Friday, 07-July-2023
I’ve wanted to hike to Paradise Park for a long time.
I don’t know exactly when I first heard about it, but let’s just all agree that it’s been quite a while. I mean, I legitimately can’t count the number of times that I’ve hiked out the Timberline trail toward the park, but I’ve never quite made it all the way there… always turning around ahead of time, the furthest I’ve been was out to the bottom of ZigZag canyon once or twice.
I couldn’t tell you why I decided to hike out on this specific Friday, but… it felt right, you know? I’d made the decision as a snap judgement on Wednesday evening, and fortuitously mentioned it to a friend / coworker on Thursday – turns out, he’d been really wanting to get out of town but didn’t have a strong thought on where to go… perfect chance, we felt.
I met him in the morning, after grabbing a quick pair of bagel sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. We started onto the trail sometime a little bit before mid-day, and trucked pretty quickly through the first part of the trail.
It was lovely – great conversation, good quiet interludes, and amazing views. Unsurprisingly, quite a few of Mt. Hood itself… but aside from that, we had a ton of great wildflower views too – the meadow wasn’t quite into full bloom yet, but it was definitely well on its way.
Sunshine, soaking in the river for a bit, and continuing on… it was a really great day. Quite a few miles in total, and quite a good time had.
Dinner was ordering in from a slider restaurant near my friend’s house, with delivery arriving literally as we pulled in. Can’t ask for much better, let me tell you.
