lookout mountain & hood river apple harvest

Today we ventured a hike we've long wanted to, but have never quite found the time: Lookout Mountain. We dragged our long lost friend V and K along for a ride (I say 'long lost' because K, who was once a fixture of my everyday, has been working at the Oregon coast these past several weeks as program staff for Outdoor School). It was great to see them both and catch up on all their news during the long ride up and around Mt. Hood.

The morning fog cleared quickly, and left in it's wake a gorgeous, clear, crisp sunny day. As we climbed into the mountains, we watched the car's temperature gauge drop by degrees. We piled out of the car at the trail head in 29 degree weather. A skim of snow crunched under our shoes as we made our way up the winding trail to the mountain top. The trail was not so steep as it might have been, for which I was grateful. M and I had tried another steep mountain scramble at Wallowa Lake last week and I just about busted a lung -climbing straight uphill while pregnant is not advisable. But this trail climbed gradually and while I huffed and puffed and crept rather slower than I once might have it was quite manageable.

We rounded the top of stony butte and as we caught a glimpse of the staggering vista a blast of icy wind nearly knocked us off our feet. I scrambled to wrap myself in the scarf I had abandoned during the heat of the climb. The view was magnificent and the day could not have been clearer. Mt. Hood, Adams, St.Helen's, Rainier, Jefferson, Bachelor, Three Sisters, and a far off speck that might have been McLoughlin or even California's Mt. Shasta all shone crystal clear in the distance. To the west, an endless, rolling stretch of conifer tops pierced the sky, and to the east a patchwork of farm fields spread like a giant quilt in the sunshine.

We huddled down in a rocky windbreak to rest and enjoy the scene. M scrambled around taking photographs. After a spell, we wound our way back down the trail to the car.

We had originally wanted to catch another hike at Fifteen Mile Creek, but it was getting later and we all hankered for a picnic lunch and some crisp Hood River apples, so off we went to the valley to enjoy the fall festivals and find a decent picnic spot (it seems there is a festival celebrating the harvest of something almost every single day in Oregon).

Our first stop was the Draper Girls Country Farm, a place we've often stopped before to taste whatever is in season, cherries, berries, peaches, pears -you name it. This time, a huge tent covered dozens of bins of apple varieties, from dull Jonagolds and crisp Galas, to tart Fujis and mealy Gravensteins, from the obscure, sour-tasting Winter Banana to my new favorite, the perfect apple: Pacific Rose. We made a few purchases, found a table on the lawn with a view of Mt. Hood, and enjoyed our picnic lunch while basking in the low glow of the glorious autumn afternoon sunshine.

After lunch, we made our way down Highway 35 towards Hood River, stopping along the way to visit a cookie factory (free samples!) and a pumpkin patch sporting a silly Cinderella themed corn maze. Our journey ended at the superb Double Mountain Brewery where my friends sampled the newest dry-hopped IPA while I looked on in envy.

It was a perfect day spent living perfectly and in perfect company. Now the rains can begin in earnest (they're scheduled to start as of this coming Wednesday -waah!).