by Daniel Lawton
Oregon is a stellar destination for two things: hiking gorgeous trails and slugging heady wine.
I know this because I’ve lived there, twice, though I must admit that I never purchased a bottle of wine that eclipsed $10. Nevertheless, I went hiking dozens of times, trampling through the cavernous folds of the Willamette Valley, getting lost in the towering pine trees and occasionally bumping into waterfalls.
Now, according to an article in the New York Times, heaps of hip Oenophiles (wine lovers) have flocked to the beaver state to get down on its newest pastime: wiking.
As you may have guessed, wiking is a portmanteau that means to revel in the sumptuous delights of hiking and wine drinking simultaneously–or at least on the same day.
According to the article, some fancy wiking trips involve a four day hike that spans ten miles a day on a pack mule trail “forged by miners over 100 years ago along the Rogue River.”
Participants sleep in homely cottages accessible only by foot, snack on freshly caught Chinook salmon for lunch and spend their evenings listening to nightly talks by a winemaker.
All of this would sound pretty groovy if the price didn’t exceed $1,000 for four days, which it does.
But don’t fret, my nature-loving, dipsomaniacal friends, cheaper options abound.
Wanderlust Tours offers a four-hour tour along the Melotius River in Central Oregon, where hikers can stroll beneath Ponderosa pines while drinking wine wrapped in chilled wine totes.
Of course, if all of this sounds a bit too frilly for your taste, you can always strap a bottle of Carlo Rossi to your back and summit a random mountain. Just make sure your bring a compass to help you find your way back down.
