It’s summer. Between travel and blogging and editing the latest edition of Cognition I have been remiss in hiking.

That has now been remedied and I will report on the two most glorious hikes I took last week. When it comes to the world, I really am an omnivore, as delighted by cityscapes as I am thrilled by nature.

So I first tackled and almost finished the Cooper Spur Hike which ascends Mt. Hood from the Northside, starting at around 5850 ft elevation at the Cloud Cap Trailhead and gaining 2800 ft in a 6.5 miles roundtrip that leads you up to Eliot glacier. When they listed it as difficult they meant it. The path itself is well graded, but the climb at that altitude is intense, I’m huffing and puffing just thinking back to it. The second hike was to Eden Park, on the other side of the mountain, in lower altitude, but longer, since I finished the whole thing. Both hike are about two hours from PDX, with dirt road for the last 9+ miles that require vehicles with high enough clearance and bones that can tolerate shaking ……

But, oh, is it worth it.  Think of walking through giant old mountain hemlock forests, then through white bark pines. Lots of wildflowers on sun-dappled forest floors, and endless patches of them when you traverse the tree-line and get up into alpine territory. The soft volcanic ash (like wading through sand) gives way to rocky paths, lots of switchbacks and incredible views of Mt. St Helens, Mount Adams and Mount Rainier towards the Northwest and huge expanses of the Columbia Plateau and High Desert to the East.

And straight in front of you, up, up,up are the icefalls of Eliot Glacier and to your right is the spur, a rocky ridge that abruptly gives way to views of the moraine, a deep hollow carved by the ice flow.

It is not for the faint of heart (or lung) to balance across that ridge, but photos HAD to be taken….

Since I am writing this on a day where it’s 90 degrees in Portland I decided to start with images of the icefall. That also fits with the other recent news of that huge ice shelf breaking off in the Antarctic – lest you think visions of alpine meadows make me forget environmental concerns……

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-does-the-antarctic-ice-shelf-break-really-mean/

And from the Vista Ridge side:

More on wildflowers tomorrow….