Circling Mt. Hood 8/21-23

Mt. Hood from the south. 

Mt. Hood shrouded. We must cross this giant drainage. Many miles & feet later we will camp. 

We reluctantly left theTimberline at about 3:00 pm. The Germans left an hour before us. We hiked until 7:00ish and managed to put in another 10 miles that day racking it up to twenty miles. That was astounding because our break at Timberline was 4 hours.

. It seems that we are always walking around these behometh volcanos from 3 sides. We see all sides but the east facing side. They take us about 2 days to get around them but we see them for at least a week before and after, that's how big they are. Clouds live around them and weather is created by them. Mt. Hood is no exception. It was clear when we reached the resort and clouded in when we left.

PCT hikers peering over the sandy edge. 

We reached a campspot by the Sandy River along with 12 other PCT hikers. It was packed. There were also some weekend and section hikers but they all came in after us (we can be very fast) and had to find other spots further down the river. It was crowded but the beauty of PCT hikers is that we are all in our tents and asleep by 8:00. There is no partying so crowding is not such an issue. 

      FC decided she wanted to sleep in. They had not slept-in, in their tent for five months. She complained that after staying in hotels she was not rested. There were too many things to see and do. She couldn't sleep in properly. She had looked at her face in a mirror at Timberline and been shocked at the dark circles and bags under her eyes. She looked bad. She needed sleep. She thought her kidney chi was becoming too depleted and suddenly felt some back pain. More sleep was the answer so she told TC all this. TC offered an extra 30 minutes. Instead of 5:30, they would get up at 6:00. FC replied that that was not sleeping in. TC relented, eventhough she likes starting early. FC told her that she looked really bad too. FC did not want to get up in the dark. Princess and Mr. Sandals would leave early. They had obviously not looked at themselves in the mirror.

      The next morning TC awoke at her usual time (for her nature call) and came back into the tent, lying awake until 6:50, which is when her highness, FC opened her eyes. FC woke up much more refreshed than usual. She wanted to sleep until 7:00 everyday but knew she would have to keep convincing TC that sleeping an extra hour a day would not interfere with their goal of reaching Canada by Sept. 25th or so. 

Mt. Hood playing misty. 

      We left camp at 8:00am and reached the Sandy River shortly. This river is a glacial river. Until just a couple of weeks ago this river had a bridge. A hiker (not PCT) was killed when a flash flood wiped out the bridge he was running across. Twenty-three people had crossed before him and made it but it was his day to die in this freakish accident. FC and TC did not know any of this at the time. The river was fast, deep and silty. FC tried finding the bottem with her pole a few times and failed to find it. She walked up the river looking for a safe place to cross. TC was beginning to lose it. Remember, her greatest fear of the PCT was river crossings. She thought they were all behind her and now, surprisingly, they are facing their most challenging crossing. FC finally finds a place she can at least see some rocks to stand on. They had walked up the river for 3/10ths of a mile. Boots and shoes off, backpacks undone, side by side they cross safely. TC was visibly shaken and FC relieved. Onward they walked towards the stunning Ramona Falls. 

FC crossing the fast & silty Sandy.

   On the way, FC questioned 2 men on now they had crossed; one leapt across and the other went in thigh deep with his running shoes on getting pants and shoes thoroughly wet. Both these men were over 5'11. The leaper said he was nervous and threw some gear to the other side before jumping. If this river warranted a bridge you can trust us, it was sketchy.

      

Ghost  & TC

      Ramona Falls doesn't look anything like a Ramona. It is a spread out feathery falls cascading over a wall of multi-tiered blocks. It is definitely one of the prettiest and most striking water falls I have ever seen. It felt magical to be in front of it surrounded by a green mossy forest. There was another weekend hiker drawing a sketch of the falls in his journal. He remInded FC of John-Boy Walton because he wore the same kind of hat and had a friendly direct gaze while talking to you. We expected him to have a southern drawl. FC wished she was a weekend hiker so she could take the time to lie on the ground, look up and dream, maybe even try a drawing or two. 

Ramona Falls & FC

TC crossing bridge below Ramona. 

    We continued on and crossed the Muddy River. This time we walked over two fallen logs holding onto ropes someone had thoughtfully tied on.Who would have known there would be so much excitement in Oregon?

FC crossing the Muddy River.  

     This particular hike was enchanting. There's just no other word for it...emerald green stillness. Occasionally you will hear a bird. Other than the creek burbling by it is quiet. Unlike the California section where we were awakened every morning at the precise moment the sun began to rise by a lively neighborhood coffee clutch of birds, in Oregon, either the birds are all sleeping in or there are none. The birds we do hear during the day are more exotic sounding, more like tropical island birds. The birds in Oregon are all soloists...one at a time.

Mossy Oregon  

Soft & green. 

North face of Mt. Hood. Last view as we head further north. 

I did not tell you about another fire we passed. While descending into a valley from Mt. Jefferson, Princess saw smoke and walked over to investigate. There was a fire burning by a campsite and no one appeared to be there. There was a tent so she called into the tent. A lady came out and could not speak English. She spoke only Spanish. The fire was spreading. It was not surrounded by a fire ring. It was in a dried out stream bed travelling along long pieces of wood. If not attended to there would be a forest fire. The lady had no water. We tried putting it out but it was spread out and we didn't have a shovel. The water was half a mile away. FC volunteered to take everyone's Platypus containers, fill them up and return. On the way she met Can-Can, a young man with long legs who she told to fetch the water quickly. The Spanish woman was trailing behind FC clutching 2 tiny empty water containers. Bless her heart. It was probably her crazy boyfriend who had gone off hiking and left her alone with an unattended fire he had started. He's off having a wilderness experience while she is left with the responsibility of controlling a potential forest fire. Do not fear Claudia (her boyfriend had left a note addressed to her) the Fire Princess ('newly named) with her trusty servants will come to the rescue, which we did. That little in incident set is back about 30 minutes and Fire Princess was pissed for the rest of the day. She was sick of fires and the time they subtracted from her goal. She was done with fires. Let them burn. We did meet a ranger walking up to the area we had been in and we informed her of the fire and asked her to check on It and Claudia. Where the hell was the perpetrator?

R. Sandals, Fire Princess & FC on fire patrol. 

Princess needing a treatment from FC after the stress of fire.