May 4th, 2009
After a particularly rainy week, it became decidedly warm and not rainy out. So my friend Keith and I decided we had been indoors long enough and drove up to Mt Hood (our local volcano) and attempted to go hiking.
We planned everything except for the where on the mountain we were going part. After a gorgeous drive out, we started ascending the mountain, but failed to find a suitable trail head. Pressing on we quickly found ourselves high above the timber line. There *is* something fun about snow at the end of April.
The snow on the side of the road was higher than the car itself, so it got to the point where there was no possibility of getting out. We thought about heading back down the mountain and trying again, but decided to stop at Timberline to see if they had any maps we could snag.
Timberline, as you may know, was the exterior of The Overlook in The Shining (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge). Yeah, Oregon’s famous like that. However, as with most movies, or Cheers, very little of what you remember from the movie actually exists at the lodge. Like the hedge maze. Sadly that was fabricated.
Anyway, we got out of the car in our shorts and realized how warm it was, even that far up, so instead of driving about we decided to start walking up into the snow. We didn’t climb that high up the mountain, but trudging the the snow is tiresome. Thankfully the snow was packed so as to be mostly solid as opposed to 12 foot snow drifts.
The novelty of walking in the snow in shorts and tee-shirts not lost to us, we snapped a few photos. Sadly, the jPhone not being a real camera, couldn’t compensate for the glare of the sun off the snow and as I guesseed, all my photos turned blue. Keith had a real camera and snapped a few that turned out much better. I’ve linked to the photos at the bottom. I think I removed most of the ones I took as the blue tint is rather annoying.
We only stayed in the snow for about an hour before getting back to the car, and it wasn’t what we had planned, but it was still a rather fun day as a result. And I know I definitely got snowburned as a result; my face was quite red when I got home.
We have talk of bringing a tarp next time and putting a blanket down and having a picnic in the snow. Ah Oregon, how I love thee. OH! And today is Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!
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| Timberline Lodge |