Visting the Mt. Hood Area

Tuesday - the rain ended, but a cooler day.  We worked in our office in the morning and then set out to see the area.  We drove to Trillium Lake to see if we could boat there in warmer weather.  The park gate was closed, so we hiked in a little way on the road and found snow covering parts of it and a tree that had fallen across it.  They will have some work to do when they open the park.  It was two miles down to the lake, so we did not hike very far before going back to the car.  On the way back, we stopped in Government Camp, the closest town to Mt. Hood and found the Mt. Hood Brewery there.  They had a nice fire going inside and we stayed and had a great pizza for lunch.  Back home, we went to the shop and got one of the free standing tent canopies.  We set that up on our pad, just back from the fire ring, so that we can have a fire even when it is raining lightly (which could be often here).  That night we had a camp fire and invited our two other host couples to join us.  Anne and Dick came and Leslie and Chris also joined us.  Leslie and Chris had arrived on the weekend.  They are full-timers as well, a little younger than us.  The canopy also holds the heat in better, so we stay warmer.

 

Closed road to Trillium Lake

Our campsite with canopy

Wednesday - A sunny day!  I went to Welches and had my hair trimmed and Gary worked in our office.  After I was home, we got ready and drove to the Mirror Lake Trailhead, just this side of Government Camp.  This is a small lake famous for the pictures you can take there of Mt. Hood, mirrored in the lake.  You can only hike in, it's about 2.2 miles round trip, with an additional trail past it.  It was warm by then, but still cool in the shade as we hiked.  The trail climbs 700 feet steadily up from the road, but was not difficult.  We had to cross the mountain springs several times on our way up, on log bridges.  At the lake, we found it was still half covered with ice.  The circle trail around the lake took us over snow drifts still trying to melt.  Very beautiful place.  When we reached the side to take "the Picture", the clouds were almost totally covering Mt. Hood.  Drat!  We took what we could and finished hiking around.  Many people were out, several were fishing.  They do have some primitive tent camp sites there, we could see where others had had their fires.  Too chilly for me to camp that way!  And sleep on the ground?  No way.  A great hike, we will come back again and try to get the picture.  Back home, we changed and went to the nearby Rendevous Grill for supper.  We had wonderful pasta and a pork loin sandwich.  Enough pasta to also take home, another supper for the week.  We sat outside at the campfire again before heading to bed.  I slept very well after all the fresh air and exercise. (The Captain always sleeps well)

A redwood tree stump on the trail

One of the log bridges

Crossing the snow on the trail

Ice yet on Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake (and Mt. Hood behind the clouds)

The lower ridges of Mt. Hood from Mirror Lake

Fisherman at Mirror Lake

Switchback trail from Mirror Lake

Forest stream on trail

Trillium flowers blooming

Thursday - I got up and walked the park right away, knowing the rain was coming.  It started about 11:00.  We were off today so we drove in to Sandy and went to the Sandy Historical Museum.  Very interesting - a lot of information about the logging industry and history of the area and town.  It was fun to learn about the early logging days.  We stopped for a coffee and did grocery and other errands. It rained all day.  That night we grilled chicken for supper - because there is not much wind here in the forest, we leave our awning down all the time, so we do have a dry place to grill. We sat by the fire for a while, but the rain kept trying to put it out.

Friday - Rain, rain, rain.  Oregon is famous for it.  We checked in to the office and then drove around to check the park.  Not too many people were out today, it rained pretty hard several times.  Gary and Marilyn (G&M) came up to camp next door late afternoon.  They came over for supper, we grilled burgers, but then stayed inside to visit because it was damp and chilly with the rain.  We played Mexican Train dominos - the Captain won this time.

Saturday - Opened the gate, did a check through the park and went up to the office. Early afternoon we went over to help Linda - she and her husband were camp hosting before we arrived and her husband had a stroke just a week before we got here.  He is doing well, but they will be moving back to Kansas near family for his recovery and therapy months.  She is cleaning out their camper, they sold it and so everything has to go - they will be taking only their personal things - not needing camping equipment any more.  We set up a canopy near her trailer, helped her move some things out so she could get to the items she needed to ship home.  She gave us several things that we can use, but we did not take much because we only have so much room to put things.  When we were finished with that, we went with G&M to the Zigzag Inn for a late lunch - we had a delicious pizza there.  Later that evening we went to the Rendevous for our Mothers' Day supper.  The boys were treating us, especially since we would not be with our children this year to celebrate.

Sunday, Mother's Day - early Mass - 8:00 at St. John in the Woods, in Welches.  We found this mission church nearby during the week - very handy and appears to be an active parish.  The pews seats are made of half logs, the back of the seats from half branches.  Not the most comfortable, but very unique.  We went with G&M to the DragonFly cafe for breakfast, this cafe is in the RV park they are staying at, next to our Wildwood Park.  Homemade bread and rolls, very good.  It had stopped raining!  We went home and did a run through the park and then went and worked at the park office for awhile.  We vacuumed and swept and then I went out and cleaned out the garden spot in the shop area.  They told we host couples that we can plant there - Anne is going to get tomato and pepper plants and we hope to find a basil plant.  We talked to our kids and grandsons.   Just before we called, I found a snail nearby.  We showed him to the boys and took some great pictures.  Pretty fascinating, I had never seen one with his whole body out of the shell. Late afternoon we drove over to Mt. Hood Village to G&M's campsite.  It was sunny out so we sat out by their fire and visited, before they grilled supper for us.  We helped them clean up afterward and break camp - they drove back home to Salem that night.  We said our goodbyes - they will come back to camp on Memorial Day weekend.  Home again - we did our duty of locking the gate.

Local snail

Our highway driving views in this area - Mt. Hood & the forest