The day after the wedding, the bride and groom planned a hike for the family that was still in Oregon. So after a lazy morning with bacon and eggs for breakfast, we headed towards the Top Spur and Timberline Loop Trail. We were in no hurry, because we were waiting for the clouds (we have seen every morning) to clear. We had a fun group of eight hikers this morning.
We need to introduce our group. We're not sure how this happened, but we didn't have a picture of the bride and groom together facing the camera on the entire hike.
The bride's Mother was talked into taking this hike against her better judgement. Patti hasn't ever been on such a demanding hike, but we assured her that she could turn back at any time if she didn't like it. She was a trooper and never turned back. She did great!
and his wife, Jordan, and their daughter, Carter, were in our group of eight. Their son, Eli, stayed home with the other set of grandparents, so we didn't have all of our family on this hike.
Of course, Mark and Denisa enjoyed hiking with this group of people that are so special to us!
It was a bumpy ride in the cars to the trail head, and we found we had to park a half-mile down the road. This was a popular trail!
We were about a half-mile down the trail when we met a woman with noticeably blue teeth. She pointed out that we were almost to the section of the trail with lots of blueberries. That was music to Denisa and Carter's ears!
She was right! We started seeing bushes loaded with blueberries right after she alerted us.
These are some of the prettiest wild berries we have seen in a while. We were spending so much time picking and eating berries that we forgot we were hiking up a steep trail.
This was a "lollipop" trail--meaning that we first hiked the "stem" and then hiked a loop or lollipop top. This loop opened out of the forest for what was supposed to be an iconic view of Mount Hood. But we couldn't even see Mount Hood, because it was completely covered in the heavy cloud cover.
So we made ourselves comfortable, and decided to just wait until the clouds cleared.
We waited for more than thirty minutes, and quickly took pictures when the clouds parted enough that we could see a glimpse of the mountain behind them. At least we got a peek at the peak of Mount Hood.
We finally gave up, and our group of eight headed on around the loop and away from the viewpoint. We felt a little defeated as we continued around the loop.
Even with no magnificent view of Mount Hood, it was a good hike. We even had a little blue sky starting to show up behind us. Denisa looked back to take a picture of Mark on the ledge of the trail.
After the viewpoint, we were once again in the forest, with Carter as our trusty hiking leader.
In this section of the trail, the blueberries were replaced by huckleberries. Much the same size, a huckleberry is more purple and is more tart in taste.
We even found salmonberries, and Blake was picking the ones harder to reach.
Carter was picking little "fruit salads" and delivering them to all the members of our hiking group. This fruit salad included blueberries, purple huckleberries, and three of the yellow salmonberries. Who wouldn't love to get a nice trail snack delivered in that little berry-stained hand?
While some of us were concentrating on wild berries, Mark and Luke and Jordan decided to make another dash around the forested loop just to see if the clouds had lifted.
We were so glad they did! The clouds were parting, and they could see the top of Mount Hood clearly! So they ran back to tell the slower-hiking group the good news.
So we all headed back around the loop to get that view. The clouds continued to lift, with more clear pictures of the grandeur of Mount Hood. This iconic view was why this trail was so popular.
We were glad that Patti got this view, as the reward to hanging out with this crazy group on this hard hike. She got to wander into God's wonders with us on this day.
We were all smiling about that view as we made the hike back. The clouds hadn't defeated us after all. We stopped for a picture of the signpost that shows where we intercepted the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail. This trail runs along the highest portions of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains, but it would take a little detour to get to that view of Mount Hood.
We were accompanied by more of the Tortoise shell butterflies that seem to be everywhere this summer.
Since we stayed at the wedding venue, we stopped to check on our trailer on the way back from the hike. We were glad to see that the battery was at 97% with a little sunshine making it through the trees this afternoon. Then we all met for dinner, followed by smores at Luke and Jordan's Airbnb. It was in another picturesque location, with the Sandy River flowing right behind it.
The water of the Sandy River was fed by the snow that was just now melting off the mountain tops. The outdoor temperatures merited wearing a jacket for Denisa, so you can only imagine how cold that river water felt this evening.
Their rental included a sauna. So they would get hot and sweaty in the sauna, then run down to the river for a cold water plunge.
Their screams were our evidence that the water was ice cold! Mark and Denisa didn't feel the need to experience it for themselves.
Jordan got the award for being able to stay completely submerged in that cold water the longest.
After that cold water plunge, it was time to warm up around the fire pit. The embers were just right for toasting the marshmallows we brought from the trailer.
It was a beautiful evening, after a great day with our family in Oregon.
Mark and Denisa are used to traveling alone together to beautiful places. But after traveling for a month to get to this location, it was so nice to have a reason to spend several days with our family in the Oregon mountains near Mount Hood!
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