Mt. Hood to the Columbia River Gorge

  I had the last week off work so my buddy Toby and I went backpacking on a short section of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Our co-worker Choul along with her friend Charles gave us a ride up to Timberline lodge and hiked in with us for the first night.  From there Toby and I continued down the trail eventually meeting up with Eagle Creek and the Columbia River Gorge.  We were eating huckleberries, salmonberries, and some other berry that I don't know the name of the whole way down and it was awesome.

Mt. Hood and ZigZag Canyon

Bearded trees lined the first section of the hike

The first of many wildflowers

We camped here in Paradise Park the first night

More Paradise

The view back west towards Portland as the sun went down

Mt. Hood is a lot more rugged and colorful up close

The next morning the valley was filled with clouds.  Mt. Jefferson was showing off it's tippy top.

A little waterfall right below our camp.  I got stung by a wasp ten minutes later.

Sandy River Canyon

We chilled at this spot for a long time eating huckleberries.  We were leaving and the mountain came out of the clouds for a bit.

Huckleberry hand

The Sandy River and a cold bathing spot.

Ramona Falls

A cloud covered Hood in our rearview

Mt. Adams lurking as we continued on hoping to find a good spot to camp

We kept hiking for a while not finding any good spots to post up for the night.  The ridges were steep and heavily forested.  We reached a trail that led down to Lost Lake and walked down it for a bit expecting to have to sleep right on the trail.  Fortunately we spotted a bluff through the forest and after some bushwhacking found an awesome spot with a view of the valley and mountain.  The next morning though, it was all socked in.

Walking through the wet

By midday the clouds had cleared and we could see the Eagle Creek canyon and out to the gorge

The last view of Hood before we headed down to Wahtum lake for the night

Partially burned forest on the way down into Eagle Creek.

Swimming/slash fishing pool below our camp at Eagle Creek.
I was laying by the creek and spotted some fishing line in a tree.  Next thing you know Toby was finding grubs in the river rocks and catching fish with our newly acquired line and tackle.  We caught a bunch of small trout and enjoyed some fish Pho for din-din

The next day we made it to the Eagle Creek trailhead parking lot and I just wanted to walk back into the woods.