Saturday, 25-July-2020

 

Laurel showed up with bagel sandwiches.

Bagel sandwiches are an excellent start to any adventure. They’re not the only good start, of course, but as far as starting options go there are few better.

Coffee too, but ever since I first learned about bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches from Galantes (or was it June’s Place?) in Medway, probably 20 years ago, I never looked back.

 

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about, is it? We’re here to hear about hiking!

 

The goal of the day was to head up to Elk Meadows, and then see how energetic we felt… maybe heading to the Timberline Lodge for some extra altitude and milage. A fun hike with good views, but not so intense that we couldn’t talk, or take our time.

The trailhead was surprisingly quiet when we parked – it wasn’t empty, by any means, but there were still spots to be had. For a weekend in Oregon, we took that as a clear win, and a good sign that this was the right trail to be heading up. Parking went quickly, and soon enough we were heading upward.

 

Once we were on the trail, things got exciting!

…

It’s hiking, guys.

I’m a good writer – I’m creative, and enjoy typing up weird long stories.

But it’s hiking.

 

One foot, then the other foot. Lots of talking and catching up and discussing, but at the end of the day hiking is just foot movement, amazing scenery, and maybe a river crossing every once in awhile. Written words don’t really describe, which is why all those famous books and movies about hiking tend to focus on internal thoughts, and background stories.

But you know what does describe hiking well? Photos!

 

 

 

We walked up to Elk Meadows, walked around Elk Meadows, and then walked back down the trail from Elk Meadows.

But we didn’t go all the way back to the trailhead for Elk Meadows. No, instead of that, we took a side trail off the main Elk Meadows trail, and hiked out to Umbrella falls! Near Elk Meadows.

Elk Meadows.

Umbrella falls was… farther than we expected. Far enough that we actually took a break partway through the hike to sit by a stream and have some sandwiches for lunch – Baguette, Prosciutto, Brie, and Apple of course. Full french style.

Re-energized, we pressed onward to Umbrella. Really similar to Rowena, once I saw it… and really tempting to go and try to find in the winter for some Ice Climbing… if it wasn’t on a ski trail :/

So yeah, Umbrella Falls was cool. We looked at it, stayed away from the people, and then headed back to the car.

It was still early though, and so instead of heading back into Portland, we kept with our original plan of heading up to the Timberline Lodge, to get our hands on some glacier snow! In July!

Yep, you read that right, dear readers. Mt. Hood has snow in July. Snow all year round, actually. Because the Palmer Glacier is, in fact, a glacier! It was fun – we threw snowballs, and then went inside to have dinner in the timberline lodge.

True story – I am not sponsored by the Timberline Lodge. But… similarly to how I think Omega Pacific should sponsor me for always ranting about how awesome their cams are, I think that Timberline should comp me a meal or two based on how much I tell people about that place.

I mean, it looks like a dwarven fortress! What more do you want? Amazing Reubens? They have those! Hot Cocoa! They have that too! What more could I ask for??

ehemm. Yes. We played on the glacier, then went for dinner, and then rocked the drive back into Portland with the top down, and the mountain wind in our hair.

It was a good day.