heading down

After a particularly poor night of sleep, due to a) wondering if a boulder would flatten the tent (see image of our camp in my last post), b) noisy high winds whipping at the unsecured rain fly, and c) wondering if we left the water bottles and ice axes out in wind and how far they had flown if we had, we "woke up" at 4am to begin the ascent further up the mountain. It didn't take long until we reach a snowy patch where we would have to strap on crampons and rope up. In light of knowing we would not make it to the top (besides our lack of sufficient water, we saw crevasses that were likely avoidable flanked by dangerous steep loose rock), we (un-unanimously) determined rather than spend the energy on continuing, we should start down.

Reaching our top height around 9300 feet, I pulled out a treat from Australia, Kangaroo Jerky. It's a hiking tradition in our family that we try and bring some exotic meat or food on our trips, so I was happy to hold onto this delicacy all summer! It tastes like jerky; only a slight variation on the old protein-packed favorite.

We began hiking down. Dawn appeared in the east and we saw a spectacular sunrise from dry, Eastern Oregon to the greener west. Portland saw low clouds in the morning which made for good contrast with the pale pink sky and blue-green trees underneath the mountain. The feeling of standing on the side of a mountain with God's great earth stretched out in front of you is quite amazing. He's created such a brilliant earth; especially as the sun shows it's face to liven up the world's atmosphere every morning!

Perhaps the most surprising and peculiar sight from our perch on the world was seeing the shadow of Mount Hood on the landscape below. At first, it appears to be another mountain in the distance, but at a closer look, the blue cast on the clouds below trace back to the formation we are standing on!

On our descent, my knee tightened up and gave me so much trouble that for a moment, I thought ski patrol was going to have to take me down the mountain in one of their red sleds. However, it held out until we reached the last ski lift down and made it to the car.

Stopping in Government Camp (a town down the mountain a few miles), we at a late breakfast together (I had huckleberry pancakes) before parting ways again. Matt and I switched off driving responsibilities all the way back up to Bellingham. Most of the trip I was not able to keep my eyes open for more than five minutes, I was so exhausted!

I am glad I made the effort to be on this trip. Even though I did not get the true (crampons and roping up) mountaineering experience, I had a fantastic time getting outside, seeing new territory for the summer, being with my family, witnessing God's creativity firsthand from an amazing lookout, and trying something challenging.