Mt Hood teased us, standing in the distance on most of the drive from Bend:

Majestic

Coming from the Bend side (and not the Portland side) there was little signage and no information on hikes or other highlights, which was kind of frustrating.

It took us a while to find our campground, but when we did we found ourselves setting up next to this:

Not bad

After a quick trip to the nearest town for supplies (a scary place called Wamic, the kind where you walk into a bar and everyone stops what they are doing and stares at you) we sat at our picnic table and were joined by some locals:

Doe, a deer

And plenty of geese

As the sun got low we thought we were in for a fairly dull sunset but we took a walk, keeping our eyes peeled for bears,  to where we could see the mountain.

I literally turned away for 5 seconds and when I looked back the sky was turning red:

And then this:

Insane. No filters or editing used whatsoever. Oh and that’s Mt Hood poking out. 

The next day we set off to find the rangers’ station and get some ideas for a hike. The woman we spoke to was really helpful and suggested a short hike that would give us panoramic views to Mt Hood, the Three Sisters to the south and to other snow capped peaks.

The view from the Rangers’ station

The view from half way up

Standing at the halfway point, by turning in a circle we had the above view as well as this:

The Three Sisters to the south

And this:

Scary

And then we got to the top:

Self timer for the win!

Making it look like I’m sitting on the edge, but the ground is just there

A weird photo series of playing on invisible skateboards/clicking heels:

And some pretty wild flowers, just because

I really loved Mt Hood, it was definitely up there as far as our camping experiences have gone. I would recommend coming from the Portland side though, much more informative!