2024-09-26 (Thursday) — Oh, The View

(written on October 1st)

It was a cold morning this morning, but gratefully, we get to sleep warmly inside Rover. 😊

We ate our breakfast and then headed out–first destination Sahalie Falls. There’s both a trail that you can take and walk all along through the trees and then through a meadow and then out at the waterfall, but you can also drive right up to it.

So… we opted to drive right up to it. 🙃

…after using the bathroom at the trailhead. 😁

The waterfall was beautiful from the bridge above, but we thought it might be even more beautiful from underneath, so we scrambled down a steep little path that led under the bridge, and then we scrambled very carefully down the very steep dirt and Rocky slide below the bridge down to the first reasonable stopping place, where we took some beautiful pictures.

After that, we continued down the slide all the way to the river, where we took several more beautiful pictures. I just love the landscape here. The trees and the water and the green. It’s all beautiful. So so beautiful.

And it doesn’t have ticks or chiggers.

😁

After a careful climb back up the steep scramble, we chatted for a little bit with some locals who come to the waterfall fairly regularly, and then, with their encouragement and recommendation, headed back down the way we had come in order to go to Trillium Lake.

The lake provided us with a gorgeous view of Mount Hood, which was at the far side of the lake and reflecting in the water. It was also a great place for us to stop and eat lunch and just stare.

My staring steering was half at the mountain and half at my cell phone because I was answering JustAnswer questions.

I haven’t quite yet figured out exactly how I want my working while vacationing to work. I’d like to do it mostly while I’m driving, but then of course there are questions that last a little while, and there are also new questions that are easy that pop up that are hard to say no to, especially when it’s a bit challenging to be answering questions while driving. 🙃

From the lake, we headed down the mountain, North toward the next waterfall that we were going to hike. Physically, I wasn’t doing very well. My spine issues have been terrible, and I think I was a bit over the edge as well.

We got to the trailhead of the waterfall that we were going to go to, but it was something like a 5 Mile round trip hike, and it was getting a bit later in the day, and I was not doing very well. We also ran into the problem of not having the right money we needed to pay for the parking place. We only had twenties left, and It was going to cost us $10.

Between the money and how I was feeling, I requested that we not stay there and do that hike. Mom was gracious, even though she had wanted to do the hike, also recognizing that the money was a bit of an issue, So we headed back to the van after having gotten mostly ready to go.

Well we were driving down the road toward that trailhead, I had noticed a pair of pants in the road that people were running over and that was blowing along the road. By the time that we had gotten ready to go and then change our minds and we’re heading back to the van, I noticed that that same pair of pants had been dragged or blown or whatever probably another could hundred yards, down to where we were (well, and the road right across from the parking area). So I went and grabbed them and tossed them in the van. Size 40 to 42, I think they were, and I think like either a wind-breaking material or a waterproof material. Not sure which, but that kind of thing.

From there, we headed back up the canyon a little bit, where I found A road that I was hoping would give us a place to stop and camp for the night next to the river.

Unfortunately, the place by the river was taken, and there weren’t any extra spots to squeeze Us in, not that we would have wanted to squeeze in, and fortunately for us, as we kept driving up the road, quite a ways actually on the tall hills directly across the valley from Mount Hood, we came to a spot on the side of that mountain, on the basically single Lane dirt Road, where the trees opened up, and you could see all the way across the entire valley and the whole beautiful Vista of Mount Hood.

😍

It was absolutely gorgeous.

We kept going just a few hundred yards further because according to the map there was a creek there, and there was, but it was tucked in the trees and just going in a small tunnel underneath the little dirt road.

So we headed back to that gorgeous view spot, set the van up in a good position to park for the night, rebuilt a fire pit that had once existed, and built ourselves a lovely little fire on the side of the mountain overlooking the valley below and The Majestic Mount Hood across the valley.

It was an absolutely beautiful place to be and stay.

I opened a can of seasoned beans and stuck them in the fire, and I grabbed the tortillas and salsa, and we made ourselves little bean burritos, complete with a little bit of Ash and sticks from the fire.

I continued to work a little bit here and there, answering a few questions, but mostly, I just enjoyed the fire and the views and taking pictures and talking with Mom.

Love and hugs.

Lift the world.

~ stephen