Searching for Mount Hood
Silcox Hut Mount Hood.
Kayak lake Mt. Hood.
Mt. Hood Meadows mid beer.
Someone standing up on a mountain.
One of the great things about blogging on WordPress (and probably most other blogging sites) is all the data you’re privy to about visitors to your blog. You get to see how many people visit your blog each day, what countries they live in, and what pages they’re checking out. You can also see all the searches they’ve done on the Internet that ended up pointing them to your site.
That list above is just a few of the searches that have lead people to onmounthood.com. Most of them, like the Silcox Hut one and the kayaking one, end up being pretty relevant. Some are a little bit more of a stretch. And some, like “crystal lemons, portland OR” and “accordion made in Germany in the 1940s” leave you scratching your head. (Though I have to admit, the accordion one probably came up as a result of this post on Shorty’s Corner.)
Whatever the case, though, it’s great to see all the different ways people are looking to learn about Mount Hood; there’s a lot to learn about this mountain, indeed.
Mount Hood from Timberline Lodge.
Worth fighting for
My uncle, Eric Miller, has been in the Mansfield News Journal a lot lately. And for that, I’m glad.
For years, he has spearheaded an effort to preserve and protect some truly beautiful land in north-central Ohio, close to where I grew up. When you think about lands worth preserving, you might not instinctively summon Ohio, but I tell you, it is there. I saw some of it growing up, at places like Mohican State Park. I saw even more of it a few years ago when my uncle took a troupe of us on an impromptu hike through some of the acres he’d recently acquired for preservation.
The story in the News Journal on Friday was centered more around legislation passed in Ohio last year that opens up state parks — yes, state parks — to commercial logging and hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking. My uncle is part of a newly-launched effort, called the Coalition to Protect Ohio’s Parks, that aims to change the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ policy allowing commercial logging in state parks. (Find out more through Mohican Advocates on Facebook.)
It is an inspiring cause, one that I support wholeheartedly. It’s also one that takes shape all over the place, as people stand up to protect natural places all around the country and the world.
Up on Mount Hood, groups like Bark, Oregon Wild, the Crag Law Center, the Friends of Mount Hood, and others have long played watchdog and helped protect what really is a natural treasure.
But no matter where it is, whether it’s high up on the northern flanks of Mount Hood or in the middle of a rolling hardwood forest in central Ohio, it’s good to know there are places worth fighting for — and people out there fighting for them.
The USS Mount Hood
For a few months now, my daughter has been on a huge shipwreck kick: the Titanic, the Lusitania, the Bismarck, and most recently, the Edmund Fitzgerald. We’ve been reading about them, watching movies about them, talking about them, and just about everything else, bordering on obsessing about them. It’s been interesting, because while I’ve long known the basic details of most of these famous shipwrecks, there’s so much more behind their surface stories that makes them even more fascinating.
I got her a book out of the library today all about shipwrecks — her eyes lit up with fireworks when I handed it over — and it gave me a topic idea for today’s post. (I’m participating in Michelle Rafter’s 2012 WordCount Blogathon, so I’ve been challenged to post every day for the entire month of May. And let me tell you, it can be a challenge some days.)
That topic: The USS Mount Hood (AE-11).
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The USS Mount Hood (AE-11) in 1944. Public domain Image accessed from Wikimedia Commons.
It’s not a ship I really knew much about, but I did come across its name when I was writing On Mount Hood. And yes, it was named after that Mount Hood.
When the shipwrecks book gave me the idea to write a post on the USS Mount Hood, I also didn’t expect the ship to have any kind of shipwreck link or story. But it does.
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Image accessed from Wikimedia Commons.
I won’t retell the story here. but here’s the introduction to the Wikipedia entry on it:
USS Mount Hood (AE-11) was the lead ship of her class of ammunition ships for the United States Navy in World War II. She was the first ship named after Mount Hood, a volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon. Soon after 18 men who had left the ship for shore had reached the dock, the USS Mount Hood exploded in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island on 10 November 1944 killing all men aboard, obliterating the ship itself, and sinking or severely damaging 22 smaller craft nearby.
I haven’t told Madeline about the USS Mount Hood yet, but I’m sure I will. And when I do, I’m sure she’ll want to learn every single thing she can about it — and so we will.
Memaloose Hills Loop Trail
Today, resident Mount Adams expert and photographer Darryl Lloyd sent out an interesting map of a unique and unofficial wildflower trail out in the Columbia River Gorge in between Hood River and the Dalles. I’ve never done it, myself, but it sounds pretty nice — and it’s got at least one incredible view of Mount Hood along it’s 6.5-mile way. Thanks for sharing Darryl!
Mount Hood from Marsh Hill.
Even more Mount Hood favorites
Every now and then, I post up a couple favorite shots of Mount Hood. I did it here and here, and now I thought I’d do it here too.
Hood from White River. Nothing incredibly special about this one, but it is the kind of image that shows just how beautiful a January day on the mountain can be.
This one’s not actually of Mount Hood, but from it: Oliver scanning the horizon and Mount Jefferson from Gnarl Ridge.
A frog, my daughter, and Mount Hood above the Sandy River.
A little wine and a mountain view
We didn’t climb Mount St. Helens for Mother’s Day this year — we will again someday though! — but we did get outside and enjoy a beautiful Oregon day. We tooled out into the country past Stafford, crossed the Willamette on the Canby Ferry, and spent a little time at St. Josef’s Winery a few miles outside of Canby.
The views of Mount Hood on the way to St. Josef’s were big, but the mountain is hidden from view once you actually arrive at the winery. No matter, it’s still an enjoyable and scenic place to stop for a sip.
But it also got me to thinking about some other wineries in the region that have not only nice wines, but nice views of Mount Hood. I wrote about a few of them in the 2012 Gorge Guide, which just came out a few weeks ago. Among my favorites, Hood River’s Phelps Creek Vineyards and Cascade Cliffs out in Wishram, Wash., both of which offer some fine wines and incredible mountain scenery.
The vineyard — and the mountain — at Cascade Cliffs.
On MOUNT HOOD 