3 lucky girls

3 lucky girls, originally uploaded by carolyn_in_oregon.

and one lucky guy (Mike, who took the photo). This area is now closed due to wildfires on the mountain that started just a couple days after our visit. We left Saturday evening.

Jess, me & Camille hiking on the Timberline Trail on Mt Hood Friday afternoon from Cloud Cap to Elk Meadow.

Lightning strikes Monday night ignited over 250 fires in Oregon including some very close to this area. The small campground we stayed at, Tilly Jane, was evacuated Tuesday and closed along with Cloud Cap and other campgrounds & trails in the vicinity. Even the highway that goes along the east side of Mt Hood is closed due to the wildfires. I'm happy to have missed such drama which really would have put a wrench in our relaxing trip.

We couldn't help but notice that the area around our campsite was tinder dry and ready to burn. That's pretty typical for the Northwest in late summer though. That rain we're famous for is extremely seasonal.