If it wasn’t for the bugs, we’d have hung around at camp a little longer. The trains had been almost therapeutic during the night and the river was a hive of activity in the morning with fisherman and tub boats pushing cargo up and down the channel. We found a window of opportunity to have a skinny dip and shower before having a quick brekkie of cereal. Dan was on lead duty again today so he was sussing out our route towards Mount Hood. He figured that was our best chance of finding a cool spot in the middle of this heat wave.
I followed him out and we hit the highway soon enough. More podcasts to keep me awake as we followed the Columbia River on the Washington side. It was a pretty drive as we got further west, with cliffs on one side of us and the huge river on the other. Predictably, I was falling asleep in the heat by the time we crossed the river into Oregon for a gas stop. Dan’s mileage was on the decline thanks to his failing MAF sensor so we resolved to find a parts shop soon. Per Oregon standards, people filled our cars up for us before we hit the road again. Thankfully it was only another half hour to the town of Mount Hood.
When I got my first glimpse of the huge volcano, I called Dan who was still driving in front. “Do you see the snow?!” I yelled at him. He hadn’t seen it yet thanks to the smoke haze and I got to hear him yell out when he saw the patches of white. We’d finally be able to cool down! We were only five minutes away from Toll Bridge Park where we had the river by the park all to ourselves. Swimming! No cold water here, it was freezing! Just what the doctor ordered. The water was shallow, but plenty deep enough to lay down in it and wake us up.
Thoroughly sick of being in our cars, we sat out the back of them and had a gourmet lunch (by our standards). Brie and biccies for entrée while I heat up some sausage rice curry for main. Since we didn’t have any beer, Dan cracked the bottle of red we’d bought at Grand Coulee and we each had a glass. This probably wasn’t the best idea because it made me super lethargic, but it was nice to just chill out in the relatively cool weather. Once we were done with lunch, we took another dip in the freezing water to wake up again. Dan insisted it was my turn to lead so I took us back onto the road towards Timberline, a lodge at the base of Mount Hood where a movie “The Shining” was filmed (all info from Dan’s book of useless information). Halfway there, we pulled in at a free campsite that was rumoured to be at the site of an old airstrip. Thinking it would be an exposed strip of tarmac, we were pleasantly surprised to find it was nothing of the sort, but a nice forest campground, not too populated either.
We parked the Astro in a choice spot then I got into Dan’s van for the drive up the mountain. It was a scenic one, with the wildflowers growing more numerous as we climbed higher. If it wasn’t for the haze, we’d have had better views of Mount Hood, but the grey cloud was still all around us. We parked in the crowded carpark to see a bunch of snowboarders kitting down from their day of half-piping. What?!?! Mount Hood is open pretty much year round and people sure were making the most of it!
As we walked towards the lodge, we could see tiny specs navigating the half pipe towards the base of the mountain, the only section of mountain that was still traversable on a board. The visitor’s centre was pretty much abandoned, since the chair lift shut down at 3pm along with everything else. We explored the building a bit and found a hut for climbers and hikers of Mount Hood. Inside there was a huge box full of hiking gear that had been left by hikers for hikers. Us being us, we had a good rustle through it but left everything for the hikers. There was even a good pair of Solomon hiking boots in there!
We wandered through the lodge (with Cleo illegally at our side) and found it was full of guests but we struggled to find a bar. When we came across the Blue Ox, we found it tucked into a corner of the building and the tiny space was relatively full. We sat at the bar, Cleo still illegally by our side and nearly got away with a pair of beers until the barman saw the canine and told us only service dogs were allowed. He did say we could take our beers outside as a consolation. They didn’t have the blonde ale so I settled for amber, which I didn’t much fancy, while Dan had an IPA.
After a bit of wandering, we found our way outside and to the patio where there were timber deck chairs and plenty of hikers and guests lazing around. This was a high point on the PCT trail so we weren’t the dirtiest dirtbags there, a nice change. We even saw a hiker sporting the Solomon boots from the lost and found box, telling his friends how stoked he was to have found them. A happy ending.
There was plenty to watch as we sat sipping our beers, the highlight being a wedding right outside the doors of the lodge. It was a small affair with only a dozen attendees and a quick service, it was an interesting party to watch and comment on. With all the fit PCT hikers milling around, it made the overweight families look ever more disgusting, so much so that we found it hard to watch.
Having downed our beers and enjoyed the views of Mount Hood as much as we could, we were ready to head back to camp. We’d had a successful day of doing not a whole lot and were ready to continue that trend back at our camp. Driving around the back of the lodge, Dan noticed a couple of errant pallets so pulled up next to them while I got out and stashed it in the living room. Firewood! Without a passenger seat, I enjoyed the comfort of Kevin’s creek washed up chair in its place as we descended the mountain.
At the campground, we scouted a little further to see if we could find a better spot, but there was no need, we already had the best pick of what was available. Dan was starving and me hungry so I got straight onto dinner while he set up his hammock and got the slack line set up between a couple of trees. The mushrooms I roasted looked bloody amazing before I combined them with chicken, onions and a white pasta sauce. It was a super yummy dinner which we ate by the fire Dan had got going like a pro.
When we had a bit of trouble with the fire dying, I was keen to try some of my Start ‘Ya Bastard spray to see if that would help. It definitely made a bang, but I wouldn’t say it did much to sustain the fire. I feel like these are the sorts of experiments I missed out on as a teenager so I’m just getting them done now.
As the sun went down behind us, we relaxed by the fire, actually needing its warmth after the sun went down. What heat wave? We slacklined until we grew frustrated with our shit balance, then sat by the fire till it dwindled.
