Pacific Crest Trail 2009 Part 27

Mount Jefferson lifted one's Heart with her scenic splendors.  We met some Pacific Crest Trail Volunteers who were cutting fallen trees by hand that were blocking forward progress on the trail. Overall, there were probably still a few hundred trees we had to climb over or go under along the length of the entire trail.

Mountains such as these collected and created their own clouds and weather.

Gigantic gullies washed down glacial melt and debris to fertilize the lands below.

Each angle of the mountain had a completely different personality profile.  

The above photo is of Mount Jefferson from its Northern Flanks.

We found snow to walk through in the middle of the summer.  The mountain directly ahead is Mount Hood at an elevation of 11, 249 feet.  

We enjoyed the refreshing Timothy Lake as well as the many recreational boaters who were camping along her pleasant shores.

Mount Hood, above, had summer skiing on its southern slopes.  It was fascinating to watch people all geared up in their winter clothing in late August.

The slopes for skiing were on the snow pack to the far left in the above photo.

Here Stacey is enjoying Mount Jefferson from just below Mount Hood.  It took us two full days to cover this distance.

We sent a package to the Mount Hood Timberline Lodge where we enjoyed an awesome dinner with "Ice Axe".

We ran into some PCT section hikers who excitedly took our pictures as if we were celebrities.  :)

At the lodge we also talked with a gentleman that we were to later see doing trail work on Mount Adams in Washington State.  We truly live in a small and very interconnected and beautiful world.

Power from Columbia River dams cut through the landscape to provide electricity for nearby Portland, Oregon.

Tomorrow we would take a full day off at Cascade Locks, the gateway to Washington State.  From the Columbia River we had less than 500 trail miles of walking left.  We were soon to be in our very own backyard mountains since we currently reside near the Canadian border, which was our ultimate destination.

~