Goodbye Ocean....Hello Mt Hood

Mt. Hood Village, OR - part of the Scenic Mt. Hood Byway

Leaving the ocean behind we headed into the dense green of the Mount Hood area to enjoy late summer temps great hiking & mountain biking and beautiful crisp starry nights.

**We were super fortunate to be here before the forest fires got bad. Shortly after we left many of these areas were closed.

On Sept 1 Jordan officially retired! We held a celebratory picnic on the deck with my brother Kevin and his wife Heidi that live in Portland.

Ducks, Ducks and more Ducks!

I never knew there were so many types of ducks! Had so much fun sitting on the river banks watching them as well as hiking with my tripod. Ducks I saw while here: Harlequin, Mallard, Barrow's Goldeneye and Common Merganser.

How do you identify the different types of birds you photograph? I love using the phone app Merlin. I put in the location and date and it will bring up the ones in that area. It also allows me to load in a photograph and it helps me figure out what it is!

Beautiful Mirror Lake with Mt. Hood reflection

Our Favorite Things

Ramona Falls - Beautiful quintessential Oregon super green hike to waterfall.
Mirror Lake - Hike to wonderful view of Mt Hood with reflection in the lake. If you trying to catch sunset reflection be sure to have headlamp/flashlight for return hike out since it gets really dark fast!
Wildwood Recreation Site - Really pretty nature preserve; beautiful birds, trails and access to Salmon River.
Mt. Biking - Trails everywhere around this area! One we did and enjoyed (although I was somewhat white-knuckled on occasion) was Timberline to Town.
Timothy Lake - We hiked and biked around this lake and loved it.
Old Salmon River trail - Nice trail along the river with places you can plop down and wonderful green foliage all around you as well as swimming holes to cool off.
Mt. Hood Outfitters - We had been researching bikes and were able to rent the ones we liked from this place. Ended up buying a couple of those rentals as the rental season ended and they put them on sale which worked out great for us.