story, I was set to have surgery in a week to remove pre cancerous cells from my cervix. TMI, but it's how I got here. I was really mad because any hike at the time caused me to bleed. I felt defeated.

“Renee’, we want you to come to a wellness retreat and tell your story, we want you to know about Skamania and write about this special place.” I sat there, nearly in tears, did the universe really offer me a retreat the week after surgery? I agreed.

I drove, solo, to Skamania for the first time. I was tired, still in recovery garments from surgery, with limitations ... .but a free pass to do small hikes and gentle yoga.

This is now my fourth time back.

Two times I have been to Skamania for yoga retreats, the first gentle and restorative. The second was outside on the property, getting to know the trails and trees. Last year I attended my first “Creators Summit” a gathering of other Pacific Northwest Creators so that we can connect and learn from each other, share incredible experiences, and help write the story of The Gorge.

I have had the awesome honor to get to know individuals and businesses in The Columbia Gorge on both the Oregon and Washington side. One thing I love to hear is “Can we talk Gorge for a moment” followed by “do you know so and so” followed by recent hikes. The Gorge is a strong, interconnected network of very cool people.

This trip is a combination of all of the above: a wellness retreat for creators! Wow, I didn’t know how deeply I needed this time to “talk shop” (there is NO creator handbook) and also get the chance to do my favorite thing in the world: be creative, and be creative with others!

Also, and maybe most importantly? I needed a hike.

Now, I’ll be honest with you. The day of any trip I regret that I have signed up to leave my house. I’m a homebody at heart, which is why I challenge myself…and this is my first solo trip in 10 months.

I was traveling for work when someone broke into the house I was in and pulled a gun out. It’s been settled and everyone is ok, including the person in crisis. Still, it’s like riding a bike after breaking both your arms (and i speak from experience) every time you get back up, you win.

So, that said- knowing THIS trip would be to Skamania, where I have been on my own several times and always had a good time. Where I know the accommodations are so luxe, so beautiful, where I know the lobby and staff are so nice….

Where I know they have the BEST goodies, surprises, gifts, cute things, add ons, etc…..

that I did it. I drove across the state by myself, to meet new people, have new (scary) experiences, and see what becomes of me…..if I try.

bribes help, I digress.

I really do want to acknowledge and thank the partners at Skamania County Chamber of Commerce, Ashley (our coordinator) and all of the staff at Skamania. All of the items in our welcome bags are from the gift shop and most all of them are locally made and highlight The Gorge and the Pacific Northwest.

We received a package from Skamania’s spa, featuring Formulary brand products. Foot soaks, facial steam station, shower steamers, face and body scrubs, masks, oils, and lotions! They took care of us on another level…..in a treehouse no less.

Now, it’s a funny thing what “I do”. I write, I connect, I photo, I experience, I advocate, I share, I relieve, I inspire, I teach, I hold space, I curate, I create….

Yes, I open pretty packages to pretty backdrops in pretty places. It’s all so pretty (or so my lens portrays) but I like to think it’s a fair bit of showing up, audacity, tenacity, grit, innovation, passion, resilience, humility, and DELUSION. ha.

To me, creating is a symptom of a never ending burning madness……and to find others who are just insane is soothing.

Enter…..a creator summit. It is like an olympic sport, lights and cameras in hand, a smile and a vision, what is the purpose?

We surf (battle) algorithms daily

to share

food, hearts, triumphs, challenges, collective ideas….

crazy.

God, I love tragedy for that. Now, before you say “you evil villain what did you just say?” I love tragedy because it drops the floor for the room, it takes away the need to be the most perfect. Well, if you have the right people around you anyway.

For me, after my time in psych wards and rehabs (yes plural) I know that it’s the bottom that we build from. It’s the worst that brings the best. NONE of us want Larie to have lost her account, nor do we want to lose our own.

*Ok, I actually dream of it(losing my socials)….I’m also cleverly and stupidly NOT monetized so while I make nothing, I lose nothing…..(I count experiences as everything so Im actually rich, mwuahaa)

but FOR REAL-MOST people wrestle with social media to earn a living. That’s not why I show up.

Im certifiably insane, don’t follow my model.

BUT, when we see how fragile life is, it’s systems, how we can lose rent or networks in a moment. Like ants, we band together. We cling. That’s what makes us strong. REAL EARTH CONNECTION. What’s real outlasts screennames, platforms, trends, statistics.

Am I getting ahead of myself? The retreat went from goody hauls to hauling out our trauma, fears, and hurts really fast.

Skamania, you are good at what you do.

Want to note this is a alcohol free hot toddy. I recently completed 100 days no alcohol and I’m practicing some moderation skills. I did not drink the first night. Bonding, sober…..who KNEW ?!

