Day Out At Lost Lake

We spend far too much time at home. I’m restless and Gerick and I need to spend more quality time together.

I suggested we get out for the day, and visit a location that’s cut off half the year due to weather–  a park in the mountains. In addition, this weekend, the temps in the Portland area are too hot to move (89 to 93 degrees.) If we go up in elevation, we could find a cooler place to run around.

I chose Lost Lake. It had an easy loop hike around the lake, and of course the lake itself– Gerick likes a water feature! He was up for it, so we got some picnic food and drinks and left in the morning.

There are 2 routes to Lost Lake– one from the Mt. Hood side and the other from the Hood River side. We decided to come at it from Mt. Hood first. It was a hair-raising, dusty and amazing trip! There were winding mountain roads alongside a large powerline corridor so we had spectacular views.

Sadly, it was easy to see that the area was tremendously over-logged. Selective logging is the only way it should be done, yet they clear-cut and the clear cuts (and otherwise just very small trees) looked like scars on the landscape. Ugly and orange-brown scabs against the mountain forests. I fucking hate lumber companies, I swear! Just do it the RIGHT way, even if its the more expensive way. We should have laws that require selective logging. It would benefit everyone– the logs would be bigger, the forest wouldn’t be as subject to massive fires, the animals habitat wouldn’t face destruction, and there would be no more washouts of soil from lack of roots to hold the ground in place! Its such a big ass DUH and yet profits come first!

Anyway–!

We had to go down a 7-mile stretch of gravel road, which was annoying. The dust during this dry part of the year was just awful. We definitely opted to take the much longer but all paved road back through Hood Riven on our way home!

Many twisty turns later we made it to Lost Lake. The fee was higher than normal ($7.50 instead of $5) but it may well have been worth it. We went to the quieter side of the park to have our picnic and park the car. Then we went for a slow hike all the way around the lake. It was just beautiful. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, really– and not easy to find outside very limited areas of the world. A coniferous forest in the mountains with a larger mountain in the background… a lake so clear and clean and shining like glass, perfectly blue… the wind sending autumn fir and pine needles to the ground in amber showers…

Gerick was in a good mood as we ambled down the path in the comfortable mid-70s temps. He was taking pictures and video and practically bouncing down the path! He thanked me several times for thinking of this day-jaunt. I was pleased, because we need to have more fun together and more time alone together in non-routine ways. We were both in a good mood, but very tired out once we reached the end of the long walk. Why do we not do these types of things more often? We enjoy ourselves so much when we do! It seems silly to limit ourselves to home so much.

We drove back before sunset by going through the Hood River apple and pear orchards. Everything is being picked and loaded into big bins. Ladders and baskets and tractors are everywhere. We passed 2 apple festivals at 2 orchard farms that looked like fun had we not been so worn out by that point. But otherwise it was a great drive back.

The only weirdness was seeing the huge clouds of smoke coming from Estacada. That fire flared up in the wind and heat today– and the smoke was spreading out across the sky and we could see it from very far away. Back home and once more the world had turned into tones of sepia…