My friend Tera has always wanted to join me on a hike. It's never worked before, but this weekend she is in town to run a 5K with her Dad for Father's Day and so we decided to escape to Lost Lake, outside Hood River, OR. The last time I was here there was a fire and I couldn't see Mt Hood, one of the major bonuses for doing this hike. You can see it here. I loved the hike last year, but was disappointed to not see Mt Hood. This year, the weather worked out well for our hike.
There are many majestic views of Hood on the drive there (which was longer than I had remembered, but oh-so-worth-it.) Here is one view.
When we arrived we didn't waste any time getting on the trail. You can see Tera looking at the mountain here.
It was a little cloudy, but was set to shape up to be a sunny, blue skied day.
Tera contemplating the beauty...
Us getting ready. Hindsight says I should have gotten another picture like this at the end of our 3.2 mile hike. With the blue sky.
Smile!
Why did allow a side shot like this...I shall never know.
On the trail...of wood. There is enough runoff with snow melt that they've got these "bridges" to help get through the muddy parts.
We decided to sit on a bench and enjoy the sun for a few moments when I spotted something under the root system of a fallen tree. Tera dug it out.
It was a little treasure, similar to a geocache, though not "official" as the note inside said.
It was full of random goodies...
...and so we played...
...and played....
...and Tera wrote a message after reading past entries.
Some more fun things...the area above smelled terribly...we joked that it was the enormous, jungle like plants growing up out of the swampy-ness.
Fallen tree root systems. In last years pictures you can see me standing in front of this same root system...the lake was high enough this visit that we would have been up to at least our ankles in water had we wanted a similar picture....
There was still snow in the hills around the lake. I would love to see this lake when there is a lot of snow...I can only imagine how gorgeous it would be.
Once we finished the loop around the lake we settled to have lunch, which we'd packed along with us. Best way to eat...a beautiful setting, after a good hike and with a good friend.
Even the animals thought it was worthwhile to join us...
Tera had brought her swim suit so she could swim in the lake. She is braver than I.
Here she is contemplating it. If it was warmer I'd rather like swimming in this amazing setting.
Still contemplating...and then she had an attack plan. Go in a bit at a time and acclimate, rather than just jumping...I don't know if she was smarter to do it this way, or if it would have been better to just jump.
In this picture you can see a little newt (black backed and orange bellied we later discovered) right in the center. The lake was full of them.
This is as far in as my cold-blooded body could make it. And it took me a long time to recover my warmth after this...
Wave to the camera in the frigid cold temperature lake, Tera!
I also enjoyed playing with different features on my camera while Tera indulged in the cold water.
She brought a little newt out with her...
...then he swam away.
I was really excited to see the beginnings of this Lenticular Cloud forming to the left and just at the peak of the summit. I've seen amazing pictures of this phenomenon and hoped to see this one grow, which it did. I can't say that it was fully a Lenticular cloud, seeing as how it wasn't obscuring the peak, but close enough for my joy.
You can still see the cloud to the left in the picture below...along with me, enjoying the sun.
After Tera warmed up by sunning herself on some rocks and I continued to warm up doing the same, we packed up and headed for an Alpaca Farm, the same one I'd been to a month or so earlier with Linda, Larry and Connie. In that time, the alpacas had been sheered. They went from fluffy things to scrawny things, but still cute.
Check out the face that greeted us.
There were a few playing down a hill...
And they were all game for some treats that we got out of a dispenser...
...I bought heavenly soft yarn there too...I'd been dreaming about it since my previous trip.
We enjoyed the farm dog and one of the farm cats as well. I can't remember the dogs name, but this cat was Purl, of the pair of cats named Knit and Purl....clever, eh?!
After the lake and alpaca adventure, we stopped for ice cream at my most favorite ice cream joint in Cascade Locks. Then home to change and to my favorite little restaurant on the Columbia River. Tera had arrived at my home just after 9am and she left just after 9:30pm. A full and glorious day. And, I'm tired. And, she runs 5K tomorrow morning. Go her!
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