7/19/11 Timberline Lodge, Oregon

Here I am sitting in comfort in the Timberline Lodge resting at the base of Mt. Hood, the largest mountain in Oregon and also one of the only ski resorts still functioning during the summer. Stepping outside, you get slammed by harsh, strong winds and 20 degree weather, which is a complete climate change than at the bottom of the mountain.
Oregon has been one of the most beautiful states I have ever come to know.

From the Redwood forest in California, Jon and I headed north to Oregon soon to realize that we could not afford to drive the truck back to Salt Lake City where he was to fly out of today. Passing through Eugene, we made it to Portland, OR which has been one of the strangest cities by far. With bumper stickers all over town saying "Keep Portland Wierd" it did not take long to see why this was the case. The reason for going to the city was to make money playing music on the streets but was a harsh reality when it seemed there were tons of rainbow family who had the same idea and the streets were littered with hundreds of panhandlers, and musicians.

With no way of making funds we were stuck in the city until Scott, the previous employer from Michigan sent me some of the money that he had owed me for a month. With some money in our hands we headed off back to the forest where we met a friend name Tillghman, who ended up camping out with us.  Tillghman was from Reno, visiting to hit the slopes of Mt. Hood on his snowboard, but with the weather how it was, which was a constant rain every single day, we camped out for a few days and hiked in the area to great spots including Cascade Falls.
It was after our camping expedition that I drove Jonathan back to Portland where he took a Greyhound bus over to Salt Lake City.
Although sad that he had to leave at the time, I was most definitely looking forward to sleeping in my twin bed by myself once again. I slept a night at the IHOP in the area best known by Portland as "Felony Flats" then headed back to our original camping spot. Met some new campers, Brett and Kate, and we all camped out until by no surprise out came Tillghman again. After yet another night of camping, drinking, and shooting targets with a sling shot we parted ways with the folk from Montana and headed to the Timberline Lodge where I would try to begin to Timberline Trail, a 42 mile hike around Mt. Hood that I will try to complete in two days.

I was told by locals and Brett that it still may be dangerous to try to hike the timberline since the weather has been a month behind and there was still tons of snow. I will take their advice with caution and see how far I can actually get on the trial.