Hood River, Oregon

Monday - Home in Hood River, Oregon. It felt so good to settle into Judi's home after two weeks on the road. We enjoyed hiking to some beautiful falls in the Gorge after picnicing at the fish hatchery, where they have a humongous sturgeon in a pond with huge rainbow trout. The falls looked like I was on some movie set.
Tuesday- Amy came up to Hood River to visit her friend Craig and the three of us trekked across to WA to a flat 16 mile loop around Trout Valley at the base of Mt. Adams. The farmland is so bucolic with grazing cows and horses, crops of flowers and farmers working. That night we had an oyster (I picked up a lb. of fresh South Bend oysters) and salmon dinner overlooking Mt. Hood from Craig's cabin off the grid in Parkdale. What an idyllic life!
Wednesday- Trekking out to my next camping venue. I traveled through Oregon City, the first city in Oregon at the end of the Oregon trail. I love checking out the old homes people lived in and listening to the docents in the know about Oregon history. I traveled to Silverton, this sweet town in the middle of Oregon, where I met up with Fred for my last camping trip. We stayed at Silver Falls SP and hiked and biked to see more spectacular waterfalls. I should count the total of falls I have seen. It was relaxing to stay in one place for 2 nights as I am always packing up and traveling to the next place. We tried to camp on Hwy 20, but after checking out 5 campgrounds up the mountain and they were all full on a Friday night (duh!), we got back to Fred's place around midnight and were glad to have a place to crash.
Saturday - One last hike on the McKenzie River before going to a wedding at Belknap Hot Springs Resort for a wedding of people we didn't know, who were friends of Fred's girlfriend Jo.
Sunday -Off to continue my travels home via my nephew Mike's. I traveled down Hwy 5 to Grant's Pass and down Hwy 199 to the coast. The temperatures went from 97 degrees to the 50s and 60s and I was glad I made this decision as compared to Hwy 97 in the hight desert. It was a long day, 315 miles, but I rolled into the fog last night and it was great to see Mike and Paul again. I can't believe it has been 5 weeks.

Monday- After successfully blogging the Olympic Peninsula, Judi and I took off to yet another amazing waterfall. It was a good 2 mile hike up the canyon and down. That is thing with waterfall treks, there is always elevation gain and loss. Thank God I have my trekking poles.
Tuesday- I met my good friend Amy, comrade teacher from Petaluma, who is up visiting her friend Craig in the Hood River area. We had a relatively flat 16 mile bike ride through the Trout Lake Valley. It used to be a lake that is, but over time has succumbed to a meadow with lots of farms. This time we are on the Washington side with Mt. Adams as our backdrop. The evening brought dinner at Craig's off the grid cabin with a front row seat of Mt. Hood. We had a fabulous salmon and fresh oyster dinner (purchased while on the Olympic Peninsula.
Wednesday - Off to Silver Falls State Park to camp with Fred.