DAY 12: MT. HOOD & PORTLAND

Some days, the plan just floats. A little up in the air, freedom to go with the flow and do what you please. I like days like these.

My alarm went off at 7am, from my sleeping bag in my hammock I silenced it, too early. I saw the dim fog in the trees outside before dawn and tried to doze but couldn't. I knew my friend Roxanne would be texting me to let me know if she was up for a hike as we had planned. It turned out that I'd be hiking alone today, but we made plans to meet later in the day.

Hmm. The original plan was to head to Mt. Hood, but I'd shifted gears into a more local mindset. Not wanting to miss out on a good opportunity, and having never hiked on the mountain, Mt. Hood it was. I climbed out of bed and found Zack getting ready for work, making coffee and offering me a Mean Girls themed Toaster Strudel. It had been years since I had a toaster strudel, so the answer was yes, of course. Pink frosting.

Breakfast and getting ready went quickly, and I was out the door and ready for a day of hiking by 9:30am...ish. Last night at dinner, Dave had looked up the Mt. Hood mountain weather report and it called for a high of 37 degrees on the mountain and winds up to 35mph. I dressed in layers and hit the road towards Hood.

With the dense fog of early morning, I was curious what the visibility would be like and reminded myself that it's not the views of the hike that matter, but the experience of doing it. Before I could even finish that thought, the sun started to cut through the fog and the air miraculously cleared as I moved out of town. It was about an hour and 15 minutes from Zack's house to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, and as I stopped for a selfie with Smokey the Bear and a bathroom break, I decided to ask the U.S. Forest Service office about park permits - just in case. Luckily I didn't need to pick one up, because it seemed like they had to be purchased in advance or at a store, similar to a hunting license.

Getting closer to Mt. Hood, the views were incredible. Watching the mountain peek out of the trees from different angles in the morning sunlight. Each view was more beautiful. As I came up the mountain to Timberline Lodge area, I had to keep reminding myself that I'd be seeing a lot more of these views and I didn't have to stress about capturing the perfect picture.

The trail was easy enough to find once we were parked in the big lot outside the resort at tree line. Signs, along with my All Trails GPS app pointed us toward the paved trail leading toward the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which I've never hiked on as far as I can remember. Pretty cool to walk even a short distance on this incredible trail system that extends north and south up the pacific coast through mountain ranges from Mexico to Canada.

Today, we were only going a few miles, as far as the rim of Zig Zag Canyon. I was a bit sad not to have Roxanne as a hiking buddy to catch up and share the experience with, but it was a great day to hike with Portland and experience the mountain on my own. Immediately, I sensed that the weather was much warmer than the expected 37 degrees. I had additional layers and a hat in my pack, and I didn't remove my base layer, but considered it. The temperatures were probably already 50 and climbing toward 60 degrees and much of the hike was exposed to today's bright sun on the volcanic mountain.

The walk on fine and course volcanic sand above the tree line was a unique experience. Above (to my right) I had great mountain views of the snowcapped Mt. Hood and to my left some of the ski resort structures (chair lifts, signage, etc), dense evergreens, and views to mountains beyond. Beauty in every direction. We walked and I snapped so many pictures, always impossible to capture the moment as perfectly as you want to, but I'll keep trying! That is one of my biggest negatives about traveling alone -- the pictures (which I put a high value on) are never what you want them to be, and you'll spend a lot of time trying to capture good images that aren't selfies.

We walked on, passing one morning hiker, an older guy who mentioned the temperature inversion that was occurring -- "it's warmer up here than down in town," he told me, and we shared the experience of overdressing for the day. The san cast Portland's shadow walking along beside him, and I had the thought that I was walking two dogs, Portland and his shadow dog like Peter Pan.

Later on the trail, as Portland and I were stopped to take pictures, a hiker with a large pack and plastic gallon jug of water came walking down the trail, and we stepped aside to let him pass. We talked for a moment, about the weather and his hope to hike the entire Timberline Loop around Mt. Hood, 41 miles of backpacking. He had a bandana tied around his head with a Bonnaroo music festival logo that I recognized. As he started to walk away, I complimented his bandana and that started us on another conversation comparing our festival experiences. I think I probably showed my age by telling the years I'd gone to the festival -- eight plus years ago, and he had only gone in 2018. It's always interesting the people you'll meet along the trail and the little things that connect you.

There were only a few others that we passed in our 2.7 mile hike to the rim of Zig Zag Canyon. The trail cut in and out of pine groves and the exposed volcanic desert in the warm October sun. Another day of hiking on sandy trail surface, it's definitely a theme for the trip. As the trail cut down into the tree line in one spot, I looked down at the sloping mountain side through the trees and thought that it would be switchbacks down from here on out. Before we knew it, we were back out on another large stretch of exposed mountain. The one comment I'd consistently read on All Trails was about the amount of downed trees along the trail. There were a few, but most were easy to navigate, and many had already worn detour trails packed into the earth around the tree.

I had been hiking along casually with a travel mug of hot earl grey tea, and laughing to myself just a bit about the crampons I'd strapped to the side of my daypack, anticipating colder temperatures with the potential for patchy snow. None of that. I thought back to an early trip with my Dad where we were laughing at people's reliance on crampons in unnecessary situations. I honestly don't think we even knew what crampons were at the time.