We spent so much time rallying around Larie that we nearly missed the spa before it closed. You see, the thing about media trips is they are anything but leisurely, wellness designed or not. The next day would bring a challenge for us all- Wind Mountain.

Dressed in matching robes, we hauled into Shanae’s car and drove to the spa, laughing and spilling out of the elevator in a puddle.

“I can hear you women laughing from inside the elevator” exclaims a startled guest. Well, we don’t want to be disruptive but to hear a group of women laughing…feeling open and free, it is time.

We continue on, another guest is trapped with us in the next elevator. He asks us what we are up to and we say we are a bride tribe! I voulnteer to be the one getting married. I didn’t have bridesmaids after all….

We take over the women’s locker room hot tub with a ten minute warning. It is enough, to melt into the moment, squealing until 9:59 and quiet time.

Shuffling with muffled giggles to a row of rocking chairs before a gigantic fireplace. The lodge is ours, we are sister witches rocking the place, rocking in place.

This is the central lawn of Skamania, overlooking the mighty Columbia River Gorge, snow on the tips of the mountains fading into forest fog and a curtain of mist. Helicopters blink through the canyon as the ever present train trumpets through the night. It is a song, a layered land of mystery and musk.

The group gathers in the lobby, nervous for the hike ahead. Chia overnight pudding, mango puree, bananas, and seaweed. I am the mountain mermaid, these flavors follow me where I go. Seaweed to climb, coffee to add to the excitability of it all.

It’s just that it’s a fairly steep climb. 1,800 feet in a miles time, the weather is as expected in early March, a mixed bag of damp, varying degrees of cold included.

According to Indigenous tradition, Wind Mountain earned its name when powerful winds were sent to circle the peak after sacred fishing knowledge was shared beyond the tribe. The mountain has long held spiritual importance for the Chinookan peoples of the Columbia River, including ancestors of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, whose traditional territories include the Gorge and its fisheries.

Near the summit are ancient stone features marking a spirit-quest site where young people historically fasted and prayed as part of rites of passage and guidance seeking. They are to be greatly protected and honored.

Why, if we are highlighting Skamania and a creators summit, should we hike to the top of a spiritual mountain, revered for centuries?

The significance of this site is not lost on me, it is my honor to witness….or rather, experience. I nearly barfed before the hike. I’ve noticed that when I travel to this part of Oregon I get really nauseous. I am not sure why.

I will tell you that on my first trip to Skamania, waiting for the elevator where the man told us our group was a bit too jovial and loud….I felt the ground shake. Two women turned to me and asked if I too felt the rumble.

That night I dreamt of a giant rockman who lived underneath the Columbia River. He would only awaken when these waters were threatened. Later that summer I was invited to take a Jet Boat tour up the Columbia from Portland to Multnomah Falls. I thought of the Rock Man, like in the never ending story. I saw his face, his hands, his strong body in nearly every rock piling that made up the mountains of this gorge. Rock man was everywhere, waiting to quake and shake and break…..if he must.

Could others hear his rumbles too?

Would Wind Mountain reveal another dream, as it was said to do. Or had I had my spirit quest come in reverse, dreaming of the Rockman and then climbing his mountain, to see his rock bed, made of quartz diorite, a hard intrusive igneous rock that formed millions of years ago.

Perhaps I am delirious to expect such a reveal, but it is my own experience that each land has its own lessons to speak. If you listen, you will hear. It takes no certain skill other than a belief in ancient things….like mountain voices and colors in the wind.

As children we knew it well, living in play, EXPECTING magic. Why does it take a quest, up a steep steep hill to remember what we’ve always had inside ourselves.

Strength, to climb high but also dive deep, and remember.

The hike is complete. Only with minor scrapes and a new sheen of mud. 3 miles, almost 100 floors climbed, lungs burning, calves sore…but done.

Accomplishment like this doesn’t come easy, but it’s worth it. I should mention our tour guide for the Day- Devin, who comes from First Nature Tours in The Gorge. They offer guided tours throughout the region, with over 20 years of knowledge. I have been on two trips with this company now and it’s true, you cannot beat local knowledge, and these guys habit. I also like their easy going attitude and vast nature skills, it’s a vibe. Check them out, they also have won some very cool awards.

What come best after a hike? A wine tasting of course and even I can’t fully deny the experience of hiking a mountain, coming down from the high as a group in a cozy cellar on the side of another mountain, Underwood.

Hawkins Cellars overlooks the Columbia, which is one of the most diverse wine regions in the Northwest, spanning a dramatic shift in climate from the wet western forests to the dry eastern hills. Thane Hawkins is the winemaker here, who focuses on small production wine sourced from vineyards across the Gorge. Lunch is also locally sourced, everything is small in a good way. Cozy, familiar but new, timeless….like the Gorge itself.

