Veiled Intent
Mt. Hood from Sherrard Point · Larch Mountain · Mt. Hood National Forest · Dodson · Oregon · USA
You can hide, but you can't run.
Ever-elusive Mt. Hood hides her face behind a veil of cumulonimbus clouds but can't help peeking through to spy on her many admirers looking on from the volcanic plug that tops Larch Mountain's now-extinct volcanic crater (the slight gleam of brighter white peering through the clouds near the image's center is Hood's peak). I love this mountain, but her coy little games of hard-to-get can prove maddening at times for a full-time doc with little free time to pursue his passion. On this day, though, there was no chance of dampened spirits following a birdsong-filled sunny but cool hike that meandered through lush old-growth stands of Douglas and Pacific silver fir and near-perfectly cylindrical western hemlock.
Alas, Lady Hood could not maintain her modesty for very long. With a few hours still to kill before sunset, we drove down to the charming little town of Sandy and partook in a surprisingly delicious dinner at the Tollgate Inn (didn't hurt that the hostesses and waitresses were quite easy on the eyes...). Then we bounced on over to nearby Jonsrud View Point just in time to see the sinking sun impart an ethereal red glow upon Mt. Hood as distant storm clouds rained bolts of lightning on their way north towards the Columbia River Gorge. (Pics from that dazzling cabaret to come...no lightning captured, unfortunately...)
And as a final note, at the time of this writing (Father's Day, 2013) I can definitively say that this past weekend marks the official start of mosquito season. Man, I itch! Hoping you can't overdose from topical Goldbond...
