On Mount Hood: The Paperback
Though it’s not really my bag, it is part of my job to spread the word about On Mount Hood.
And so today, just a quick note and a very early save the date: the paperback version of On Mount Hood: A Biography of Oregon’s Perilous Peak will be released by Sasquatch Books on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The next night, a celebration kickoff at Powell’s City of Books — and not the Hawthorn store, which was great for the launch of the book in 2011, but the big daddy at 1005 W. Burnside in Portland.
From the Sasquatch Books Spring 2013 catalog:
Brave on the Page Launch Reading
A few weeks ago, I first posted about Brave on the Page: Oregon Writers on Craft and the Creative Life, a collection of interviews and and essays from 42 Oregon authors, edited by Laura Stanfill. Laura had asked me to be part of the project, and I gladly obliged.
The book’s been available since early October, but the official launch reading is happening this weekend. It will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, at Fulton Park Community Center in Southwest Portland. (68 Southwest Miles Street). I won’t be reading at this event, but a whole bunch of other writers will be, including Liz Prato, Michael Gettel-Gilmartin, Duncan Ellis, Laura Stanfill, Kristen Forbes, Joanna Rose, Stevan Allred, Steve Denniston, Bart King, Nancy Townsley, and Gigi Little.
The event is free, will last about an hour, and will include some light refreshments as well. So if you’re into writing, reading, and Oregonians who do a little of both, this will be the place to be this Saturday. Find out more at Laura’s Forest Avenue Press.
Brave on the page
Earlier this summer, Oregon writer Laura Stanfill commented on a picture I’d posted of On Mount Hood on sale at Powell’s. Then another author I met this year, Kim Cooper-Findling, passed my contact info on to Laura so we could connect.
I’m glad we did.
Laura graciously invited me to be a part of a pretty great book project she was putting together, Brave on the Page: Oregon Writers on Craft and the Creative Life. The book collects interviews and essays from 42 Oregon authors, including Cooper-Findling, Bart King, Matt Love, and many others. It’s also got one of my favorite mountains on the cover.
Laura published the book in a unique process through her own startup publishing house, Forest Avenue Press. The official release was yesterday, Oct. 8, and the book is available through the Espresso Book Machine at the downtown Powell’s and through ondemandbooks.com.
I don’t have my copy yet, but I’m looking forward to getting one. Anyone who’s interested in Oregon writers, craft and the creative life should be, too.
Thanks again, Laura.
Pure summer on Mount Hood at Lost Lake
Sure, it can be a little crowded — popular might be a better word — and a touch loud close in near the boat ramp, but there is something about Lost Lake on Mount Hood that absolutely spills out summertime.
Part of it is the nostalgic air of the rustic resort (which just sold for $1.2 million to some lucky someone who will hopefully maintain its endless charm), the rowboats, the campfire smells, the chill lake — just brisk enough to refresh, just clear and calm enough to lounge about in for a while.
A simple stroll encircles Lost Lake as well, and despite the crowds on hot summer days, it still seems that you’re always able to find a spot here or there to set up for the afternoon and soak it all in. We did as much a couple weeks ago on one of the warmer Oregon weekends, and relished not only the lake, but trail-side huckleberries and salmon berries, squirt guns, elusive crawfish and newts, and a laid-out tree that invited all kinds of exploration.
Essential to a great day on Lost Lake, however, is actually getting out on the water. People do it in any number of ways, from renting rowboats and canoes from the resort to bringing their own boats, tubes, rafts, and even a few air mattresses. There is simply nothing better than being out on the water on days when the temperature and the sun are relentless, the air still and warm. Get on the water, and all of a sudden all is chill and forgotten.
But what makes Lost Lake the quintessential Mount Hood lake for kayaking, swimming, soaking in the rays, and simply enjoying a real summer day near the mountain, is the unmistakable view you take in from the middle of the lake. There’s no mistaking it. Summertime at Mount Hood.
Mount Hood view — or not
A few weeks ago, back before these hot and sunny days, back in mid July, when morning mist and clouds hung around far too long and blocked true summer’s appearance, my friend, Wyatt, and I headed east in search of some mountain sunshine. And we found it. Not, however, on Mount Hood.
Instead, we drove out of a Portland drizzle, Hood socked in behind a curtain of gray, and made our way over and up to the east side of Mount St. Helens. Up there, at Ape Canyon and all the way up to the Plains of Abraham — 13 miles roundtrip for us — we caught plenty of blue sky, sunshine, and giant if only partly cloudy views of the mountain.
The next weekend, it was still gray in town and there was April-like rain in the air. Still, we headed out, for if you only ventured out on clear, bluebird days, you’d surely be missing too much. This time, we headed to Hood and a standby favorite: Zigzag Mountain via Burnt Lake.
The clouds lifted once for a nice far-off view of the mountain about halfway up and then just again — just — before we topped out. (Look hard. It’s there.)
We didn’t get much else in terms of mountain views that day, but I’m not sure we really needed much more. Sometimes just being out and about, rambling in the hills, is more than enough.
On MOUNT HOOD 