For area hikers, they are weekly rituals not unlike church or Sabbath: walks to the summits of Spencer Butte and Mount Pisgah for spiritual renewal. Places we go for peace, sustenance and absolution of guilt for having downed copious amounts of potato chips or pizza.
In keeping with this religious theme, it is no secret that those who favor the eastern-most of the two geographic challenges sometimes identify as Pisgahpalians. I suppose you could make a case that they are, indeed, more formal in their walking worship than the more laid-back revelers who hike Spencer Butte, although amid the tie-dye shirts and pajamas seen on the latter, I’ve also passed hikers in suits and ties.
So, for the uninitiated, the newbie, the couch potato whose idea of physical exertion is pointing a remote to watch “Survivor,” how can I help you understand these two places so integral to those of us who hike them?
Let’s begin with the names. Mount Pisgah was named in 1846 by pioneer settler Elijah Bristow, who believed it resembled the biblical Mount Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1), from which Moses scanned the Promised Land…