Mt Hood

After my brief introduction to Portland, I wanted to see some of what it had to offer on its outskirts, another one of my overly ambitious ideas. I was told to head East toward Mt. Hood and I wouldn’t be disappointed with the drive.

The drive up to the mountain was fantastic, off in the distance you could see its snow packed peeks. I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at mountains. The drive around it twisted and turned leading to numerous pullouts for photo ops. I took advantage of every one. I found a hiking trail at one of these pullouts and decided to venture into the dense foliage for a few quick photos of the lush greenery that lie inside. I was instantly overwhelmed with what I saw under the canopy of the tall trees. Massive logs lie strewn about in various stages of decomposition as moss and ferns covered them. Only a few feet from where I stood was a gentle stream that ran down the side of the mountain.

I couldn’t help but feed the urge to follow the path and see what other wonders awaited me. I was a bit concerned about the giant blisters that had formed on my feet from the hike through the urban jungle the day before, so I thought I would just go a little ways in to see what was around the corner.  Then that turned into the next corner and then the next bend and then just a little farther. Now I got to a point in the path where it was at a 40% grade and was I running short on breath. I had foolishly charged into climbing this path when I wasn’t properly acclimated yet, or equipped. Climbing anything at 6000 feet is a bitch, even if you are in pretty good shape, especially when you’re lugging 25lbs on your back. I took a short break on giant tree stump, when an elderly couple came walking down the path from above. I had a brief conversation on whether the view from up top was worth it, and they whole heartingly agreed. The woman was even kind enough to give me her last protein bar, in case I needed it to revitalize my strength.

I charged forth with renewed confidence, if people in there 70’s could do then surely so could I. Up the path I marched at a steady pace, all the wile eating my newly acquired protein bar. It wasn’t bad for a protein bar either. As the path grew steeper, it also began to deteriorate, with giant stones poking forth from the ground, and the banisters that marked the sides began to slide away down the mountain side.

I had only expected my excursion on this path to take a half hour tops, but now I was well over an hour into before I emerged at the top. There in front of me stood the most placid body of water I have ever seen. It was called Mirror Lake and it was a site to behold. Now it wasn’t just the lake it was the whole experience. Here is this lake surrounded by steep cliff-faces covered with trees that make trying to discern the summit impossible and virtually no noise could be herd other then the slight ripples in the water lapping against the smooth rocks that lined its shores.  

I took a seat on log that lay near the shore and just sat there trying to listen. There was nothing, just complete tranquility. It’s odd when you try to listen for a noise and you cant here anything not even a slight breeze. I just sat there and took it all in, living in the moment.