Mt. Hood - An Exercise in Futility...

One of the things I'm most excited about since making the move to Portland, Oregon is taking advantage of the plethora of photo opportunities which abound here. Within just a few hours there's the rugged Oregon coastline, Mt. St. Helens, Crater Lake and a host of others.

One of the closer "photo ops" is Mt. Hood. Mt. Hood was named for British Admiral Samuel Hood. It was given the name, in 1791, by Lt. William Broughton, who was a member of George Vancouver's discovery expedition. The first Americans to lay eyes on the mountain were Lewis and Clark.
 

So, enough with the history lesson.

I wasn't originally expecting to drive out on a Sunday afternoon. I was having breakfast with a friend, and we were commenting on the weather; how nice it was, and that it could be a good day to head out on a photo excursion. For the majority of the day, the weather was very good. I got out to Mt. Hood, from Portland, in a little over an hour, so I still had plenty of daylight to work with.

I wanted my first stop to be Timberline Lodge. If you say "Well, I've never seen the Timberline Lodge", you would probably be mistaken. While the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado may have served as the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining", it was Timberline Lodge which actually made it into the movie, at least for some of the exterior scenes.

REDRUM!!

Getting to the lodge was, here and there, mildly dicey. I passed countless roadside signs admonishing me to "CARRY CHAINS OR TRACTION TIRES". Well, I moved here from San Diego, California. I lived 20 miles from Mexico. Accordingly, I have neither chains or these things known as "traction tires". So, I managed to get behind a truck that was spreading dirt and stone on the snow-covered road from the main highway up to the lodge:

This was my view for six very long, and very white, miles...

I finally reached Timberline Lodge, and was mildly dismayed to find that there was no parking anywhere. This was, after all, a Sunday. It was also the first major snowfall they'd had, so the skiers and the snowboarders were out in full force. There were, quite literally, zero available parking spots. I was bummed, but there wasn't a lot I could do. I followed the road around the lot and started making my way back down the mountain.

I did manage to stop here and there along the drive down. I'd be damned if I was going to drive off this mountain without getting some photographs.

The road leading up to Timberline Lodge...

I bet those headlights were really helpin' him out, too...

Snow and pine trees, not far from Timberline Lodge...

Despite the temperatures, snow melts constantly and runs off...



An unfamiliar environment for my non-chain-carryin', no-traction-tire sportin' truck...



After coming down the mountain, I turned right and headed to the trail head for Mirror Lake. The view of Mt. Hood from Mirror Lake is spectacular, or so I'm told. See, I never actually made it to Mirror Lake. It's about a 3-1/2 mile hike, round trip and, as you might suspect, half of that is uphill. While my legs were screaming, I have to say that I was pretty pleased with my stamina. It's times like this when I'm glad I quit smoking.

I have to say that I really do wish I'd taken this picture, but I didn't. I pulled it from Wikipedia:
 

The view of Mt. Hood from across Mirror Lake...

Unfortunately, the rains came, and they came on pretty quickly. Now, I'll often risk my personal well being if it means getting a good photo, but I have a hard time justifying the risking of my equipment. Again, being from southern California, I don't (yet) have the required rain gear for my camera. This is something which, given the prevailing weather here in winter, will likely change with a Christmas present to myself.

I got about halfway up the trail when it started to rain. I took shelter under a tree and was going to wait it out, but it became pretty evident that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Such is, I suppose, life in northwestern Oregon. I did manage to grab a few shots, however:

Looking at snow-covered trees across the valley...

A felled tree along the hiking path to Mirror Lake. This is as far as I got, but there will be other days...

They said I should be prepared for cold, inclement weather. I believe this would constitute "mission accomplished"...

So, while I didn't get the photo ops that I was really, really hoping for, I was able to get out of the greater Portland area, point the truck in some random direction, and go. This is the very essence of what I like to do. I love the planned photo shoots, but there's something about being forced to "make lemonade" every once in a while.

And I'll do it at Mt. Hood again in the future...