We planned to hike to the highest point you can get to on Mount Hood today but it was only a 6 mile return trip so we were in no rush. After 9am came and went, we emerged from the Cabana and dealt with going to the bathroom in this camp that had no privacy and no toilets. Dan’s solution was to go inside the van in the shit cup but I managed a sneaky poo in the forest while no one was looking.

Since we were out of snacks, I made another batch of van cookies while Dan made pancakes and eggs for brekkie (we were out of bacon). Both were a raging success, the cookies turning out even better than last time. We hung out at camp a while longer, me slacklining a little, Dan setting up a milk crate, a stick and a long piece of string in an attempt to catch a squirrel. Despite the pile of dry cereal he’d placed under the crate, he was unsuccessful.

Dan proposed a warm up hike to the nearby Trillium Lake which was only a mile away, just to get us moving. I was keen for that so we packed a small backpack and set off from camp. We had a good excuse to sticky beak around camp a bit on our way to the nearby trailhead. There were plenty of tents spread around the forest with a few campers thrown in.

The trail to the lake wound through the forest and was nice and flat. For a lot of it we were within sight of the road, but mostly had the forest to ourselves. When we reached the lake we were initially disappointed to see it was swampy, but the further we walked on the broken boardwalk, the better it got. The far side of the lake was a hive of activity with people and floatation devices everywhere.

We got to the beach and stripped down to our undies to get in, Cleo included. The water wasn’t clear like the glacier waters of Banff, but that didn’t matter, it was enough to get us cooled down. Cleo surprised both of us when she full on jumped into the water from a rock, resulting in a near drowning experience that had her gasping for air as her hing legs searched for a solid ground beneath her. Dan got to her and she recovered but she was so traumatised that no amount of calling and encouragement could get her back in the water.

We carried on walking around the lake, admiring the views of Mount Hood behind the lake. Soon enough, we were out of the crowds and back into the forest. The campgrounds around the lake were tight knit, very packed communities so we were happy we had our semi-secluded spot a mile up the road. Cleo was in heaven chasing all sorts of stuff off the boardwalk as we walked. A half hour or so later, we were back at camp and we’d already pretty much decided we weren’t going to climb Mount Hood that afternoon. The decision mostly came from me since I was in a lazy mood and was thoroughly ready to wind away the rest of the afternoon relaxing at camp. Dan didn’t take much convincing of that idea.

Back at our humble abode, I got right onto making us a huge salad for lunch that was nothing short of delicious. Meanwhile, Dan had done a bit of Googling and found there was a weed shop in the nearby town of Rhododendron. Now we had an afternoon activity! After a bit more relaxing at camp, we got in my car and drove fifteen minutes down the road until we saw a green cross. We took my car because I needed to charge my battery. Turns out solar panels suffer poor efficiency in smoky haze.

Me and Cleo waited in the car while Dan visited the dispensary and came out with a big smile and a tiny tube of weed. Not only that, when he got to the car, he showed me a couple of pairs of eclipse-watching glasses he’d bought for $2 a piece! Couldn’t see anything through them until we looked at the sun, which was harmlessly visible in all of its firey blaze. We had been planning on buying cheap welding goggles for the eclipse event that was happening in ten days, but this seemed a much better option.

We drove up the road to the supermarket next, getting some much needed beer, bacon and bananas. Our errands done, we drove right back to camp. Dan took the wheel of the Astro because having sat backwards on the trip into town, he’d gotten motion sick and needed to recover. His tummy was still in a twist by the time we got back but he was ok.

After Dan rolled himself a poor man’s joint, we played cards for a good while before sitting back and watching the camp become more crowded. Being a Friday night, people were rolling in for the weekend in the droves.

I’d been looking forward to making Chip Nachos, an idea I’d had in my head for a while. When 5pm rolled around, I got to it, mixing up a can of beans with some corn and onion, chopping up tomatoes and squashing an avocado. It all went together with some fried bacon and potato wedges. It took me a good hour to prepare, Dan relaxing in the hammock the whole time, apart from when he got the fire started. Just as I was plating up, with Dan ogling over my shoulder, a guy drove past in a Prius and informed us, “You can’t have fires guys.” We hadn’t seen no sign and there were plenty of other people having fires! We said none of this and just said, “Oh, really? Thanks mate!” He soon drove off and we saw no more of him as we sat by our fire.

Dinner was delicious, probably one of the best things to come out the back of my van and we devoured it slowly, dipping into the nacho-like mix with the wedges. It wasn’t long after we’d finished eating that we crept into Dan’s van for the evening wind down. We played a bit more cards before watching a couple of TV series episodes, not really fancying either of them. It was properly dark by the time we started nodding off to sleep and so we turned off the laptop and put our heads down.

In the middle of the night (around 2am), we were woken up by Cleo who’d been woken up by thunder. Shit scared, she’d first tried to climb into bed with us, then when that didn’t work she tried to tunnel down under the bed, making a huge racket as she did so. The thunder was fierce and so was Cleo’s fear, becoming so cumbersome and loud that Dan had to put her on her leash to keep her still. We lay awake now just listening to the thunder and watching the bright flashes of light. For all the drama, there was hardly a drop of rain.