Mt Hood, or Bust!

Rose 'n Dave Adventures takes us from the Pacific coast of last weekend to an attempt to climb Mr. Hood this weekend.

• In the winter.
• High winds.
• Just snowed.
• In a Smart Car.
• Icy road conditions.
• A fearless driver and navigator.

April would have probably been a better time to tackle Mt. Hood, but I just wanted to get out the house and go exploring. The weather report was great, sunny skies, temp in the 30's and the winds only about 20 to 30 mph.

It is nice living in Portland between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Range of Mountains to the east. Hey, there is Mt. Hood on the horizon from near our place. Actually it is a 11,000+ ft volcano close to Portland that could blow up at any moment (Mt Saint Helens is just north of us), which is why you should only attempt the summit climb in a Smart Car with its "Tridion Safety Cell", 4 airbags, fully computer controlled suspension, and an old crusty pilot at the wheel.  

Mt. Hood 11,230 ft not too far from our place.

We planned to go through Boring, OR, then lunch in Sandy, OR. After that we would see if we could make it up to Government Camp on Mt. Hood, or I would give up if the road conditions got too bad - and they got serious in a hurry.

We just had to drive through Boring, OR on the way. A sleepy little town. Just not much to really say about it. Boring has a sister city - you guessed it Dull, Scotland. You can't make this stuff up.

Boring, OR - Not much to say.

Part of the reasoning for this trip was to have an idea of distance to fly fishing river locations (or as Rose would say, "where to find the body". The road is right in between the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers. There are a number of fly fishing places along both rivers - when it warms up a bit. Rose knows I have a tendency to fall off of, or into things. I always wear a life jacket and when I used to race sailboats I even wore a hard hat - seriously, I did. Rose says I'm not allowed on the roof anymore. So yes, we know that I will fall into and be carried along by one of these rivers at some point. Really not a problem you just have to "Go All Zen" about it and float along thinking like a fish. It has always worked before and there are no sharks here to worry about.

Calamity Jane's Burger Emporium for lunch. Looks like the wild west on the outside and inside, too. If you like burgers try this place. The menu is printed on news print and big. Very busy on this cold day, it must be nuts in the summer RV season. We each had a burger and I had a Black Butte beer. They have burgers for anyone's taste, even the "Inflation Burger", which comes with nothing and costs $978.95 - really, it is on the menu.

We start to climb up Mt. Hood and the road conditions are OK, snow on the sides of the road, with some icy spots in the middle and blowing snow off the trees. SUPER REALLY FANTASTICALLY BEAUTIFUL! Like Colorado Rocky Mountain High (legal in Oregon & Colorado) kind of soul satisfying beauty.

This is the Good section of road before we hit the Ice Truckers Road.

Fun over: There was actually a lot of traffic on the road both ways. We got up around 2,500 ft and hit totally ice covered two lane (don't look down) hanging off the cliff roadway with no way to turn around. It was like being on the "Ice Truckers" TV series - it was really though. We were all sliding around and Rose was terrified. I was concerned, but just wanted to turn around; no point in pushing a bad situation. The problem was there wasn't any place to turn around so we just kept climbing. Right before Governor's Camp there was a little side road, level, with a clear patch in the snow, so we made our u-turn.

On the way down everyone was going really slow. The road was so bumpy you couldn't go fast anyway. In aviation it is called "Contaminated" which basically means they have been plowing the runway / taxiway but it is still covered with ice and snow. Plow Guy's attitude - Its cold out here and I want to get warm and have a coffee so, "Good luck buddy, no braking action for your jet tonight - and ya, don't slide off the runway and get me out of bed later". 

Back to more level ground and a balmy 34 deg. we relaxed again.

What a great adventure. The area is so beautiful. I think I'll put our next mountain trip on the calendar for maybe April.

David

BTH: There were two teams that drove two Smart Cars all the way up to the Aritc Circle in winter, much of it driven on the Ice Roads.