My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

OK all caught up. Today we are hanging out in Hood River, Oregon. My first stop was at a welding shop. They agreed to repair my trailer hitch so that worked out great. In addition I had lots of errands to run here. Since I arrived this afternoon I've been able to get my grocery shopping done at Wal Mart and Safeway, fill up with diesel and fill both of the propane tanks, purchase a few gifts and get them mailed, and whatever else needed to be done. Time to chill out this evening. The welder is allowing me to stay in his yard tonight so I've got that covered as well. But oh man it's hot here....like 85 degrees. Second time in Oregon and both times too hot for my liking. Hmmmm...........

At the Welding Shop



Cool Van at Wal Mart

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

So...........one last post and a few more pictures before I hit the mountains this morning. The welder did a great job repairing my trailer hitch and also did a few adjustments to my camper stairway platform. All for a mere $70. Since yesterday was my birthday I decided to clean things up a bit and go out for dinner. I drove the truck over to the car wash and did the high pressure thing to the truck and camper. Looking good although I did drive over some newly painted yellow lines and the left side of my rig is a bit yellow. Anyhow, we then we drove to McDonalds where I had my birthday dinner. Every time I eat there (very, very, very rarely) I always say never again. By then it was late enough to head back to the welder's yard and set up camp. And here we are now having a coffee at Starbucks. I'll be leaving shortly for the Mount Hood area. Temperatures are expected to soar around here this week so I think I'll camp high and play in the mountains. I've got to be in Portland on the 11th to pick up a friend. Looking forward to the company.

This Was the Wrong Peak I climbed on Sawtooth Mountain



Another Ridgeline Shot on Lemei Rock



Mushroom on the Pacific Crest Trail



Evening Sky in Gifford Pinchot National Forest



Driving into Hood River, Oregon

 

[Don the donut guy]

Happy Birthday, Jerry!

It looks like Sawtooth Mtn has some really dicey climbing! Glad you are OK.

Deliver donuts? Uh, we deliver like 5 miles, but you are about 150 miles from me at the moment!! Sorry, pal.

 

[TwinCruiser]

I just spent my lunch hour reading your thread Jerry.

Made me feel like I was right there riding shotgun with you.

Great pics and your dogs are beautiful.

Happy birthday and safe travels. Looking forward to your updates.

Regards from sunny South Florida.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Quick update.....standing on top of lookout mountain (6,525'). The dogs & I just hiked 5.5 miles to the summit. Amazing views...can see 5 volcanoes at the moment and forever to the east. Thankful to be here on this wonderful day..........

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Thanks TwinCruiser and anyone that has commented. Appreciated.

Woke up this morning on the side of Mount Hood with plans to hike up to the summit of Devil Peak. It was cold and raining, and that was all I needed to get me off the mountain. I'm tired. So here I sit at a Starbucks just east of Portland enjoying the day. Anyhow, this is what we've been up to since posting last time in Hood River, Oregon.

September 5th..........we completed all of errands by 2:00 p.m. and headed south on Route 35 for Mount Hood National Forest. First stop was the ranger station to pick up a trail map. I've decided that I'm tired of being lost all the time so I plan to get trail maps for now on. We drove further south into the national forest and camped at a spot that the ranger told me about. It turned out to be perfect......Little John Snow Park. It was free (most important), had a picnic table and a fire pit. It was so good that we spent three nights there. And that evening I made my first fire of the trip. It's been so dry that I'm always concerned with starting a forest fire. Just not worth the risk (usually). I cooked up a bunch of sausages and the (3) of us pigged out. I'm not so sure that the dogs tasted them but they sure were happy with my choice for dinner. We slept well that night.

Our Campsite

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The following morning we drove south a few miles and parked at the trail head for Lookout Mountain (the mountain top I posted from previously). I thought it was going to be a short hike based on the map but with all the switchbacks on the trail it turned into a 5.5 mile hike. It was well worth the effort due to the incredible views combined with the great weather. We spent an hour lounging up there alone before heading down the trail. There were signs of Elk everywhere so we spent nearly an hour searching for antlers. Nothing once again. I needed another dip in a river or lake, and with the East Fork of Hood River being across the road, we jumped in the Jeep and drove through the campgrounds to a private spot for a swim & cleansing. The water was sooooo cold my toes froze (literally). But once I was dried off I felt great. Back to the campsite, some reading, a few short walks, and another day had passed us by.

Summit Dogs



Great Views



Sooooo Cold

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Up this morning with something other than a mountain top on my mind. Another short drive brought us to the trail head for Tamanawas Falls. This place is super popular so I wanted to get there early enough to miss the crowds but not so early that I would freeze my butt off (the mornings have been cold lately). Pulled into the parking area and nobody was there yet. Perfect ! After a short two mile hike along a beautiful creek we reached the falls. It was awesome. Unfortunately my pictures show no scale but they are 125' high and loud. It was pretty cool too because you can hike around the back of the waterfalls for a different view. We probably spent about an hour there taking it all in, and climbing around acting like a 5 year old or something. The change from a mountain top was well needed (I think). On the return trip to the Jeep, the dogs were in and out of the creek. The remainder of the day was spent like many others, reading and short walks in the forest.

