I love Trout Lake, WA!

Hello everyone!

I had a really wonderful weekend up in Trout Lake, Washington. Friday after work we packed the coolers and the cars and left. It was Elaine, Dave, Jimmy, Gina, Ben and me. It was raining in Portland as we headed east into the Gorge. After an hour we headed north over the Hood River Bridge across the Columbia River to Washington then it's just 20 minutes or so to Trout Lake. As we crossed the bridge we were greeted with blue skies. As we approached Trout Lake Mount Adams started showing itself through the trees. I love the alpenglow! The mountain was pink and purple and spectacular!

We arrived at Wampler's house where we stayed for the night. He had a fire going out back. We spent the night talking around the fire and having some drinks. Dave and Jimmy played their guitars and Wampler was on his accordion. It was a great time. The night was very clear and the stars were incredible. I saw 4 shooting stars and 4 satellites. Heavenly!!

Saturday morning we woke up and Elaine made breakfast for us. We packed up the cars and went to get Jason who was showing us a sweet camping spot. Jason works for the Forest Service and had to work that morning at a fish derby at a nearby park. They fill a creek with tons of fish, block off the ends so the fish can't escape then bring in tons of kids to fish 'em all out. It was a slaughter! Tons of kids with fishing poles just pulling out one fish after another. We found Jason at the "Knot Tying" booth where we learned some fancy new knots before hitting the road.

The campsite was only 8 miles out of Trout Lake down a forest service road. It was not in a campground but rather in the middle of nowhere. It had a fire pit and was right along a lovely creek. There were several great spots for us to set up our tents scattered along the creek and in the woods. The dogs had a great time playing in the creek and Riley, Elaine's dog, never tired of having sticks thrown in one of the pools of water for him to retrieve. We got all set up (Ben got to make a new knot) and relaxed for a little bit before heading back into Trout Lake. Wampler had just taken over the Trout Lake Country Inn which he hopes to have open this coming weekend. We showed up as a work crew and tackled the yard with rakes and clippers. We pulled a bunch of weeds and cleaned it up a lot. It's a great building with a huge front porch that looks onto monumentally huge Mt Adams. The back deck looks onto a huge meadow of wildflowers. It really is an incredible space and we're all so excited for Wampler. He's been thinking of doing something like this for years and it's finally coming to fruition. I suspect I'll be up in Trout Lake a lot this summer pitching in with the new place and soaking up views of the mountain. Yeah!!!!

We were famished and left in the late afternoon and motored back to our campground to make lunch. We started a fire and relaxed. I decided to read in my tent then take a nap so I missed some rain. I woke up and plopped down by the fire. Jason showed up with a truck full of logs and an axe. He kept up a huge fire for us all night. Elaine, Gina and I made dinner (steak burritos) which we ate by the fire. Later Jason lead a big group of people to a nearby cave that's an old lava tube. I would only trust mountain man Jason to led a group of people to a cave in the pitch black woods. He had a safety meeting before leaving warning everyone to watch their heads and to stay in physical contact with another person at all times. Gina, Elaine, Dave and I decided to stay at camp and enjoy some low-key time by the fire. They all came back about an hour later and the guys started playing music. We all talked and ate smores until sleepiness took over.

Sunday I slept in until it wasn't raining anymore. I made coffee and started a fire with the hot coals from the previous night's fire. Elaine got up and started frying bacon. The smell of bacon in the woods is one of the best things on Earth! Ben cooked up the rice and beans left over from dinner in the fire with some eggs on top. Yummmm! Elaine and Gina and I had oatmeal and drank our coffee around the fire. We packed up some of our stuff then went exploring. Jimmy and Ben tried to find the cave that Jason had taken them to the night before. They couldn't find it so we went back along the creek to check out the waterfalls downstream. The are some great swimming holes we want to go back to in the heat of summer. The guys found the cave so Gina and I went back to check it out. It's a lava tube. There were some really low parts where we had to crouch down very low. We were scrambling over rocks on the ground and looking out for protruding rocks above. Our lights didn't illuminate the way very well so Gina kept using the flash on her camera so we could see the way. We could always feel a breeze going through so it was nice to know we were heading towards the exit. Gina got a gash on her head from a pointy huge rock. She bled some but she has a great story to tell.

We came out of the cave and walked back to our campsite. We finished packing up then Ben and Gina headed home. Dave and Jimmy were staying one more night at Wampler's so Elaine and I decided to hang out a while longer at the campsite with them as the fire burned down. It was a beautiful drive back to Portland through the Gorge. After unloading the cars and taking showers I went over to Elaine and Gina's to grill up steaks for dinner with corn and potatoes and then we watched Ocean's 12. So that was my weekend. I have TONS of pictures which I will post tomorrow so please check them out. I got really beautiful shots of the mountain. I'll be busy making cards I'm sure!

Please let me know how you are and what you've been doing! I hope you had a great weekend!

xoxo,
carolyn