July 05, 2005

I took 836 pictures!

Hello everyone!

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Trout Lake. It is becoming my little heavenly home away from home. The building opened on the 4th of July in 1904 so we were celebrating the 101st anniversary of the Trout Lake Country Inn. We had planned on camping on the land around the Inn but instead we were all able to sleep inside. Camille & I drove up Friday evening after work. Elaine and Dave were already up there. We ordered some food and drinks and showed Camille around. Dave, Jimmy, Wampler and Steve played music that night. Elaine, Camille and I played cards and listened to them play.

Saturday morning we woke up and prepared for our hike. Elaine and I made sandwiches for everyone. Soon Gina, Ben and Larry arrived from Portland shortly followed by John and Gretchen. We had a group of nine people going on a hike. We drove some ways down gravel roads and crossed onto the Yakama Indian Reservation. We bought our permit and parked at Bird Lake where our hike began. The wildflowers were just beginning up there and were beautiful. They will be spectacular in a few weeks. We followed along Crooked Creek for a few miles before we came to a waterfall. We continued through meadows of flowers and mountain ponds full of tadpoles and vast views to the south. Our goal was the Hellroaring viewpoint.

It's difficult to explain the view here...it is immense! There is the peak of Mt Adams to our left with it's summit peeking out of the clouds. We could see massive waterfalls coming off of the glaciers and streaming into the valley below. The valley was huge and was bordered by another huge ridge across from us that led to Red Mountain and then opened the south wide open. We ate our lunch there and soaked up the incredible view. John had binoculars which we used to look at the craggy glaciers on the mountain, the huge waterfalls in the distance and even a mountain goat on the ridge across from us. We were right near some snow so there was some snowballs thrown, some naps taken, some cherries eaten and some skin getting sunburned. It was wonderful! The clouds did pull away enough for the summit to reveal itself. It was all rather overwhelming.

We hiked back down and some of our group tossed some frisbees which was pretty funny. We got back on the loop for the Trail of Flowers. We passed more small waterfalls before coming to Bluff Lake. I was being attacked by mosquitoes here so I quickly moved along the trail while Dave and Ben jumped in to the water. We saw more incredible views to the south including Mt Hood looming ahead of us before eventually making it back to the car. It was a dusty, hot car ride back to the Inn where we all ordered cold beers to enjoy on the back deck. Some of us played horseshoes in the back yard while the rest of us talked and gazed up at Sleeping Beauty. That night a local 3 piece band with stand up bass played. We had a fire going so it was toasty warm. We played some cards and hung out until sleep called.

Sunday we explored a nearby cave called Dead Horse. I'm not sure why it's called that as there's no way you could fit a horse in that cave...maybe that's how it died. Gina and I stopped a point where it narrowed too much for our tastes. We sat in the cool darkness and listened to the water dripping around us. Further up the stream we passed in the cave becomes a waterfall IN THE CAVE! crazy! Gina and I decided to exit the cave after a group of guys came through and told us they had passed our friends over 10 minutes ago. We emerged from the hole in the ground to the hot hot sun. When everyone was out we drove back to the Inn for some cold beers. Elaine and I along with some other people started doing some prep for the brunch the Inn was having the next day. We tested out the recipe for the egg bake to make sure it would turn out as we wanted it. yummmm. To cool off we walked down to the creek near the Inn. The water is quite cold but refreshing after baking in the sun for a while. If you walk down the creek a little bit there is a great swimming hole and fishing spot and a big rock for soaking in the sun. That night a mandolin player we know from Portland came up to play. I really love listening to him play and the show was tons of fun. Jimmy got up and played some songs with him and we danced and had a great time. We turned off all the lights on the back deck and gazed up at the zillions of stars above. It was beautiful!

Monday morning we got up early to make brunch. It was a beautiful day and after food duty was over we went down to the creek again to swim and soak up the sun. There was stone skipping, fishing, tubing down some small rapids, unexpected dunkings and lots of sunburns. That afternoon we recreated a picture that had been taken of the Inn on the 4th of July in the 1920's. It was a great time. We then loaded up the cars and headed back to Portland...a little sun burned but happy. I wish I was still up there right now.

I'll post some pictures today and more in the next few days. Please let me know how your holiday weekend was and how you are!

xoxoxo,
carolyn

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