In Oregon, you can spend one day at the beach, and the next hiking the Pacific Crest Trail just below a glacier. Is this real life?!
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
We once again used our East Coast sleep schedules to our advantage, setting out early to drive up Mt. Hood. On our way up, we stopped for coffee. Twice. Jesse got one of the best coffees of the trip from a small coffee shop in a strip mall near Rhododendron on route 26.
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
Route 26 takes you over the lowest slopes of Mt. Hood. The Timberline Highway takes you up the mountain. Just before we reached the parking lot, we caught a glimpse of the peak through the trees. The view was so breathtaking that it cut Jesse off, mid-sentence.
During the winter, the glacier extends down the hill and meets up with new snowfall. This puts the Timberline Lodge at about midway up the skiable slopes.
Timberline Lodge, you may notice from this unflattering selfie, resembles a certain haunted hotel. It was both the inspiration for and the exterior model for The Shining.
An extremely short walk behind the lodge brings you to the Pacific Crest Trail.
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
Besides being a longer trail then the Appalachian Trail, the PCT is also far more isolated and thus more challenging.
We were only out for the day, though.
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
This bird was about two feet away from Jesse when he took this picture. It lingered near us for several minutes, which was both wonderful and terrifying (birds and I have a long, tumultuous history stemming back to when a seagull stole my hotdog from my hand at the Lincoln Memorial when I was 4).
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
There was a remarkable variety of terrain and weather along the PCT here.
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
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| Photo by Jesse Stratowski |
We hiked about 6 miles round trip. Originally we had hoped to hike to Paradise Park, a large meadow full of wildflowers. However, my worn out hiking boots were making each step increasingly painful. We turned around at Zigzag Canyon.
On the way back, I took the opportunity to cool my feet in a glacial stream.
Although it was a shorter hike than we had planned, we had a fantastic time.
Next up: A pitstop on our way back down the mountain
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