A plan to escape the heat....

The weather has been unbearably hot recently; in the lower 90s recently so we hoped that a day trip to the mountain (Mt. Hood) would help us cool down.

After Foxglove one of my favorite wildflowers was in bloom, Beargrass.  If you haven’t seen Beargrass before it’s a grass that grows pretty high and even though it looks prickly it’s flowers are beary soft. 

The big groves of Beargrass were near the trailhead and as we continued on the trail we came across this bridge.  The snowpack has been low this year so the creek wasn’t the rushing river it can be but it doesn’t really matter because of the sturdy bridge.

Mt. Hood decided to peak out from behind the trees. 

Hmm, this trail seems to continue on and upward.  I wonder what we will find around the next corner?

 Lupine!  Lupine is starting to come out.  Sequoia enjoys the smell of Lupine, I wonder if I can get some seeds from the garden store and plant some at our house?

This marker indicates we have reached out junction.  To the left we eventually get to Timberline Lodge (and maybe have a big glass of lemonade) and to the right we can go to Cloud Cap Inn and relax on the porch.  Either option is good for me.  My roommates say it’s too far to hike to either of those places (plus you can drive there anyway) so we are going to have lunch.

No pictures of lunch but it was much better than before.  PB and J, trail mix, string cheese, chips, and a pasta salad.  On our way down we saw just one Indian Paintbrush.

Our original plan was to escape the heat.  Did we do that you ask?  No, it was just as hot on Mt. Hood as it was in town but that’s OK.