Today was hot. Very hot. The Willamette Valley had around 100 degrees (and the same is forecast for tomorrow before it'll cool down a little on Monday). I can do 80. Even 85. 100? No way! Our usual refuge, the coast, didn't cooperate either: close to 90 there! So we got creative and headed to Mirror Lake just outside of Portland near Mt. Hood. The maximum temperature there was a nice 75 or so degrees, which sounded awesome to us!
Parking at the trail head is always a challenge. Today we didn't arrive early enough; all the spots were already taken. So we ended up parking a good half mile further up the highway.
The trail goes up a mountain through several switch backs for a total of about 700 feet elevation gain. Most of it is in the shade, so we had no trouble reaching the lake. (This is as far as we had gotten the last time we did this hike).
From there another trail enters the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and leads to a nice overlook from which you can see not just Mt. Hood, but also Mt. Jefferson in the south, and Mt. Adams, Rainier, and St. Helens in the north. Well worth the climb! The trail was mostly easy (forest floor); just the last few meters were on loose rocks and exposed to the sun. The view was spectacular!
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| Mt. St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, and Hood. |
Our brave little warrior did well, despite the heat and the fact that it was going uphill (as he's getting older, that combination is no longer easy for him). Downhill from the overlook took a little bit more encouragement; for one thing, he had already done that trail, so why do it again? No new smells. Doh! In addition, the loose rock was a bit tricky to navigate. But he made it!
On the way back we went around the lake one more time before heading back to the parking lot. All in all, a good 4-hour walk with 24,000 steps :)!
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