Hood River weekend; Cooper Spur hike

I spent the weekend in Hood River with ten mama friends. We talked, we drank, we laughed, we talked and laughed and drank some more... and on Saturday we hiked the 7.5 mile Cooper Spur trail on Mt. Hood. We reached 8900 ft, with Hood rising above us and the Eliot glacier below, and there was fresh snow all around us. We could see Mt. St. Helens and Rainier and Adams, and then the high desert, and then we rounded a corner and could see Mts. Jefferson, Bachelor, and the Three Sisters. It was one of the most amazing hikes I've ever done. I feel so lucky.

Adrienne, Melissa, Elise, Mary, Crystal, Michela, Paula, Yomari, and Anne.

and me!

I've never hiked on this side of Mt. Hood before and it was definitely a spectacular sight - more wild than the south side, with all its ski resorts.

First sightings of Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens - Rainier is behind Helens but hard to see.

The snow begins! We were lucky enough to hike on Saturday morning into fresh powder - it had snowed Tuesday/Wednesday nights and few had visited since. It was gorgeous white snow - so fun.

 

 

Elise and the Eliot glacier.

Mt. Jefferson, with Bachelor and the Three Sisters to the left behind it.

We're heading to Cooper Spur, which is the last big rocky outcropping at the end of the knife ridge, before the straight-up snow begins.

Oregon's high desert country stretching behind us.

Only some of us decided to hike along this ridge to the end. It was a bit steep and was causing vertigo in some of my friends.

You can see the single-file tracks of a couple mountain climbers who headed straight up that face.

And then a group of us hustled back down to meet up with the three who had turned back at the top. Sadly, we found Yomari having a migraine episode - triggered by the altitude and exertion - and struggling to get down the mountain. Anne and Adrienne had been taking care of her and taking frequent rests;  Elise sang us a gorgeous song to get us everyone down the last half mile. I've never been serenaded while hiking before; I could get used to it.

The first car-load drove back to Hood River and I sat at the trailhead to await the second group - who had taken a wrong turn and gotten lost, and ended up hiking an additional 2 miles to get back to our starting place. So it was a long wait, but they made it and we drove back to the house we'd rented. Yomari was getting worse and feeling panicked so they took her to the local hospital - and then the rest of us went to dinner at Pfriem Brewery. The hike had taken MUCH longer than expected and Pfriem was booked solid, so it was 8:30 by the time we were eating. We had gelato afterwards, and danced to a one-man band playing music on the waterfront, and then went back to the house to discover that we'd locked ourselves out. Fortunately, one window was open on the porch and we managed to pop the screen and crawl in. But we felt that we'd had just enough small fiascos to make the weekend especially memorable.  :)