Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dog Mountain

Yesterday, we finally made our annual Mothers Day trip up Dog Mountain. We've been waiting for sunshine (or at least no rain...) and for the wildflowers to come in. We decided we could wait no longer and were pleasantly surprised with decent weather, but the flowers won't come into full bloom for a couple more weeks I would guess.

Still made for a great day! 3.7 miles up and then 3.7 miles back down of pretty strenuous hiking. My legs are toast after the last 5 days. We're never sure what we'll get when we summit. Some years it's too windy and cold to stay long, one year we hit snow, last year we sunbathed in excessive warmth and this year was just right. Much of the morning clouds had disappeared. We could see Adams through some trees, the top of Hood and a very little part of St. Helens, which still had a lot of cloud cover. It was warm enough with a jacket to lay back and eat our lunch and stare at the sky...and the mountains...and the river...and all that He created.

17 comments:

Teamarcia said...

What a cool and beautiful adventure! Glad the weather cooperated for you this year.

Quinton J said...

that looks like such a gorgeous hike. awesome pics. I love that you have a tradition like this.

Unknown said...

Looks beautiful there. :)

Anonymous said...

What what a beautiful, incredible hike!!

Unknown said...

Beautiful! Where did that gorgeous weather go today???

Lisa said...

Looks like a fun day! I had no idea it was so steep! YIKE!

Abby @ Have Dental Floss, Will Travel said...

What a great mother's day tradition! I sometimes wish I lived in the PNW - such amazing hiking you have out there.

Unknown said...

GORGEOUS! I love this!

Dawn said...

BEAUTIFUL!!!! Just Beautiful!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

You really have some cool training grounds.

Anonymous said...

This looks just beautiful! And you said that this is even before the flowers bloom? Can't imagine how this is going to be full bloom! :-)

A Prelude To... said...

When the wildflowers really come in, the entire hillside is yellow with balsamroot mostly and spurts of red and purple, too. It is gorgeous!!!!

juanitagf said...

Awesome hike! I am going to have to do that one. Hubby and I are always looking for new places!

SupermomE13 said...

What beautiful pics! It looks like it was wonderful!!!

Julie D. said...

Oh I can't wait to do that hike!!! I just need to get a babysitter and grab my husband! How beautiful.

Julie said...

What fun! you have have some really great frendships. how lucky you are. :) How lucky they are to be your friend.

Kate Geisen said...

Great hike and wonderful tradition!

Almost every New Year's, my family goes up to a state park and hikes the trails there. Love looking at the pictures from each year's hike. :) Not quite the beautiful views that you have, though.