The following day was very uneventful. We drove to Timberline Ridge and checked out the lodge and I bought me a tee shirt at the gift shop. Then we drove to the trail head where we spent last night. And the trip goes on..............

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Not much going on the past few days. I've been in Portland, Oregon resting, I guess you could say. I'd hiked and climbed so much that I had sores that needed healing so the rest time is good. I had planned to stay at the local Wal Mart for a few nights but once again city ordinances would not allow it. I decided to walk the dogs before leaving and on our walk we passed by a Camping World store. I stopped in to see if they had any ideas and they said that I was welcome to stay in their lot. Wonderful people here.....they even hooked me up with electricity and let me use their dump station...all for free. Funny how sometimes things work out when it seems like they just can't. So I spent the last (2) nights at their place. Now it's time to move on.........

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I had planned to check out the lava caves in Gifford Pinchot National Forest while I was in Washington but I missed them so I decided to return to Washington to see what I missed. It was driving me nuts that I'd bypassed them. The drive from Portland to the caves along the Columbia River was beautiful and I didn't arrive back to the national forest until it was almost dark. Since I had been here last week large forest fires had spread along the southern side of Mount Adams. The sky was black and grey from all the smoke and the fire fighters were everywhere.

Up this morning to an absolutely beautiful day and we took a short drive to (2) different cave systems. It was a little disappointing but still worth the effort. Afterwards we drove to a small lake along Route 14 and swam for a bit and had lunch. This lake was actually warm compared to most of the stuff that I've been in recently. The remainder of the day was spent hanging out in Hood River, Oregon once again. Now we're headed south through the Cascades.

Today was the first day that I've noticed that the foliage is beginning to change here. And the days have shortened considerably. Fall is beginning in the Pacific Northwest..............

 

[andysgreenxj]

Hey there Jerry! I've been following your trip reports for a while now, and just have to say...I'm really homesick now...LOL! I was born in Vancouver, B.C., and moved out the the great No. Eastern part of New York with my parents nearly 30 yrs ago. Now that my kids are in there teens, I'm hoping to take the family on a trip next spring to show them where I'm from, and your trip reports have been really helpful in making it possible...so with that, I thank you...

Thanks again, Andy

 

[mtnbike28]

Great updates, thanks for sharing!

 

[Mathias and Louise]

Hey Jerry!

Sorry for the late answer, but we've been kind of busy since we left you. Our trip went perfectly well, we arrived in Lake Quinault pretty soon and slept in Hoh Rain Forest in the evening. We hiked there in the morning then hiked again on the beach, to sleep in Port Angeles. For there we went to Hurricane Ridge to do a wonderful hike of about 10 miles. We spent the night in Sequim before joining Seattle the day after, where we visited, and slept-in before our final destination : Vancouver. Since then, everything went well, the city and the university is great but we don't have much time for ourselves.
You remain one of our best memories, and we hope that you're still enjoying your trip (we didn't have time to read your blog yet). Let us know when you're coming up to Vancouver, we'll be so happy to catch up with you... and the dogs!

Happy travels,
Louise & Mathias

PS: we couldn't upload any pictures, so send us your email so that you can post them yourself

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Louise & Mathias........thanks for those kind words. I sent you my my email by private message. I would love to see your pictures. Thanks for that and I wish you achieve all your dreams.........I'll see you in France though !!

Andy, Jay.........glad that you can enjoy the journey with me.

After leaving Hood River we drove south and ended up staying at the same snow park that I stayed at last week. The next morning we drove to the trail head of Frog Lake Buttes (5,294') where I planned to hike up to the summit of my 23rd peak on this trip. Wow, no wonder I've been sore here and there, and just about everywhere. After another struggle to actually find the trail head I found a spot to leave the rig and we were on our way. Well, it was only about a (2) mile hike to the summit with about 1,400' of elevation gain. It was a pretty quick hike and the summit was really boring. Turns out that there was a big tower on the top with a gravel road up the east side of the mountain. Plus it was tree covered so there were no views. Yep, it pretty much sucked. We made a quick retreat and planned to swim in Frog Lake but that sucked too. Left there, took a short drive and camped at another snow park. It was excellent for camping and of course free.

The Boring Summit........

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

So today was the day to drive into Bend, Oregon. We've been driving quite leisurely and made several stops along the way. It's so odd to be on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. Everything is desert like now.......and hot. It hit 90 degrees this afternoon so I'm not liking that too much. We made a stop at this cool rest area along a 300' deep gorge. While I was having my lunch a bunch of antique cars started to pull into the lot. And they just kept on coming.......I'd say maybe a 100 or so. That was pretty neat to check out the cars. After lunch we took a drive to Smith Rocks. That's a big climbing site, very well known amongst climbers. It was so hot that we didn't even stay. I did take a few pictures but that was about it. And here we are in Bend, Oregon. Hmmm.......not sure what is next. I'd like to climb one of the Sisters (big mountains east of here....all over 10,000'). We shall see........take care all.