Girls Trip to Bend & Mt. Adams - Part 3

Day 4: We were hoping to do a three-day river float on the Deschutes River as part of this trip. But unfortunately the wildfire east of Mt. Hood was causing super smoky conditions in that area. We’d been watching and making alternate plans and it had been looking like it would clear out for our float, but the winds shifted and the smoke rolled in. Our pivot was to head up to the south side of Mount Adams and hike up there. We drove through the charming town of Hood River and watched the kiteboarders and windsurfers jump over the waves while we enjoyed some of the best gelato we have ever had. Then we drove up towards the town of Trout Lake, going through the White Salmon River area that I had spent some great summers at when I was a ratting guide. We found the best campsite ever at Peterson Prairie Campground, a forest service campground a few miles west of Trout Lake. We had planned theme nights for our rafting trip and thus we found ourselves having “sparkle night” in a populated campground, not on a remote beach in the middle of nowhere along the river. Walking around in sequins through the campground definitely earned us a lot of laughs and was a conversation starter. We made a silly music video to “Pink Pony Club” and found a pretty meadow that was perfect for a little photo shoot. We played a funny game of darts using pebbles to round out the evening. 

Day 5: Today we slept in a bit and then headed out to hike  the“Sleeping Beauty” trail. It goes up to the craggy top of an old cinder cone that has a big view of Mount Adams and also looks over Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. We were supposed to squeeze in a second hike that afternoon, but due to a downed tree on the road two miles from the trailhead - our 2.6 mile hike turned into 6.6 miles. Ugh. But the views were definitely worth it. We also got to see a navy jet practicing through the valleys. We had a yummy lunch at The Station Cafe in town and then went to hang out at Goose Lake. Instead of a chill lake vibe, however, there had just been a may fly hatch and they were everywhere which was pretty annoying, so we left. We had a chill rest of the night at camp before heading home the following day.

Girls Trip to Bend & Mt. Adams - Part 2

Day 3: We woke up early and drove west to the mountains past Mt. Bachelor. We drove up a super sketchy five-mile long forest road to get to the trailhead. I was seriously impressed with how my Subaru Ascent handled it and X-Mode was a lifesaver. We did a sweet six-mile hike called Broken Top to No Name Lake and Bend Glacier that was up in the alpine - ranging from 7000’ to 8500’ and it was mostly above the tree line. The scenery was breathtaking and the terrain was different than anything we’d get in Washington. The colors of the mountains were brilliant and the glacial silt color of No Name Lake was equally impressive. We stopped at the Mt. Bachelor base area/ lodge for a pint afterwards as a nice reward to the hike. It was neat to see their summer operations - mountain biking and zip lining, but there was hardly any snow on the mountain which was sad. We ate a delicious dinner at Noi Thai that night, complete with an artsy appetizer tower that included duck eggs.