Western USA 2003
Portland to Mt. Hood (east side)
Slow going to get back on the road today did not feel motivated to leave the comforts of a hotel and services of the city and feeling somewhat depressed in general. I still have about 2 weeks left to get back in time for my dads wedding but the feeling of wide open freedom to go anywhere with unlimited time is gone, now there is a destination and time frame to get there. The task of driving back across country feels daunting but also a challenge.
Got on the easiest path headed east which is I-84 and poked along in the right lane following the mighty Columbia River gorge along the southern Oregon side. It did not take long to remember why I avoid the Interstate it was a Indy circuit with traffic and turned off and headed south toward Mount Hood on state scenic route 35. Stopped at a Café in Hood River had a delightful lunch, salad with bleu cheese. This is a fruit growing county and stopped at a roadside stand for a fresh fruit milkshake and chatted with a cool Spanish girl for a while. The rain of the past few days had cleared and the scenery was beautiful and I was feeling better to get back into the open country.
Continued south to Mt.Hood and climbed in elevation back into the rain and fog and thick forests. Saw an interesting glacier river. At this point I went "off road" into forest roads and spent the better part of 5 hours 4x4'ing through a vast network of forest roads. It was probably the most fun 4wheeling I had the whole trip the roads were extremely fun and I had the entire forest to my self. Easily could have spent days exploring this area which is the east side of Mt.Hood. At one point took a road that was gated and spent close to an hour going 1/2 a mile to a tree fall, turning around without going off a cliff, it was treacherous but the 4Runner made it without a problem.
Camped in the middle of the forest near a river and saw 3 buck investigate the truck they were totally fearless, the biggest strongest deer I have ever seen. Very noble creatures they looked like the body-builders of the deer world. Dinner is liverwurst, kimchi, cheese, carrots, chips and dip. Not tired but nothing to do in the cold and fog and the woods are spooky with the wind and groaning trees and thick fog. Went to sleep early.
Posted by stbalbach at September 10, 2003 05:18 PM