Sleeping Beauty and huckleberries

Hello everyone!

I had a wonderful, long and relaxing weekend up in Trout Lake. I drove up Thursday evening right after work. I went to the Inn where I ordered some tacos and a beer. An auspicious beginning to my weekend…Andrea brought me my beer, ¾ of pint. It was the end of the keg of Rogue Dead Guy Ale so my beer was free and the Alaskan Amber was tapped. I talked with friends on the porch including Tom, who I asked if I could pitch my tent in his yard. He agreed and we spent the night talking and laughing on the porch as different people came and went. Andrea had some family visiting from Midwest. They had never been outside of Indiana and were having a spectacular time in Trout Lake. Her cousin’s fiancé had never caught a fish in his life and in the week he stayed at the Inn he caught over 80 including a 15 inch brook trout that they cooked up on the grill. Later in the evening a poker game started up but I passed as I’m not much of a poker player. I sat out on the back deck where I saw several meteors. The Perseid meteor shower was peeking over the weekend so I was happy to be away from the city lights of Portland. When sleepiness took over I followed Tom back to his house, not quite sure of where to turn on the maze of gravel roads where he lives. It was late so I just crashed out in his guest room rather than setting up my tent in the dark.

Friday morning I heard Tom’s motorcycle as he left for his job at the ranger station. He wears the green and grays of a Forest Service employee. I slept in quite awhile having stayed up too late Wednesday evening hanging out with Elaine. When I did finally get up I made myself coffee, showered then set up my tent in a nice little clearing in the woods on the side of Tom’s house. I lounged in the hammock in his backyard reading and listening to my headphones.

Later that afternoon I went up to the Inn and hung out with friends. I ordered a burger from their fantastic burger bar. Jimmy grills it up at the end of the huge porch with Mt Adams looming in the distance. When Tom got off work we drove up one of the Forest Service roads. We walked around and picked huckleberries in the shadow of the mountain and the craggy rocks of Sleeping Beauty. In the next few weeks the area around Mt Adams and the Indian Heaven Wilderness turns into the biggest huckleberry fields in the world. They are wild versions of blueberries and they are fantastic in pancakes and with vanilla ice cream. Tom and I stopped by the primitive camp site called 8 mile (it’s 8 miles up the road from Trout Lake) where our friends were camping for the weekend. Done with our berry picking we headed back to the Inn to hang out with friends and see some live music. A great bluegrass band called the Buds of May was playing. For awhile a group of us stood at the end of the road by the creek and watched for meteors. We saw some big, bright ones that left streaks across the sky. The music was great but I didn’t stay all that late. I drove back to Tom’s house and crawled into my cozy tent where I slept very well. So well that apparently I missed the coyotes that woke up Tom (inside of his house). Hmmmmm. I did have my head buried in my two sleeping bags as it was quite chilly out.

Saturday morning I had a bowl of cottage cheese and beautiful berries (blueberries & huckleberries) for breakfast. I packed myself a lunch and showered and read in the backyard. In the early afternoon Kelly, Amberlee and Zach came by and we all headed up to Sleeping Beauty to hike to the top. The hike is very short (3.4 miles round trip) but extremely steep. It goes through a beautiful mossy forest and we stopped regularly as the incline was really exhausting. At the top the views were fantastic with Mt Adams right in front of us, Rainier sticking his head over the hills, jagged Mt St Helens behind us and Mt Hood barely visible from the smoke from the wildfires its eastern flanks. We took lots of photos at the top and ate lunch. The dogs were happy for the break after the steep climb up. The hike back down was rough on the knees. I stopped to take lots of pictures and then would just jog down the trail as it was easier than pounding my legs on the trail trying to slow myself down. Of course it seemed the hike back down was incredibly shorter than the climb up. We stretched for a bit before piling back into the cars with the dog and heading back into town.

I stopped at the Inn and changed my clothes before heading over to Wampler’s house to help him prepare dinner. Wampler had gone through a week of insomnia during which he said he watched too many cooking shows. The end result was he was inspired to cook an amazing meal. I helped where I could but he had everything pretty much prepped and ready to go. I sliced up some tomatoes, cucumbers and a green pepper that I’d brought from Portland and we served that up as an appetizer plate. Tom came over as did Kelly, Amberlee and Zach. We cracked open some bottles of wine as Wampler put the finishing touches on the meal. I helped him plate everything and dinner was served on the open air porch. It was a truly spectacular meal: chicken breasts stuffed with pecan, herbs and blue cheese with a port wine/butter sauce, rosemary potatoes, baked zucchini and squash, kale with garlic, shallots & bacon and freshly baked rosemary bread. All of the veggies and herbs (even the potatoes) were fresh from Wampler’s garden. We ooooohed and aaaahed and were silent in culinary delirium. After dinner we laid in the grass and digested while hearty congratulations and thanks were given to Dave for cooking such a phenomenal meal. We cleaned up the kitchen for Wamp figuring the least we could do was make sure he had clean dishes after all the work he’d put into dinner.

All of then headed over to the Inn to celebrate Jimmy’s birthday combined with a going away bash for Killion. He had worked at the Inn and was leaving on Monday to move to Hawaii. I’m sure he’ll be seeing a steady stream of visitors. Camille had come up from Portland bringing along Jamie for her first visit ever to Trout Lake. We hung out on the porch and talked and laughed. Inside the guys played music: a few guitars, a banjo and Wampler on accordion. At one point Tom and Zach and I hopped the fence into the cow pasture where we watched for meteors. I saw a whole bunch of them. It was really wonderful to watch a meteor shower while being able to see the silhouette of a massive mountain right in front of you. As the night winded down I gave Wampler a ride home then drove to Tom’s and my tent.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Tom made breakfast of huckleberry pancakes and bacon (yummmm) before hitting the road to Bellingham. He is moving there soon to begin school so he was going to find a place to live. After he left I read my book in the sun for a long time before packing up my tent and heading over to the Inn. I hung out on the porch of the Inn for a long time just talking with friends. Damon came by. He and his girlfriend had just summited Mount Adams the day before and told us about their climb. Bobby came by and picked up Wampler and the three of us made the extremely short walk over to the swimming hole. Bobby put his dog on a surf board and we laughed at the dog’s unhappiness with the whole situation. It was hot on the rock but when I jumped in the water I realized it wasn’t quite hot enough for me. The water is snowmelt off of the mountain so it is quite cold. I crawled back up onto the sunny rock and warmed up very quickly. It was late afternoon so I headed back to my car to make my way home. Walking through the tall grass towards the stream I bumped into Jimmy who was coming over to swim and go fishing. We hugged and I wished him a happy birthday then was on my way. I stopped at one point at a good viewpoint across to Mt Hood. I could see the smoke from the wildfires blowing west and getting caught on the summit of the mountain. It’s a small fire at about 500 acres but it sure it creating some hazy views of the mountain.

So that was my weekend. I’m off to Trout Lake again this evening right after work as Friday is Wampler’s birthday. Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to. I hope all is well!

Xoxoxo,
carolyn