VayCay

Photos from the latest travels during some time off in May and June. 

Trying to get in shape to climb Mt. Hood.

Looking north from the top of Mt. St. Helens in early May

Coming down from my first successful summit of Mt. Hood.  

It was an exhausting, surreal experience and I loved it.  

Sulphur air freshener

Mt. Hood Round 2

Myself, Arthur, Beau, and Sergio.  

I love these dudes.  The last time we all went on an adventure together was over 10 years ago and these boys flew up from Arizona for the sole purpose of attempting to climb Mt. Hood.  The day they landed was our only decent looking weather window so we assembled some gear made our attempt that night.  The weather held and we had an awesome climb.  Not bad for some desert dudes who had never yielded ice axes before.

Arthur and Beau about to head up the Pearly Gates

Summit pizza

Mountain Beau

Looking down on the Columbia River Gorge, with St. Helens, Rainer and Adams dotting the horizon

Heading back down the Pearly Gates

Mountain Arthur

"Beautiful Shit"

Back down on the hogsback, brewing coffee and enjoying the sun

Mountain Sergio

Back at sea level, an afternoon stroll with the boys on Beverly Beach

Sunset Kava sesh

The Alvord Desert and Steens Mountains

After the dudes left, I went to the desert with some friends and ended up at a mini burning man thing.  I adapted the best I could, and the Steens Mountains made it all worthwhile.

Not pictured, desert rave

Mt. Hood Wilderness

Turned 35 and went up on Mt. Hood because I like it there

After waking up under a pile of sand

John Day Fossil Beds and Painted Hills

Road trippin' to eastern Oregon with a stop at Smith Rock and Santiam Pass on the way back home

Crater Lake

I had never been to Yosemite and was fortunate to score some camping reservations in Tuolumne Meadows for two nights.  I cruised through Crater Lake on the way down and Lassen National Park on the way back up.

Yosemite

I was blown away by the beauty of this place.  Even though it was crowded with throngs of people,  all it took was walking out on a trail and next thing you knew, you were all by yourself.

Lassen Nation Park

Three Sisters Wilderness

Upcoming work was fast approaching and for a final hurrah my buddy Toby and I headed out to the Three Sisters Wilderness.  We had plans to backpack the entire loop around the Sisters, but after our first night decided to circumnavigate the South Sister instead.  It proved to be a good choice allowing us to unexpectedly climb the Middle Sister during our trip.

This guy knows how to chiiiiilllll