It’s true: in Oregon you can ride some admittedly aged snow on your snowboard, if that’s a thing you do. I have not tried it but maybe next winter. Maybe not.
The idea has come up because, on our way home from Crater and Diamond Lakes, we stopped for three glorious nights in the Mount Hood National Forest.
Imagine: a Forest Service campground for self-contained RVs only. No restrooms or showers, no playgrounds, no tents, and tens of thousands of Doug Firs and their relatives. The sites were a good 100+ feet apart. Also, hilly terrain causes amateur photographers to make tree trunks lean left, months before the midterms. In person they appeared Undecided, or at least Independent. Green Party? I’ll be here all week.
At about 3200 feet up from sea level, Spring Drive was a little bit cooler than the valley areas we might otherwise have chosen. What’s also nice about this campground, besides the quiet and the full hookups and the senior pass discount, is its proximity to appealing local attractions. The morning after we arrived we piled into Jack and drove to Timberline Lodge, way up the side of Mt. Hood.
Windows in the Mt. Hood day lodge frame the Up There region of the mountain. Just down from them there’s a little room where hikers and climbers register their intent to go Up There and risk everything for a thrill.
Timberline Lodge is old — built by Civilian Conservation Corps folk back in the 1930s I think. It has been well preserved and you could book a room and enjoy the thin air if you liked. No pets, no air conditioning, no us.
The great northwest heat wave of 2018, or rather one of them, was still upon us, and even up here at cloud level, heat shimmer ascended from the sprawling blacktop parking area. We poked around, looking for pets-allowed shade and something cool to drink.
No, there are no clouds in the image. It’s all smoke. This is the view south from Timberline Lodge, on a smoky summer day, if you crop out the parking lot.
Shade, glorious shade–we found it. And it had a view. And icy diet cola.
If you hang out on the back patio of Timberline Lodge, which is about the only place you can hang out if you are a Cairn Terrier, then you can look up at the upper reaches of Mt. Hood. At the end of July you could still do some snowboarding up there if you were so inclined. “Inclined,” get it? I’ll be here all week.
Thirst quenched, we headed down the mountain toward camp, with a quick stop in cute little Government Camp, where a general store helped us stock up on paper towels and heavily discounted DEET. Back down the hill to the mid-90s (F.) and continued gratitude for the Toto’s air conditioned comfort.
Next morning I let the fam sleep in and took my camera gear back up the hill to Trillium Lake, so I could copy the work of tens of thousands of amateur photogs before me.
Trillium Lake and Mount Hood in northern Oregon. I had to frame this image carefully to keep fishers’ tackle out of the picture (and their cast and re-cast hooks out of my eyes or ears, which was a concern at times). Seriously, they were considerate of the old coot fumbling with his camera kit, and I had fun practicing with what is still a fairly new camera. This is three bracketed shots, blended with magical HDR software, and somehow that gets this view pretty close to how it appeared in what passes for my real life.
Back home after this, the second of the new Toto’s forays. Next destination: Fort Flagler State Park, on a little island off the Olympic Peninsula. Soon.
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Wow! Two posts in one week! You’re back in the saddle.
Yeah, I’m on fire. 🙂 Like most of the northwest. 😐
Read & enjoyed both posts! Great way to send an early hour…in between WWF!