some in the mountain, some in the city

ello everyone!

I had a wonderful weekend divided between camping and hiking on Mt Hood and finally getting some weekend time in Portland. Thursday evening Camille and I finished packing my car and were on the road by 6:30. We drove to Cloud Cap and Tilly Jane on the far north side of Mt Hood. The last 9 miles were up a twisty, narrow and very bumpy gravel road. We found the campground at Cloud Cap pretty full and the sites were right on top of each other. It’s a very small campground that’s popular due to its location next to the trailhead for lots of great hikes. We went back down the road one mile to Tilly Jane where the sites were much more spread out and only two other sites were occupied. We quickly set up our tent and Camille got a fire started. It was dark when Jess & her boyfriend, Mike, pulled up to our campsite. We had planned to meet at Cloud Cap, then Tilly Jane if Cloud Cap was full. They joined us at our site and got their tent set up. We all sat around the fire drinking beers and talking. Camille had brought Mad Libs which we love to do around the campfire. Camille highly encourages dirty words and all around it’s pretty hilarious. We read some “scary stories” from a campfire book but they weren’t all that scary and we ended up laughing at the haunted walking stick that transported the unsuspecting boy to Vietnam. That night as we were going to sleep I saw a shooting star through the screen at the top of the tent. It was definitely the first time I’ve seen a shooting star while lying in a tent. I woke up several times because I was cold. I think it’s time to upgrade my sleeping bag to something warmer. We were at over 5800 feet elevation so in summer the temperature differences are drastic with hot days and chilly nights.

We awoke Friday morning to blue skies and sunshine. We got some water boiling for coffee and tea and then Camille cooked a fantastic breakfast of eggs, green chilis, tomatoes, avocadoes and tortillas. I made sandwiches for everyone’s lunch and we each packed up our backpacks and put on our hiking boots. We drove the short way up to Cloud Cap and started off on the trail. At the trailhead there were signs indicating that the footbridge above Eliot Creek, the runoff from Eliot Glacier, had been washed out and there was a detour in place. The detour sent us straight up a dusty, sandy trail on a steep hill. Suddenly we came over a ridge and Mt Hood was right in front of us. We were in a rocky wasteland with milky Eliot Creek draining down the side of the mountain. The path through the confusion of boulders was marked with small rock cairns, which are piles of stones. We had to cross Eliot Creek but jumping from boulder to rock. We would end up doing several stream crossings that day and they are sometimes a bit nerve wracking. I always wished I had longer legs at these moments. Don’t fall in that freezing cold water as it’s flowing downhill fast and will pound you into the rocks. Even a wet foot would be pretty miserable. We crossed Eliot Creek (and all the others that day) without incident and climbed the trail around back into the forest.

We quickly began seeing wildflowers along the trail: indian paintbrush, lupine, sitka valerian, corn lilies, arnica, avalanche lilies and monkeyflowers. The streams were lined with flowers and steep hillsides were dotted with color. There were some great views north to Mt Adams floating in the distance and the Columbia Plateau to the east. You can really tell that Cascades divide the state with the green side on the west and the brown desert on the east side. There were massive areas of huckleberries along the trails most of which are a good month away from being ripe. There were a few early ripe huckleberries which I happily ate with a big grin on my face. When we reached Elk Meadows we stopped for lunch. We found some old logs to sit on in the meadows. Mt Hood was looming right above us and the sun was shining warmly. We relaxed here for a bit, exploring the meadow and taking photos. This was our turnaround point so from here we went back along the same trail. The long light of the afternoon made everything look so different from when we had passed through earlier. I took tons of pictures of course. We were all pretty tired by the time we were back at the Eliot Creek crossing. The hike was originally 8 miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain but the detour added to both of those figures. We got back to camp, took off our boots, flopped into our chairs and cracked open ice cold beers. It felt so good to not be moving.

Jess was not excited to rouse herself to prepare our dinner but she made a fantastic meal. We had pork chops cooked over the fire along with corn on the cob & foil packets of squash, zucchini and peppers. We spent the night around the campfire, eating smores, drinking beers, talking and laughing. We were all beat from the long hike so we turned in early (though really I have no idea what time it was) and slept hard.

Saturday morning we woke up to find the campground full. Thankfully our site was pretty separate from the other sites and the campground was pretty small with maybe a dozen sites. Jess was nursing some severe blisters from the previous day’s hike. She’s had a hell of a time with hiking boots recently. She’s bought two pairs for well over $100 each only to have them give her blisters long after they should be sufficiently broken in. There weren’t many hiking options from where we were and we weren’t too excited about driving down (and then back up) the 9 mile insanely bumpy gravel road. The shorter hike available had been usurped a bit by our detour on the Elk Meadows hike. We’d already covered much of the trail laid out in the guidebook. Facing these variety of factors we decided to do nothing. What a wonder! It’s been ages since I just relaxed at a campsite for the day. Usually I’m off on hikes most of the day and spend very little time hanging out at the site. We read books & the Portland Mercury. I took photos and we snacked. I listened to my headphones in the tent for a while. Camille took a nap. We had early afternoon beers and moved our chairs to chase the patches of hot sun through the forest. It was lovely and very relaxing. Camille and I decided to head back to Portland that night while Mike & Jess were going to drive into the Columbia River Gorge and hope for another campsite along the way.

We arrived in Portland before 7 in the evening. After unloading the car and unpacking I went over to Elaine and Gina’s house. They’ve left for a week in Montana so I’m house-dog-cat sitting while they’re away. I spent that evening and all of Sunday just relaxing: editing my photos, watching some Netflix and cable (cable!!!), reading my book, hanging out on the porch and doing some laundry. It was very nice to be in Portland for at least part of a weekend.

So that was my weekend. Please let me know what you’ve been up to and how you are! I hope all is well!

Xoxox,
carolyn