I took just these two pictures on a recent short backpack on Mt. Hood, but they surprisingly capture some of the astounding beauty and rapidly shifting weather patterns around the mountain.
Elka and I joined our friend and neighbor, Marci, and her dog
Stacey, on an overnight trip up off Lolo Pass Rd. on the northwest
side. We got a late start on Sat. evening and, after conflicting
directions in our book and map, unfortunately headed out the "wrong"
trail. These pics are taken from that trail, around the side of Bald
Mountain. About an hour later, we confirmed that we were headed the
opposite direction that we intended, so headed back to the car, where
we slept with the dogs and decided to start out again in the morning.
On Sunday, Marci took me on my first hike on the Timberline Trail up to
McNeil Point. We were again in the clouds and didn't have much
visibility, but enjoyed the unbelieveable alpine landscape and
vegetation. We admired a beautiful purple wildflower, Explorer's Gentian, that was thriving in the steep, boggy meadow below McNeil Point.
The dogs of course were oblivious to any misdirection... and had a superb time!
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