Mt Hood lost behind smoke at Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a hike that I've had tabbed as "to-do" in my favorite hiking book for a long time. I finally decided to suck up the drive (which is what had been holding me back, pathetically) and go. I got up (sort of) early and packed a lunch and headed out. I have written before of my love of Mt Hood and I was so looking forward to the amazing views I would see.

The drive through the gorge was beautiful.

The view of Mt Adams was wonderful.

I arrived at Lost Lake, paid my fee and got parked. I made my way over to the lake, anxiously awaiting my wonderful view, and this is what I saw....humph...

I decided, even with no view, I was going to still enjoy my time in a beautiful setting.

The above is what I saw, the below is what I had hoped to see...there'll be another time.

Me with the lake and smoke behind me.
From this view, you'd never know there was a fire and so much smoke.

The light making it to the ground looked orange at this point, filtered through the smoky sky. In some areas it was red.

This isn't the most flattering photo, but it gives you an idea of the coloring.

Pretty ominous looking~

There were some pretty massive root systems on fallen trees...Me with the root system to give size comparison...

Pictures don't even do it justice...really.

I was in awe of the color of the water due to the reflection.

Almost as dark as night under there.

My feet in the water that was so clear. Smoke ahead.

The sun behind the smoke.

As I went along on my hike the smoke encroached more and more. By the time I left it was starting to settle in the area. Shortly after I got home, after my detour and nice drive to get home, I saw on Facebook that the resort and campground had been evacuated and closed due to the smoke. I was thankful I got out when I did and didn't have the evacuating people (there were lots of them) and chaos to deal with.

I made my way away from Lost Lake and headed towards Parkdale. I had planned to return to PDX via Lolo Pass Rd, which would have taken me very near the fire. I feared that they may have closed the road, so I went for a much longer drive to Hwy 35 to Hwy 26 and stopped at Timberline Lodge.

This is the view from near Parkdale.

Coming up on Mt Hood from the south you can see all the smoke.

View from Timberline Lodge (parking lot).

Mt Hood!

Above you can see Mt Jefferson and the smoke from a wildfire burning there, also.

Mountain Lupine, so pretty...

Me with a grand mountain behind me.

The Pacific Crest Trail passes Mt Hood at Timberline. This is a trail known well by area hikers. It runs from Canada down through WA, OR, CA to Mexico.

Instead of walking the 550 miles to Canada, I walked 550 ft toward Mexico, so I could say that I've at least been on the PCT. This is the view towards Canada...

What a view...

All-in-all, I didn't get the view that I had planned on, but I still got a view, and have pictures and a story to tell about the Dollar Lake Fire. A good day, I'd say.