Climbing Mount Hood — or not
Last year, when I signed up for the annual Lake Run 5K, I kind of positioned it as part of some training to get myself in shape for a possible climb of Mount Hood. It was just before the release of On Mount Hood, so a climb up the namesake mountain seemed in order.
But I never ended up getting around to it. No valid excuses, really. Sure, the weather last year was lame, I was busy with the family, the book, life. But if you want to climb Mount Hood, or any mountain, really, it’s usually more a matter of making it a priority, focusing on it, making it happen. I’ve climbed Mount Hood four times before, but I never made it happen last year.
This year’s not looking great, either. We have been doing some hiking, I’ve been running, and I again signed up to run the Lake Run. But climbing Hood, for me anyway, takes some more dedication, some stout training hikes like Dog Mountain and, the real test, Mount Defiance. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to focus like that this season, as much as I want to.
But it’s still early. The snow’s still deep up high on the mountain. There’s still a chance. There’s always still a chance.
View from the summit of Mount Hood, June 2010.
Escaping on the kayak — at home and on Mount Hood
Five little girls descended on our house today after school for an over-the-top tea party — flowered hats, petit fours, raised pinky fingers and all.
Spence and I raided the scones, made like trees and left for the river before anyone could so much as tsk tsk us.
Our plan, other than giving the tea party a mighty wide berth, was to simply cruise the Willamette in the kayak and soak up the sunshine of a late and glorious spring afternoon in Oregon. That’s just what we did as we paddled downriver from George Rogers Park, past rowers and scullers slicing through the calm water, fishermen slowly trolling along, geese, ducks, osprey, and even a bald eagle filling the blue sky.
It was great.
It also got me to thinking about other places I love to take the kayak, especially now that the weather is shifting in our favor. I love having the Willamette so close by, but let’s face it, it’s not Lost Lake up on Mount Hood.
It’s not Trillium Lake up on the south side of Mount Hood either, though Trillium’s crowds these days can sometimes be more than enough to make you want to steer pretty clear of the lake despite its views and chill kayaking.
Some other nice spots for flatwater kayaking, canoeing, or just slow, easy boating up around Mount Hood also include Timothy Lake, Clear Lake, Frog Lake, and Laurance Lake. The entire Mount Hood National Forest, in fact, is full of some great offerings for boaters of all kinds — even, I’m sure, those just looking to get out on the water and a little farther away from a tea party . . .
Climbing Hood — another time
As I’ve mentioned before, everyone around here seems to have their own connection to or story about Mount Hood.
I got to talking with Kim Cooper Findling, an Oregon writer and author of Chance of Sun: An Oregon Memoir and Day Trips from Portland, Oregon, the other day at a local book and author fair, and she shared one of hers with me. In a way, though, it wasn’t entirely hers, but that of Marion May, her grandmother, who climbed Mount Hood in 1938.
(All photos in this post courtesy of Kim Cooper Findling)
Kim said her grandmother, who was born and raised in Portland and lived most of her adult life in Forest Grove, was 28 when she made the haul to the summit of Mount Hood in a group led by her pastor. It was a time of old-school alpenstocks, wool clothing, fedoras, and fixed ropes running up Cooper Spur.
It was also back when a lookout cabin still crowned the summit of Hood. (That’s Marion at the far right, in profile.)
Kim said she’s not climbed the mountain herself. But she’s written about it a bit in her books, and she’s snowshoed high enough on it to be inspired to go the rest of the way someday:
I myself haven’t climbed. The closest was when my husband and I stayed at Timberline years ago. I, being not much of a skier, hauled a pair of snowshoes out to the flanks of the mountain and climbed straight up for a good long while before I got tired and it started to get dark. Even that small experience gave me a sense of the stillness, beauty, steepness, and peace of the mountain. I loved being alone in that stillness. I’ll have to work through my fear of exposure, but climbing Hood is definitely on my list.
Many thanks, Kim, for sharing both your grandmother’s photos and your stories of Mount Hood.
They grow up so fast
It’s so cliche, but it’s so true. One day, they join you in the world not able to do much more but depend on you; the next, you’re packing them off on a school bus for their first day of kindergarten.
I’ve watched my daughter grow up so fast over the past nearly six years. Because I’m a freelance writer and get to work from home, I’ve been lucky to spend so much time with her that I would miss out on if I had a regular 9 to 5 gig.
How much she has grown up over the past few years really hit home with me a few weeks ago, though, when we headed up to Mount Hood to hit the Tamanawas Falls trail. Madeline had been on some hikes before, but something about this one, when she had her own trekking poles, her first real backpack, and a real desire to lead the way, seemed like a milestone. When she loaded up and had herself ready to go, she just seemed so grown up.
At the same time, it reminded me of the very first time we brought her hiking with us up on Mount Hood, a trip I detail in On Mount Hood. She was a touch younger then — just a year and a half — but even way back then, it seemed like she was already growing up so fast.
On Mount Hood — in paperback
Earlier this year, my publisher let me know that they’re going to be adding a paperback version of On Mount Hood to their spring 2013 catalog. A few weeks later, they sent me a mock up of what the cover of the book might look like. It’s not much different than the original hardback, but they did make some tweaks, mainly with the color of the text, one of the fonts and a quote from Seattle author Bruce Barcott.
I’m still kind of taking it all in, whether the changes are even necessary or not.
The original hard cover is on the top, the proposed paperback is down below. Thoughts?
On Mount Hood at a book fair — and bake sale
A few weeks ago, fellow Sasquatch Books author Patricia Lichen — author of a great book I referenced in On Mount Hood called River-Walking Songbirds & Singing Coyotes: An Uncommon Field Guide to Northwest Mountains — invited me to be a part of the Atkinson Book and Author Fair. I gladly signed on, and now the fair is just about here. It runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, May 5, 2012, at the Atkinson Memorial Church in Oregon City. (710 Sixth Street)
There will, of course, be much more there than On Mount Hood. In fact, more than 30 area authors will be on hand, including Kim Cooper Findling, David Michael Slater, and Kristina McMorris. There will also be two free workshops open to anyone: “Editing Tips with a Professional Editor” at 11 a.m. and “How to Start a Book Blog” at 1 p.m.
And just for a little icing on top: there will be a bake sale, too.
On MOUNT HOOD 