Oregon Explored

Some of you may not know this yet, but I have some big news.  I’m moving to Alaska!!  Yep, it’s finally happening.  We’ve been dreaming of this for several years now, and we’ve finally decided to make it a reality.  So in May, the pack and I will be headed up North (wayyyyy North . . . like, 2,250 miles North).  As thrilled as I am to try living in the Last Frontier, there are so many things I am going to miss about the Pacific Northwest, such as the Puget Sound and the towering trees (the forests near Anchorage, although beautiful in their own way, are pretty stunted).  But most of all, I’m going to miss being so close to my family and friends.  I therefore decided to go on one last adventure with my best friend earlier this month.  Lauren happens to live in Portland, so I made a plan for us to go play around Mount Hood and see what Oregon has to offer.  Little did I know that this would end up being one of my most photogenic weekends in the history of my recent photography career.

We left the busy streets of Portland Friday afternoon and headed East on I-84.  Although I was anxious to get out to the mountains before dark, Lauren convinced me we should make a stop at the famous Multnomah Falls.  I’m so glad she did!  Although I’ve been to the falls before, I’d never had the opportunity to use my newly acquired knowledge of photography to capture it.

The long exposure made all the difference.  I also believe that the bridge over Multomah Falls is one of the only man-made structures I’ve ever seen that actually enhances the beauty of the natural landscape.  It really is no surprise that so many people flock to this waterfall each year.  It really is spectacular.

After leaving the falls, we continued heading East along the Columbia River.  Before long, we had expansive views of Mount Adams to the North and eventually Mount Hood to the South.  As much as I love Washington’s volcanoes,  I have to admit that there’s something about Mount Hood that strikes a special chord in me.  Perhaps it’s the mountain’s uniquely pyramidal shape, or its prominence against the farmlands and forests that surround it.

Our original plan was to meet up with a photographer friend I met through Instagram who specializes in astrophotography.  His name is Kevin, and his work is absolutely breathtaking (you can see examples of his photos here).  Because the galactic core rises over the Southeast horizon just before sunrise at this time of year, Kevin correctly predicted that Lost Lake, which is located 10 miles Northwest of Mount Hood, would be an ideal place to photograph both the mountain and the milky way.  Unfortunately, however, the forecast called for clouds the night I arrived, so Kevin made a last minute decision to make a trip to the lake the night before.  Although I was disappointed to miss him, the upshot was that he was able to give me some pointers regarding how to reach the viewpoint at the north end of the lake.  Per his advice, we drove past the Road Closed sign several miles from the Lost Lake campground and were able to park just a half mile from the shore of the lake.  Although we were prepared for a longer hike in, I must admit it was a relief not to have to carry our heavy overnight packs as far. (I’m not in backpacking shape for summer yet, that’s for sure!)

As soon as we arrived at the lake, we were immediately blown away by the view.  Mount Hood looms high above its pristine waters, and when there’s no wind, the volcano’s beauty is doubled by the mirror image reflection in the lake’s glassy surface.

After maneuvering our way over several downed trees and following Kevin’s directions (hike in the snow until you see the big stairs), we selected an ideal campsite just along the north shore of the lake.  We would never be able to set up a tent at this prime location during the regular season, that’s for sure.  It was pure heaven.  And even though we’d planned on snow camping, we found a dry patch of dirt that seemed to have our names on it.  After setting up camp, Lauren and I goofed around with our cameras for several hours, taking full advantage of both the scenery and our limited time together.

Eventually, we watched in awe as the sunset transformed the glaciers on Mount Hood into a brilliant shade of pink.  The weather was phenomenal, and the scene was something right out of a calendar.

We found a metal fire pit strategically placed along the shore of the lake, so while I was prancing around excitedly taking as many pictures as I could, Lauren put her fire building skills to work.  Although the flame threatened to die out several times, our teamwork paid off and we ultimately had a glowing campfire.

I was of course thrilled about taking star photos, so I waited patiently for the sun to set completely.  In the meantime, we played around with the settings on Lauren’s camera so she would also be ready to capture her night sky photos as soon as the stars came out.  And sure enough, one by one, they began to fill the sky.

Although I was most looking forward to capturing the early morning milky way, it turned out that my best picture came from that evening.  The reasons for this are twofold.  First, the clouds did come in overnight as predicted, and they partially obscured my otherwise perfect shot of the galactic core.  Second, by the time we awoke early the next morning, a slight breeze disturbed the surface of the lake.  But the night before, the water was unimaginably still, allowing me to capture a perfect mirror image of Mount Hood:

As we were photographing the scene before us, we heard a shrill howl coming from the woods nearby.  The sound was alarmingly close, and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.  We glanced uneasily at each other and asked ourselves what type of creature could have made that ungodly sound.  We eventually decided it must have been a fellow camper that we hadn’t noticed during the day, who was annoyed with our somewhat rambunctious laughter (we’d had a little bit of whisky, what can I say?)  We immediately quieted down, and never heard the sound again.  So shortly before midnight, we crawled into our tent and tried to sleep as soundly as we could.

At roughly 3a.m., my alarm went off and I peeked outside my tent.  Although Mount Hood was still visible, I was disappointed to see that a dense layer of clouds obscured the part of the sky where I knew the milky way would have otherwise have been.  Still, I woke the troops (i.e., Lauren), and we meandered groggily down to the lake.  We fiddled with our cameras and snapped a few photos of ourselves as we waited for the conditions to change.

Our patience paid off in the end.  Just before sunrise, the cloud cover began to clear, revealing the milky way in all of its starry glory.  We didn’t have much time before the sun came up, but the images we captured and the memories we made in the meantime were priceless.