The Best View in Oregon

Since mid-September, I've been saying the same thing every weekend—"Welp! This is probably our last hurrah before the snow covers all the trails and closes the forest service roads!" This made perfect sense, since Tom and I got snowed on down on South Sister (near Bend) on September 28, 2007.

We were still waiting for the snow to arrive this year until mid-December. So, we decided to take advantage of a sunny warm weekend in October by exploring a place that we haven't spent much time so far—the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

This hike to Jefferson Park follows the Pacific Crest Trail and gains about 1500' of elevation. You can see Jeff peeking out of the trees. Coop sniffs around.

Most trail descriptions said the view from Jefferson Park Ridge was the best in Oregon and called the hike "possibly the most worthwhile hike in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area". Now there's motivation!

Cooper had a fun time running around. We weren't on the trail long when we started hitting patches of old snow.

As we reached timberline, we passed a few little frozen ponds. The terrain here was amazing and felt like the moon.

Cooper tries his luck on the little pond. Cool cairn!

The hike was challenging, but very worthwhile. We earned our lunch—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—and then wore our tin foil as a sun visor.

My invention in use.

Bah-BAM!!!

The view from Jefferson Park Ridge is truly epic. From here, you can see Bays, Scout and Russell Lake at the foot of Mt. Jefferson. We decided that we need to backpack in here for a long weekend next summer. :)

After the hike in, Cooper was pooped and needed a little rest in the sun.

Cooper and Dad enjoying the quiet of our outstanding perch.

Red, red wine for dessert.

There's always time to play with a stick. It's a ding bat!!!

Dad and Cooper lookin' cute.

"You comin', mom?"

On our way out, we took a few minutes to climb a snowy hill so we could run down it. Cooper ran around like a bat out of hell. He gets extra crazy on snow, sand or gravel.

Rocket dog!

Up!

Cooper gets a lot of air.

Very awesome hike. We'll be back in 2009!

Hide and Peak

This past July, I had a fun visit with my Aussie-born, Ardmore-based friend, Sue Perry. We spent a few days kickin' around the gorge and spent one very amazing morning exploring Cooper Spur on the north face of majestic Mt. Hood.

Hood River was sunny and warm when we started our drive into the valley and up the 8-mile road that winds 6,000 feet to the Cloud Cap Inn and parking area for the Cooper Spur Trail. As we drove towards the mountain with clouds hovering around the top, it definitely crossed my mind that we might do a lot of work for no reward. I could imagine myself standing almost halfway to the top of Mt. Hood, telling Sue that "the mountain's RIGHT THERE! i swear it!" I kept my fingers crossed. ;)

Sue and 10-foot visibility. Poop.

The clouds were clinging about when we parked the car and it was about 15 degrees colder at this elevation. We climbed the trail up, up and up to the point where we should have had a jaw-dropping view of Hood, but instead, we could only see about 10-20 feet. Crapola.

After about 30 more minutes of hiking up, we decided to take a little break. Although we couldn't see anything, we could hear large rock slides. Creepy. As we sat there, the clouds rolled in and out, revealing and taking away our view. We willed this big poppa to show himself, even if for just a minute. It worked!

Sue and brilliant blue skies.

Me feeling pretty good for having patience as a virtue.

We used binoculars to get a closer look at the massive field of crevasses that dominate Eliot Glacier. The clouds dispersed long enough for us to catch a glimpse of the huge waterfall dropping down to the moraine below—this water is the source of the Hood River. :)

Thanks for comin' out, sir!

As we hiked back down toward Cloud Cap, the clouds hiding the valley opened up as well. We even got a peek at Mt. Adams. This is also a good place to get a view of all the deforestation in Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest. :(

Mt. Hood with some crazy clouds fuzzin' off the top.

PB&J and cherries enjoyed on a truck-size boulder.

The hillside around Cloud Cap Inn was covered in purple wildflowers.

Our last stop before dropping Sue off at the airport was Panorama Point. We couldn't see Hood, so we made our own mountains for the photo.

The moon, Sue's wild hair, Carley and Mt. Hood poking out of the clouds. :)

Driving down the gorge towards Portland at sunset is always beautiful. The sky looked like fire. Perfect end to a great long weekend.

True Summiteers

Gerry, Carley and I have a few things in common. One of these commonalities is that we all work for a small interactive agency in Hood River called Summit Projects. On April 28th, 2007, we became official Summiteers when we climbed to the top of Mount Saint Helens.

We rolled out of work on Friday afternoon with our gear packed and headed north into Washington. After an enjoyable 3-hour ride, we reached the Climbers Bivouac at 3700 feet, where we camped that night. Aaron, Gerry's husband was waiting for us. Nice guy that he is, he put our tent up before we arrived! We drank a few beers and hit the sack. Here's the crew prepping for the climb bright and early the next morning:


As soon as we hit the trail we were at the snow line. Aaron was toting his snowboard while Gerry, Carley and I rocked the snowshoes. We saw Gerry's big tongue a lot.


It was super misty/foggy when we started the climb, so we couldn't see the top of the mountain. A lot of people were carrying skis and hiking in their ski boots. We blew by them like rock stars in our snow shoes. :)


For some reason, I feel like I look like a Frenchman here. You can see the line of climbers going up the hill like ants in a pile of sugar. "We're going up there!!!???"


Below, Carley takes a load off. We really started to feel the elevation here. I think it was a combination of the altitude and the fact that the shroud of clouds would clear as you watched and you would see how high up you really were. yowza!


The route we took was a 5-mile hike from the Bivouac to the summit at 8,365 ft—a gain of 4,665 ft. It took us about 4.5 hours to reach the top. And here we are!


When we took these shots, Aaron had already floated off down the mountain on his snowboard. wheeee!

Off in the distance you can see the top of Mount Adams. The rolling clouds and mist shrouded our view into the crater. It's also extremely dangerous to get too close to the edge. Click here to see a view inside the crater on a clear day without snow.



Gerry's big tongue again.


Here's Carley looking French. We were on our way down at this point. The folks in the distance are still on their way up. There were even a few dogs summiting that day!



At this point, we decided to descend the mountain the most fun way possible—on our butts, slide-style. There were some well-worn butt-trails that really allowed you to pick up some speed. FUN!!!!!!

Once back at the site, we broke camp and got on our way back to Hood River. Carley and I stopped to pose for a photograph with our new big friend.


Mount Saint Helens, May 17, 1980


Mount Saint Helens, May 18, 1980


Mount Saint Helens, Today


I've read that in 100 years, Mount St. Helens will have built itself back up to it's 1980 pre-eruption elevation. Seems likely, since this baby is active. :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, watch our MSH movie!