Hood River,Oregon

It was a bit foggy and overcast when we left the AirBnB.  Luckily, the first activity was a waterfall hike, not involving long-distance viewing.  The Little Zig Zag falls hike was very peaceful and along an old road bed from the early 1900's.

 

Just another roaring mountain stream.  Pretty popular.

 

The fog/clouds were lifting -we could see Mt. Hood part of the time.

I wanted to go to Trillium Lake because there was supposed to be a beautiful view of Mt. Hood from the lakeside.  We were displeased when we drove up to a checkpoint - a concessionaire handles the entry fee at this location (on Federal Lands!). Apparently, they do not accept Duane's Senior National Park pass.  We decided to go on and pay the $10 fee but it was not without a bit of angst.....anyway, the view from the lake was beautiful but the park was very busy.   I guess the weekend traffic and kids being out of school has conspired to give us crowds.

 

Selfie with Mt. Hood in the background.

A little closer shot.

Next we drove up the steep base of Mt. Hood to the historic Timberline Lodge.  The view just kept getting better.

I wanted to hike a short 2 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail (The PCT) to overlook White River Canyon.  Took us a little while to figure out the trails as this is really a ski mountain for most of the year.

The views were incredible!   Windy and we had to wear our jackets again.

We actually got grit in our teeth from all the blowing sand.

A PCT marker.  We only hiked a short distance - the PCT hikers are beasts.

By the time we were walking back, I was ready to be back sitting down! 

 

 Snow melt from the glacier on the mountain.

Back in the car, a different view of Mt. Hood as we drove away.

We were looking for a place to eat our sandwiches - saw a sign for Sahalie Falls trail.  You can see the falls from the main highway, but we opted for a nice 2 mile long hike.  Plus had a nice place to eat our lunch!

 Views of Mt. Hood....different from every perspective.

 

We did have a bit of time before we could check into our next AirBnB.  We noticed a sign that promised a mountaintop overlook.  10 miles of winding road.  Views were incredible! 

 Time to start driving to the next destination - Hood River. 

 

Sandy, Oregon

 I am a bit on the mend now.....still a bit croupy....and still a little tired.

Time to check out of our AirBnB in Bend and head north towards Mt. Hood.

First little thing I wanted to explore was the Redmond Caves.  It didn't sound like a huge undertaking but it was closeby and easy access. As this was an unguided and unsupervised spelunking episode, we were on our own.  We were told we'd need to have flashlights, so we stopped by the Dollar Store and spent $5 on two small flashlights.  The caves are on BLM land just north of the airport/industrial area.  Surprisingly close to town but here was no one else around when we arrived.

There are several caves and the first couple had entrances that involved gloves, long pants and hardhats.  We opted for the easiest entrance.  

 

A very dry cave compared to many we've been in.

 

We wandered inside a bit...turns out, this is not a very large cave!  I guess I should pause here to say....I win some, lose some on activity planning.   I guess I over-rated the reviews on this one.  No worries, more things to pursue.

 

Back on the road, we stopped by Peter Skene Ogden viewpoint - this was actually better than a normal roadside viewpoint.  The photos don't really show how enormous the gorge is.

 

The 1911 bridge still in use for trains crossing the Crooked River Gorge.

 

The terrain is dry and varied.

 Soon heading into the evergreen mountains toward Mt. Hood.

We stopped by the Wildwood Recreation area.  You can see the salmon running here during the fall....

And they have this cool underground room where you can see the little various salmon/steelhead fry viewed thru glass to the nearby creek.

More views of Salmon River

They also had a really nice 1/2 mile boardwalk in the adjoining marsh/wetlands.

Really nice walk on a hot day.

And last thing on the list was to drive into Sandy to the Jonsrud viewpoint.  Beautiful view back to Mt. Hood.

 Checked into our next AirBnB a bit early as I was a little tired again!!