There is always another pour on a vineyard and yet it is time to go again, this time to the base of the very mountain we just climbed. This time to serene and secluded ranch, a wedding venue and gathering sight called Wind Mountain Ranch. We are there to see another wonderful human of The Gorge, Lara Dilkes, the practitioner behind PDX Acupuncture. Lara is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist who has been practicing for more than 17 years, building her Portland clinic around whole-body care that blends acupuncture, functional nutrition, and traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

The class centered on the herbs she works with daily in her practice, adaptogenic tinctures and plant formulas designed to help the body regulate stress, hormones, and immune response.

I’m in need of a lot emotional regualtion, sleep support, and women’s health support. We mixed our own teas based off our needs. I left with a bottle of magnesium elixir as well as her adaptogenic coffee alternative. I’ve been struggling with caffeine and muscle twitches and so Lara’s products are perfect.

As I said, anyone would be tired but when you are hired for your experiencing skills….you keep experiencing. I’m not complaining, just noting the pace of a healing retreat in 48 hours. So back to the lodge we went to EXPERIENCE the spa. Remember, its mandatory.

Back at Skamania we are worse for the wear, or so it seems.

Larie points to a wooden block carving on the wall “I feel like that” she sayswith a long and breathy sigh.
“Well, it is suppose to represent the suffering and transformation of the Native people here, so I’d day right on point”

My wit is heavy, as it can be- a historically accurate observational poet with a little too much insight to take anything seriously anymore. I sigh myself. We are on our way to a mini spa made just for us….

The artwork that lines the halls of the lodge. Carvings, woven forms, prints and symbols drawn from the Indigenous cultures of the Columbia River Gorge. Salmon. Cedar. Wind. Stories of survival tied to this river long before highways and retreats and creators summits.

Decorative expressions of ancient melodies. We walk past these stories, thinking of our own. Coming down from the climb.

We go up the mountain to see what we see, do we stay there forever?

An old Buddhist expression says that the man who reaches the top of the mountain (enlightenment) just to travel down and say to the first man he sees

I AM ENLIGHTENED,

might as well begin his climb again because he does not understand that to be truly enlightened…..it is not to tell everyone else what to do, nor judge them on their path, it is to go to the top as many times as it takes to remember,

we all must go back down.

What is a vision quest? A bragging point, a stepping stone? A tired part of an influencer's weekend….magic near us, hope? A ripple.

My mind is wandering but it’s time to relax, mandatory.

Skamania has done it again, just for us a tiny spa retreat. Low lights, soft tonal music, busts of Venus with golden flowers and green ivy, a station for massages and facials.

Each of us pull a card from a bowl and our fate is chosen, mine is a mini steam facial. I hold so much tension in my face. My neck, my back, my hair…I just hold tension. I am really great at creating energy in my body and far worse at releasing it.

Massages only come into my life by accident, I didn’t grow up with indulgence and I’ve only learned by force (it’s mandatory) that physical touch, self care rituals, yoga, massage, etc….are helpful, long term.

For me, every practitioner is a healer in their own divine way. Some are empaths, some are clairvoyant, almost every single one has been able to pinpoint parts of my body (or mind) that needed work.

Strangers helping me. I’m not a trusting person, not with physical touch, so coming into physical healing spaces like spas are an act of defiance, to past traumas and fears. I’m grateful for the facial, and I also tend to dry out on big hikes…with wine tastings, so my skin is grateful too.

Gratitude is not mandatory, but it unlocks even better things in life.

It says “universe, I appreciate this and would like more please!” manifest it baby. I digress, yet again.

It’s fun getting to know a property, making it feel like home. You get a sort of swagger about yourself, knowing the way around, recognizing the people who make this place special. You don’t think you’ll come back, or maybe it’s not really that nice, or maybe it’s ordinary…but, no…Skamania has staying power. It gets in your bones.

So, it’s nice to know the best table to grab for your party, the one that is large and round, directly across from the roaring fireplace.

Having worked in restaurants myself, the round table is a hot commodity, and for good reason. It’s Equality in action, every one has their own slice of the pie (of elbow room) and it’s the best for sharing. Everyone can clink glasses in a toast and look into the eye of one another.

If the group doesn’t fit in a round, it's too big ... .for something like this anyway.

A group of creators, warriors in their own right, it’s not easy to slay the dragon we call social media these days. It is a beast, and yet….like Rock Man, a behemoth we can befriend, together.

Learning together is fun, it eases the tension of going it alone. I say that about any genre, any group of people who come together and throw out their hopes, fears, insecurities in the middle of the table stand to create a work of art that is stronger and has lasting power, far beyond what we create in isolation.

