Mt. Hood

There's goes Julie, heading up Mt. Hood on what would be for me, sure death. The hike looks deceptively easy and in fact, she told me that she encountered a couple of people climbing up there without water, one of whom was wearing Teva sandals as well. They had to have been tourists, because only non-residents would take a chance like that in the Cascade Mountains. I cannot emphasize enough that if you do not respect Ma Nature up here, you will die.

Julie's summited Hood, is it 3 or 4 times? Summer is not the ideal summit-season, as the mountain is covered with volcanic rock scree that makes the hike a "2-steps up, 1-step back" kind of thing. She made her hike this day in record time, going up to the Palmer lift, which is right above the lower large patch of snow.

The day we were there, we saw a few hardcore snowboarders heading up, on foot, boards in tow, to ride on that postage-stamp sized bit of snow. Seems like an awful lot of work for such a short ride. But when I looked through my zoom lens at the snow, it's a lot larger than it looks from the lodge.

This is looking at some lifts that start down below somewhere and end at the lodge. I thought it made an interesting picture, how they fade into the fog.

And speaking of fog, we were up above it. I'd hoped to get some good distant scenery shots so you could see how high up we were but alas, everything was socked in below 6,000 feet.

I forget the name of this rock, but Julie knows it.

Mt. Hood is one of the Cascade Range volcanoes. The summit is 3.6 miles from the lodge, and is 11,245 feet tall. (Mt. Rainier is 3,165 feet taller and is always covered in snow & glaciers) It is dormant, but Julie tells me that there's a section on the side of the mountain that stinks of sulphur. I guess even volcanoes have to fart every now and then.

I was hoping that the 2 tiny specks, which are 2 hikers, would show up on this picture, but they are on the small bit of ice and snow, below the bigger patch. It really helps you to appreciate the scale when you see these tiny black dots slowly moving up and down the mountain and realize that they are people. I was looking for Julie's bright blue hat but you couldn't make out any details.

I love Smokey the Bear.The stuff on my rearview mirror was kind of in the way when I shot this, but I was going pretty fast and had to snap quickly. This is somewhere near Chehalis, in WA. On the other side of the billboard, it says something like, "If the U.S. Funds It, the U.S. Controls It", but you can only see it when you are traveling south. I would have taken a picture of it on my way down to OR but it took me by surprise, so I made sure to have my camera ready on the trip home.

We had the best time and I can't believe it's been one week already!!! I can't wait to do it again!

Julie, thanks again for coming with and for everything. It was truly a memorable & fun weekend.