It was one final climb to the rim of Zig Zag Canyon, past incredible view after incredible view, and yet the overlook of the canyon with Mt. Hood up above was somehow still breathtaking. The crashing water down below, and only two other hikers there enjoying the view. I took some time to take it all in and maybe would have hiked a little further on if there had been more time, but I could also tell that Portland was tired. Some ravens were harassing the hikers on the rim of the canyon, not aggressively, just looking for food, and Portland found them fascinating, watching them and making moves toward them when they got too close.

We started back, taking less time as we walked back, but also noticing more about the topography changes at a brisker pace. I talked to Dad for a bit, because when you are somewhere this beautiful, it seems possible to talk to just about anyone you want to. I wished he could have been there with me. I had always hoped to show him Oregon. As I've been driving over the past ten days, I've noticed a lot of "Watch for Rocks" signs on the side of the road, and they always remind me of Dad collecting rocks from each state. I picked up a piece of maroon grey volcanic rock on the hike and carried it to bring back for him.

The walk back was peaceful, though we started to pass more hikers as we approached the trailhead. It took a full hour longer than I'd expected it to, and I blame it on all of the photos taken. At the car, we loaded up and Portland got a few treats - he deserved them. We headed down the mountain and I had a few snacks of my own: peanut M&M's, Triscuits and sour gummy worms.

I navigated my way toward Ecliptic Brewing in Portland, a place that (I thought) Roxanne had picked out and I'd been to once before. When I got there, at 3:30pm, Roxanne was nowhere to be found. I called her and she said, I'm at Gigantic -- oops. I was at the wrong "...tic" brewery. Only in Portland. I realized my mistake for not double checking the text she'd sent earlier and quickly navigated across town to meet Roxanne. At Gigantic.

I'd never been to Gigantic, but they had a nice covered dog friendly patio and a Hawaiian food truck. I apologized again for my mistake and went inside to grab a beer. I chose one that they are known for, the Pipewrench, IPA aged in gin barrels and it was very floral and you could taste the juniper. Roxanne got food from the food truck, mentioning seeing poke on the menu, and I was sold. I ordered the ahi poke furikake -- and may have gotten the last order for the day, at 808 Grinds food truck. We ate and caught up and a one on one conversation with a friend is always so much different than a group conversation.

There were a couple of dogs on the patio, and one little black lab was stealing the show. Another bar patron came over to pet Portland and then came the awkward moment I'd been waiting for, telling a local Portland's name, and having to explain that it's not that strange since we're not from here. He thought it was a hoot!

Roxanne had to pick up Maya, so we decided to meet back up at Salt n' Straw for ice cream, inspired by the warmer than expected temps on Mt. Hood. I headed over to Division Street, the Salt n' Straw location I've visited the most throughout the years, and already knew what I was getting as I read their menu and waited for my friends. Halloween special flavor, Creepy Crawly Critters, a matcha ice cream with chocolate coated crickets and dried meal worms. Yep, you read that correctly. Initially, Maya wanted the same flavor, until we what it was to her. Even inside, when I ordered the flavor, the guy behind the counter asked, "do you know what's in that!?" and I laughed and said yes. What a way to sell it.

That's what I love about Salt n' Straw, they are always using unexpected ingredients, and the bugs didn't taste like bugs at all. Roxanne and Maya got the two other Halloween flavors, treating me to ice cream (thank you!), and we took our waffle cones outside and strolled Division Street as we ate. I kept trying to pick out the bug pieces and show them to Maya, who couldn't understand why I'd want to eat bugs. I suppose that is the real question as asked by a four year old.

I wished I had more time to catch up, but after our ice cream it was time to head back toward Zack's with a quick detour into town for a much anticipated picture: Portland in front of the "Keep Portland Weird" mural on the back side of Dante's Nightclub. There were a few other Portland landmarks I would've loved to capture, but this was the most important. Then, back to the Maywood neighborhood where Zack and his girlfriend Amelia were already preparing dinner that would be served in courses.

The rest of the oysters were shucked and most were grilled up with Zack's mix of garlic and butter. I've never had grilled oysters but these ones were fantastic and perfectly balanced with the garlicky flavor. We saved a few to be eaten on raw on the half shell, although Amelia hadn't liked the one she tried before I got "home".

They were busy preparing a squash feast, and it looked amazing! Amelia is deaf, and I knew just from meeting her that she has a great sense of humor. So, things really took a giggly turn when we started communicating through messages on our phones along with our hand gestures, and later, Facebook Messenger. It was fun ganging up on Zack with girl talk behind his back!

It was laundry night for me, having only packed clothes for a little over half of the trip, so I started laundry before it got too late in the evening. Then, Zack and I ran out for a beer at his old stomping grounds, Laurelwood Brew Pub, and saw a few old regulars that were friends of Zack's. They were definitely a good crew, but inevitably the talk turned to politics. Back to beer, their Tree Hugger Porter was the perfect beer after a day on the trail, and paired with our fall dinner plans. Back at the house, Amelia had made an amazing risotto with mushrooms and peppers, a middle course while the squash and zucchini baked.

It was so nice to sit and and talk and laugh with them over dinner, and Zack has been such a great host this week. I had hesitated to reach out to him at first during my trip planning, but I'm so glad I did. Reconnecting with old friends is great, especially in these times, and offers so much potential for future adventures and growing friendships. This has been one of my best lessons learned over the past year: not to be shy, to reach out and use your connections. Be the one to open the door.

Tomorrow, I'll have a few final hours in Portland before heading south to Eugene. The adventure continues...