I saw that as the QUEEN of isolation. I need other creators to see STRENGTHS. I need context to release perfection. I need to hear that it’s hard for others too, I need to hear that the things I worry about, others worry about too. Life is suffering, but it’s not meant to be navigated alone.

One thing about social media and creation is that our art is attached to a lotto machine. We cannot control the outcome of our work once it is released into the world.

Once it graduates from your mind to the world, it becomes public domain and people will love it or hate it. It is not of your control create anyway.

Once your art is released from your brain, it isn’t even you anymore, it’s not a personal thing.

I think art comes from the collective to begin with ... so my experiences and how I write about them, are begging to be birthed whether I think it’s worthy or not.

Who defines worthy?

If algorithms are designed to have random outcomes, and they can be deleted for imaginary infractions in miliseconds, what stands to be worthy over time?

I like to think its our souls.That the experiences we have, the lessons we learn ,contribute to a greater pool of goodness and that is the sort of energy that keeps Rock Man satisfied, because he’s just looking to maintain “the flow” of the world….

It’s when we dam up our creativity looking to harvest energy and outcomes from it all, that’s the pain and suffering of artists these days.

How do we maintain sovereignty while building businesses for ourselves, that can’t be deleted. Especially as women, how can we come together and support these networks on the ground.

How do we move past temporary and external validation and create for impact, expression, a better world?

These are the conversations said over food photos and story shares.

Who cares about the creatives, the dreamers, the visionaries, writers, weirdos, fighters showing up in a world that is cruel.

Knowing some would pay to watch our ship sink….realizing there are many more counting on us to come pick them up out of these cold, deep, nearly impassible waters.

I see artists that way, we are building a big spaceship to fly away on….metaphorically or not.

We talk about unions, creator classes, ways to share skills, our next steps….and then we each fly away to the next adventure. We toast one another and retreat to the trees.

This trip is a marker for me. The Gorge, it shapes souls, through whipping and sudden winds, curtains of iron rain, stabbing and poisonous plants, freezing temperatures, and not to mention, the wind, oh I did.

The night train cries Mary and I am clear,

of the pre-cancerous cells once invading…

I can hike without pain.

It was time, intention, these retreats (sure), but it was the journey itself that did the sculpting. I had only to increase the surface area of luck but SHOWING UP. By trying you increase your odds. Hey, life's the original slot machine. I’ll stop there.

The girl who first started writing these stories was seeking. The woman who returns has built a path behind her. Follow if you dare!

None of it has been linear. I fail often. I try things that don’t work. I take risks that feel uncomfortable. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fall flat, but the motion forward is what matters.

Becoming Wild Oregon Woman is not yet finished.I will continue to show up, to innovate, to listen, to create, and to grow, always to grow.

Every trip, every time I try, it becomes steps….

To the moon? Only if I build the ladder myself. So says Alice.

That night I could barely sleep, I can’t fall asleep easy after so much excitement. A heavy rain came in the night and didn’t break til I left the corridor of the great river. A gentle rinse cycle to see us off….after one final test, task, treat….sigh.

Breakfast is decorated and delightful, dates and hazelnut shakes with overnight oats, rhubarb and house made peanut brittle. My great grandmother always made peanut brittle. It never occurred to me that I could consider a Christmas specialty an everyday breakfast food. You learn how to elevate your life in the strangest of ways.

Of course, why not enjoy life in layers of flavors.

We drudge down the hall of suffering (I joke in my head) to see there is a convention entitled “Renewal by Anderson” hey….that’s my family name, the name of my nearly departed Grandmother.

Did those pesky grandmothers design this retreat from the otherside? To wake me up, help me remember the beauty of nature and the honor that is kicking my own ass, up a mountain, because SUPRISE! IM STILL ALIVE, enjoy it?!

I try to take that attitude with me into Yoga, but I’m sore. I’m tired, I have a rainy drive ahead of me.

There she is, Shana, and she has some wooden box accordion type organ with her. It’s calm, she feels nice. I just say it “We climbed Wind Mountain and we are dead” Shoot, I’m suppose to remember that we are alive.

And yet, she understands. We are heard.

“Do you want to make something cool looking? With our mats?” (which we have so graciously been gifted) “YES!”

and since this article is long and it must also represent the feeling of the group and this trip and this yoga session- I will be swift.

Mandala yoga, it takes the effort of the group to support one another, like a root system of trees or mycelium, we come together and create a web. Like those ants….we cling. We can stretch and get taller and send support without draining, together.

We cry, we let a lot out. There are worries not resolved in a weekend away that loom, there are drives and families and work and fears still out there. Still, in this moment we get to decide, how do we create next. What for. Why.

Knowing, what we know now, we let the wind carry us forward….

Skamania Lodge: Hiking Wind Mountain and Finding Community

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