Friday through Sunday, 04-Oct through 06-Oct-2019

How did I miss telling this story, and posting these pictures?  2019 didn’t have that many trips, and this was definitely one of the standouts… even though it wasn’t particularly long or involved, it was gloriously beautiful, and a really excellent adventure!

David and I, with an energetic Ollie in tow, drove down to Northern California.  Just over six hours in the car with a hyper puppy, but it was all worth it when we saw the views!

Northern California is beautiful.  It’s (as far as I understand) a high altitude desert, and we were hiking and camping at almost exactly 8,000ft elevation.  The trees were gnarled and twisted, and there were nearly as many standing dead trees as there were live ones.  It reminded me of Greece, somehow, even though I’ve never been there.  It just seemed right, though… Once I go to Greece, I’ll let you know if that feeling was accurate.

It’s been along time since this trip, so excuse my brevity on the description.  The short version is that we drove down, hiked in, and set up camp.  Then, the next day we summited Mt. Eddy, took in the beautiful views of Mt. Shasta, and then circumnavigated one of the smaller peaks on our way back to camp.

Ollie had a blast of course, right up until I had to put on her boots to protect her poor paws from the volcanic rock we were traversing across… she wasn’t too happy at the time, but I’m quite confident that she appreciated it in the long-run… almost as much as she appreciated the cozy nest that I made for her after we got back to camp, when she bonked out like a light.

The next day we packed up, hiked out, and had an excessively delicious dinner at the local Blackbear diner.  Then the long drive back to Portland, full of amazing views and excellent conversations!