A wild drive and a beautiful hike off the beaten path

We wanted an "off the beaten path adventure, so we headed up toward Whatum Lake south of Hood River in the gorge. 

It was a beautiful sunny spring day.  As we headed up the 3 mile forest service road past the crowd, we started to notice snow patches.











The car we were driving was a Ford Mercury Sedan, not exactly the vehicle for adventures.  We had just gotten a tire fixed and I was hoping we would make it through the large rocks and potholes.











 Unfortunately, just before the trailhead, the snow became deeper and we had to very carefully, turn the car around on the forest service road.  When we were safely turned around, we hiked the last bit of road to the trailhead.











The beginning of the trail opened up our view of the area.  We were hiking over large rocks and snow patches.  We enjoyed the short climb to the top of Indian Mountain.











At the top, the view was incredible and we enjoyed gazing at Mt. Hood and playing on the rocks.











It was a great feeling to be in a beautiful high place and know that no one had been here yet this year.











We took our time breathing the fresh mountain air and feeling on top of the world.











Analise, my now almost two year old, did a lot of hiking and "rock hopping" on the way down.  She insisted on finding the biggest rocks to carry along the way.











When we got back to the car both girls were very tired and even too tired to stop for dinner or a treat.











It was a good, wildernessish type of tired.  Sarah even got out of the car to remove small boulders from the forest service road to help preserve our undercarriage since it took a bit of a beating on the way up.











I can't think of anywhere I would rather be than soaking in a mountain view on top of another mountain with my two girls and their "Aunt" Sarah.











It was worth driving and hiking through some snow to beat the mosquitos and be the first ones to such a beautiful place.

A Lake Stroll and a Mountain Climb

 We were up for a bit of a challenge so we headed toward Whatum Lake/ Chinadere Mountain.  It was a bright sunny day.










We passed the trailhead thinking it was a campsite, but got back to it and headed down the many stairs to the lake.










The lake and the woods were magical, with an abundance of moss, old growth, and mushrooms.










The baby got to play in the dirt a little.  Amy enjoyed picking huckleberries, salmon berries, and thimble berries.  YUM!










We spent some time on the PCT and were glad to see some trail magic of big beautiful avocados for those hungry through hikers.










After awhile we came to the trail up Chinadere Mountain, and I mean UP!  Fortunately, the climb is short, but Amy was not sure she was going to make it.










When we got to the top we had a beautiful panarama of five snow covered mountains- Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier.  What a view!










We all took a much needed break at the top to take in the view and enjoy our accomplishment.











We were able to look down on to Whatum Lake where we had started.










After enjoying our mountain top, we reluctantly headed down to rejoin the trail around the lake.










The way down was steep and we played our alphabet game to pass the time.











We crossed a log jam over the end of the lake and enjoyed seeing many campers, swimmers, and dogs on the way back to the car.










"Dog" is one of the few words baby Analise says so she pointed them all out to us.










What a wonderful day for this amazing hike.