Mt. Hood and Vicinity

In August 2010, I spent two weeks in the Pacific Northwest, both for work and vacation. Here are some photo highlights from my time off.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). Around 85 pictures included.

Part I: Seattle and WA vicinity
Part II: Downtown Portland, OR
Part III: Japanse Garden and Rose Garden
Part IV: Oregon Coast
Part V: Mt. Hood
Part VI: Spruce Goose
Part VII: Ann Arbor, MI

Mirror Lake Trail

Diane and I headed out towards Mt. Hood. We wanted to hike on a scenic, fairly easy trail. So we found the for Mirror Lake. Very flat, very straightforward, quite nice.

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A citure of the trailhead, and then the woods on the way to Mirror Lake. It's probably a 30 minute hike or so.

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Some pictures of a stream the trail crosses.

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After a bit we came out onto a clearing. Mirror Lake can be seen in the first and third shots. The second one shows the trail.

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More shots of Mirror Lake, as we walked around it.

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About halfway around, we could see Mt. Hood beyond the trees. It's close but still a ways away. It's a pretty big mountain, especially to those who live in the eastern half of the US. There were clouds shrouding the mountain, continually changing.

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A shot of Mirror Lake with Mt. Hood in the distance, and a close-up of Mt. Hood. There are two circles of light visible on the mountain from breaks in the clouds They didn't stay still nor last very long.

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Diane on the trail right by Mirror Lake, with Mt. Hood in the distance. And two shots of me, in the same setting.

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Three shots of Mirror Lake actually exhibiting its mirror-like property. I like the reflection of the trees in the second picture the best. Notice how clear the sky is in the third shot, compared to the clouds around Mt. Hood a few shots back.

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Two closeups of the hillside surrounding Mirror Lake. I think that area can be hiked but it would have taken more time than we had.

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A shot of a river of rocks (from a former stream I imagine). One plant in the forrest that was catching the sun. And a shot through the trees of the hills and vallies. This is like how I'd draw mountains as a kid, one behind another behind another.

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More views of the hills through the trees. Then looking down on the river of stones. And a shot of the stream the trail crossed.

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Two shots of the river the stream we crossed.

Mt. Hood: Timberline Lodge

We drove to the Timberline Lodge which is on Mt. Hood. Cool place, and was the exterior that was used in The Shining.

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The entrance to the lodge and the parking lot. Diane said that in the winter, there's an awning that extends from the door all the way to the bottom of the steps, to keep the 20+ feet of snow off of that area. Some people were skiing there in August, though not that many.

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A shot of the big fireplace at the center of the lodge, and two shots of the chimney from the second floor. Lots of wrought iron and the like in the fireplace.

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A few shots of Mt. Hood. There were clouds in the area, but sometimes it was quite clear.

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More shots of Mt. Hood, with some close-ups of the snow and the top.

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No, this is not Mt. St. Helens, but a shot of a bunch of dead trees and a shot looking back towards the parking lot.

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Two side views of the Timberline Lodge.

Horsetail Falls

After Mt. Hood, we drove north, following the Hood River to the Columbia River and then we drove along the highway west, next to the Columbia River. We stopped at a few waterfalls. The first was Horsetail Falls.

We hit some traffic, as a truck got into an accident and had caught on fire in the eastbound lane. We saw the burnt out husk of it just before turning off. They closed the eastbound highway (said it might open at 9pm) and rerouted it. In sympathy, westbound traffic ground to a halt too. We kept passing and then getting passed by a train. At somepoint, when we got off to see the various waterfalls, the train passed us, yet again. I was curious how long the train was. I ran out of patience recording it, so the answer is: I don't know.

INCLUDE YouTube videos of Horsetail falls and the 2 train shots

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Two shots of Horsetail Falls, and one of the entrance sign.

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Three shots of the falls, with different exposure settings.

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Two pictures of rocks and pebbles in the stream beyond the falls.

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A slow, close-up shot of the bottom of the falls, the falls again, and a medium show of the bottom.

Multnomah Falls

Next, we saw Multnomah Falls, which is quite impressive (620 feet). There's a fairly distinctive bridge that crosses a flat area between two drops in the falls. More pictures follow.

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The entrance to the falls. The falls (long shot) adn the bridge across the falls.

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On the far wall, there was some fairly bright green gook (muck?) growing on the walls. I took a few pictures of it.

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A shot of the falls above the bridge. A plaque describing the area, and shot of the falls above and below the bridge.

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Two shots of the bottom part of the falls, one with the bridge in it. And another plaque with more information about the falls.

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A shot right next to the bridge (for reference, that's Di's back and backpack). The waterfalls above the bridge and the top of the falls.

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There are two level of falls, one above and one below the bridge. The first picture is the bottom of the top falls, from the bridge. The second shot is looking down at the falls from the bridge. And the third is looking out towards the Columbia River from the bridge.

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A picture of Di looking out at the upper falls from the bridge. And oen of the very top of the falls.

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And two shots of me and Di on the bridge with the falls in the background.

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After the falls, we went back to Portland and met up and had dinner with David Ralley. Here's a picture fo David and me in his kitchen. Note that that we're standing in front of art that he made himself.

Part I: Seattle and WA vicinity
Part II: Downtown Portland, OR
Part III: Japanse Garden and Rose Garden
Part IV: Oregon Coast
Part V: Mt. Hood
Part VI: Spruce Goose
Part VII: Ann Arbor, MI

Back to Frank's photos.

This page last modified Sep 03, 2012.
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