A ONE-DAY ROAD TRIP
Friday looked like a good day for a mini road trip. Debby finished school early, planning to finish up her work on Saturday, so we decided to take a drive. Packing a sandwich and other necessary snacks, we set out for a drive to Lost Lake. It was a good day. The sun was shining and the temperature hovered in the 70’s.
The drive took us East on Interstate 84, where we exited at Hood River, a small town nestled in the Hood River valley between Mt Hood to the South and Mt Adams to the North. We made our way out through familiar territory, as we lived here for a few years. We turned off the highway at Dee, crossing the West Fork of the Hood River and headed deeper into the hills along farmlands of pears and apples.
The gate across the entrance to the Lost Lake was locked. We parked and walked the mile back to our destination. The campground workers were busy winterizing the
camp for the season. They stored all the boats and water toys in the barn and winterized the General Store to prevent freezing damage to pipes and goods.
The lake was gorgeous. It brought back memories of many trips we made here for boating and picnics with friends and family, beginning way back in the early 70’s. The camp has changed over the years. More spaces have been added for tent and RV camping. Group sites have been constructed. The shoreline camping spots have been closed and no camping is allowed close to the lake like we used to be able to do. It’s mostly for day use or hiking now.
We walked around to a viewpoint on the North side of the lake to get a good view of the 11,240’ Mt Hood that now sits dry and barren of snow. It’s been a rough, dry, hot summer in Oregon. Last winter’s snow is gone. The glaciers are melting back at astounding speed. Soon they will probably be gone. Water levels in lakes and streams are down. The Hood River looked bleak and puny compared to the roaring, boulder pushing, noise maker it has been.
The mountain had a hazy covering that made it appear to be shadowy. There were few people visiting here today, as its closed and one must hike a mile to get to our vantage spot. We sat a while before strolling back towards the store and on up to our Sienna. It’s beautiful around here in the fall.
We headed back and took a turn at the Dee Highway to go up to the small town of Parkdale where we wanted to visit Kiyokawa Orchards and purchase some fruit. We always enjoy coming to this particular orchard because they are the only farm in the NW that grows Arkansas Blacks. I picked up a nice sack of those, plus a Winesap apple, a few pears, including Japanese pears and a jug of fresh Ciider. This is a great place to come as there is always entertainment and fun stuff going on for the kids to enjoy.
We continued our way South on Hwy. 35 to Hwy. 26 and made our way to Trillium Lake. It was a perfect time to be there. Mt Hood was reflecting in the calm water and several people
were out enjoying nature. A young couple visiting Oregon from Nashville took a photo for us. I took theirs as well.As we drove home we thought about the day’s events and decided it had been a good day to make the 150 mile loop.
