From the beginning, the weather was nice but cold. We weaved our way through more than a mile of forest with little elevation gain. About 45 minutes in, we reached our first opportunity to man up and encountered a washed out bridge over a river running into the wilderness. We talked to a few hikers who suggested we walk upriver to an alternate crossing, but we decided to dig deep, take off our boots and ford the river directly.
I crossed first and then shot the above video of Spendy demonstrating why he's a member of the Pentaquest. Once across the river, the trail started a long series of switchbacks up into the wilderness. We didn't see any other people for the next few hours. After the trail leveled out and we were almost to Soda Peaks Lake, we hit enough snow that we decided to turn around before reaching the end. The snow prevented us from staying on the trail and we didn't want to get lost and end up on the evening news.
On the way down, we ate lunch in the sun at a spot on the trail with an unobstructed view of the north side of Mt. Hood. Moments like that serve as reminders of why hiking is better than sitting around the house on a Saturday.
When we reached the washed out bridge, this time Jared went first and shot this video of me crossing.
On the way home, we passed through Stevenson, WA and discovered a great brewpub - Walking Man. A nice way to end a day of hiking.
No comments:
Post a Comment