This past weekend two of my old roommates from college flew in from Texas and Missouri to do a little backpacking in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Jay got in around 3 PM from Texas after a long layover in Albuquerque. He met me at work and we spent the afternoon running some errands and preparing for our trip. That evening we grabbed a drink with one of his old coworkers at the Bare Bones Bar. All the while we were waiting to hear if Richard was going to make his connecting flight out of Las Vegas. It wasn't until 12:45 AM that Richard's plane touched down in Portland.
So the next morning was a little bit of a slower start than originally planned. I made a nice breakfast scramble and we finalized our packing. We hopped in the car and followed the Clackamas River for about two hours to the Shellrock Lake trailhead. From there is was about a five mile hike to our destination.
We spent two nights at Serene Lake and I'm pretty sure we had the sweetest spot there. The water was surprisingly warm. Well... lets just say cooler than I expected, and incredibly clear. We fished for trout with no luck but enough teasers to keep us out on the water. Someone (and don't ask me how) hiked in a canoe and had left it for others to use. Richard and I took it out so we could fish in deeper water. We ate like kings on this trip. Brats, chili, biscuits and gravy, chicken fajitas with all the fixin's. We also packed in twelve cans of beer. We were pretty motivated to shed that weight for the hike back. The wilderness was gorgeous and busier than I anticipated. We shared the lake with a group of about 12 teens from a youth corp. program. Never in my life would I have expected to hear someone play Radiohead on a banjo in the middle of the forest. I guess there are worst things that could have happened.
I had a blast catching up with my friends. I hadn't spent a significant time with Richard in several years, and Jay and I have always talked of backpacking more. I am grateful to these guys for taking the time to get over to Portland.
The roomies
Jamie Oliver eat your heart out!
The beer cooler
Our nice little view
1 comment:
sounds like a blasty Stevey!! i'm so glad you got to spend good time with friends, doing the things you love!! (and eating the things you love! holy moly!!)
love you :)
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