~ Mt. Hood, Mt. Ranier & Mt. Adams ~
I went on a hike with Pat who is great guy. He helps me out with my Naga website. He is an avid mountain hiker and backpacker. As I was planning training hikes I wanted to do this summer, I reached out to friends I thought might want to go with me. Pat was IN! He planned our hike and off we went up the McNeil Point Trail.
The first part of the hike took us through a deep sylvan forest smelling of dried pine, fir, and earth. Along the way, the trial was speckled with wildflowers of all colors. Brilliant!
Pat and I geeked out talking about shoes, poles, clothing, gear, sunscreen options, weights of various items, and on and on. I learned a lot from him including the names of every wildflower we walked by. He was also patient because he is a faster hiker than I am.
The higher we walked, the more the vistas opened up and the more snow we saw.
The Pack
I’ve been wearing my full pack on the last few hikes and this trek was no exception. With water, it weighed in at about 20 pounds which is about what I expect it to weigh on the Camino. It’s good training and I love my 50L Osprey!
I wanted to see if I still loved my sun shirt (I do) and if I liked a new kind of lightweight sunscreen I wanted to try (I don’t). Pat also schooled me with a few more details about best practices with hiking poles.
Mt. Hood!
What a gorgeous mountain! Here in Portland, we are blessed to see it regularly. If there are no clouds, we all look east in case we should catch a glimpse. My mom’s balcony looks east so she is often able to see the sunrise over this gorgeous mountain.
It was fantastic to see Mt. Hood up close and personal. It was like greeting an old friend.
Here’s a button if you want to check out the trail: