Outdoor Adventures

I must say that summer here is absolutely wonderful! Generally it cools down nicely in the evenings and the temperature is usually quite pleasant even in the daytime. We have had a couple of hot spells, but those did not last more than about a week. My housemate and I have been wandering around the outdoors as much as possible while the summer lasts because we both know that there seems to be only two seasons out here: summer and rainy season. So while there is some vitamin D to be absorbed I am going to get some.

Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon at 11,235 feet above sea level and 92 miles spreading at base, with eleven glaciers on it's peak. It is also the second most climbed mountain in the world. It is actually a napping volcano with most recent eruption in 1907. Mount Hood National Forest encompasses 1.2 million acres and has 4 designated wilderness areas and over 1200 miles of hiking trails. With such a delicious morsel in your backyard, who can resist getting up close and visiting it?

Our first major adventure in mount hood started while I was on a clinic rotation, which mainly means that I got off work a bit late on a Friday afternoon. This is not unusual since if any disaster is going to happen in clinic (such as a really sick patient that needs admitting to the hospital) it is destined to happen on a Friday, since people always put off serious medical problems to the last minute and then decide they really should go to the doctor before the weekend so they don't end up having to go the the ER. So anyway....I get home around 6:30pm, we pack our backpacks, eat some supper, and we are off to camp in mount hood national forrest.
Now the first important lesson to learn is that maps, even obtained at a ranger station, are not really to be trusted.... and so we end up driving and driving for a really long time hunting for the trailhead and finally arive at about midnight. Yeah... after a long week we are both ready to fall over but instead we hoist backpacks that weight about 500 lbs onto our backs and set off on the trail... ok they acutally probably weighed about 35 lbs (no joke).

So we set off on the trail and hike in about 1.5 miles or so before we find a good place to camp, set up our tent in the dark and fall asleep about 1:30 or so...insane...but the air is very fresh and cool and we are pleasantly snuggled down in our warm sleeping bags...mmmm.... needless to say we regain consciousness at about 11:00am or so, lounge in our bags until about noon and finally decide to get up, take down camp, have morning devotions and breakfast and set off on the trail again about 2:00pm or so. Kind of a late start but oh well...that is life when you work so many hours during the week...work hard...play hard...

After several small creek crossings we finally arive at the larger creek crossing described in the trail guide. Some seasons you have to wade across or even find it uncrossable depending on the rain, so we were not sure what we would encounter. It was not bad though and we ended up crossing on some logs that other hikers had put there.

Once across the creek it was up, up, and up the switchbacks, quickly gaining elevation to about 5200 feet...
There were incredible views of mount hood along the switchbacks. I will say that going up hill is not quite as fast and easy with 35 lbs on your back... But wow, was it breathtaking!

Once on top we followed the trail to Elk Meadows Loop and set off on the several mile loop around the meadow. Unfortunately there really are no elk up there, but the views were spectacular with Mount Hood in the background of the meadow...
You know... it is good to notice your surroundings when you are hiking, especialy when hiking around a loop....in case you just keep going around the loop... Why do I mention this?... No reason.... (we acutally only went about 1/4 mile around the loop again because things started looking familiar...)

So we finally set up camp just before dark and built a nice warm campfire. Nothing quite like sitting by a campfire after hiking all day and having nice warm food...

In the morning we set back down the mountain with packs much lighter (drank at least 2/3 of our water by then and ate most of our food)...
We really had a blessing with the views of the mountain that we saw, since it was cloudy on the return trip.
I will have to admit that this is the start an addiction for the outdoors. It helps add to this addiction that we both live in the middle of the city with all the annoying city noise. It is just great to get away to the country that God has created. Come on up and camp with me sometime...

ps: for some reason blogger is not letting me add pictures right now. not sure why. Check back to see the pictures I post. Also please note my new cell number 503-298-9836 (verizon).