A Day in the Woods

Sunday I had the good pleasure of disappearing into the woods surrounding Mt. Hood. I congratulated myself on having nearly every essential thing at my finguretips as I prepared to leave (not an easy task when you are temporarily living out of a suitcase). One quick stop at Bi-Mart for berry-picking buckets, an Oregon Road Atlas (mine is in Washington, so I had to replace it...can you imagine? A book FULL OF MAPS!!!), and a Dt. Dr. Pepper (my vice).

With my backpack full of water, my front seat full of maps and buckets and my truck loaded with a bike, I hit the road heading for Zigzag and the Lolo pass. My goal? Time spent alone with God in the woods. I knew before I left that there would be no berries this early in the season, I just wanted to be out in creation. I realized that aside from Alaska last summer, I haven't spent much time enjoying the great outdoors and the largely untouched areas of what God called good.

It was a grand adventure. At the first place I pulled over, I found some huckleberry bushes. I usually take someone with me when I go berry picking. That someone is usually my mom. We have a rhythm and predictability to our methods. I am good at spotting the pink huckleberries and she is good at spotting the mountain blueberries (regular huckleberries). However, neither of us are any good at doing the opposite. Because of this, I had no idea if I would even find a mountain blueberry bush that day, not because I didn't see one, but because I wouldn't know it if I did!

Anyway, I got to work plucking the pink berries into my lovely new berry bucket. All twelve of them. (This was my first stop, so I wasn't discouraged...remember, I hadn't expected to find any.) I thanked God for the find and proceeded to try out my hiking shoes on the nearby slope. I was pretty sure that Mt. Hood would be within sight if I climbed up a bit. My hard climb paid off :) (I had to use my cell phone cuz my Nikon got left at home...)

With that I was back to my car and off again. I was fairly sure I had gotten onto the wrong road, so I turned myself around and tried again. I made my way up another road and there was an interesting stand of trees that looked to be begging for investigation. So, with my trusty bucket in hand, off I went to explore. I found berry bush upon berry bush, but all were berry-less. As I crunched through the trees (all the moss was dried out, so it looked soft, but made a strange crunch sound as I stepped onto it), it occured to me that there might be snakes! Suddenly my movements were more planned and I was a bit more watchful of potential snake hiding places. Alas, I found no berries and I found no snakes, but I was safely back to my car. Again, I was on the wrong road.

Once inside my car, AC cooling me off from my exertion (after all, it was pretty hot and my windows don't roll down), I decided that finding the right road was relative. I didn't care where I was going. I didn't have a goal other than being out with God. So far we were having a grand time. :) My radio had been playing a lovely variety of worship songs, but I wasn't interested in the music. If I was gonna hear something, I wanted it to be from God talking, not the radio blasting.

Off again I went. The map said I had made it about an inch. I was on the windy road I was hoping for....."ah JP, hug those curves!" (My car's name is Jetta Pack - JP). I had my sun roof open and spotted a solitary Salmon Berry and stopped just as quick as I could. There was a little side road (made of dirt!) that I followed up to a dead campsite. I turned the car around before killing the engine (something my mom taught me) and looked around me. It was lovely and quiet. I clambered up a hill to see if there were berry bushes, but once I was up there, I didn't know how I would get down again. No berries and no way out but the way I came. Yikes. So, I did something I've never done. I ran down the hill. I know that might sound silly, but I have bad knees, so I haven't. But in that moment, I asked God "how am I gonna get down?" "Why don't you try it?" was my answer, so I did and I didn't fall or break anything! It was fantastic! I think I was more exhilarated by this little victory than I was about buying a book full of maps. :)

Back to the road. Did I mention that it was hot? I had the AC going to keep things moderated, but then I would get cold, so temperature regulation was a contant struggle. From time to time, I would open my door while driving. This was great 'cause I could get a little circulation AND I could take a look at things with an unobstructed view (my windows are tinted). It was then that I spotted mountain strawberry clusters growing along the roadside! Again, I found a little dirt "road" to pull down and got out to investigate. As I looked around, I saw that the strawberry patch was all around me. Nothing was ripe yet, but the blossoms were at the "fall off" stage. I was tickled! I thanked God for this find and continued to look around. I discovered my pink huckleberry bushes too! I noticed a trail and decided to once again go in search of a mountain view. With buckets in tow, including my 12 berries from the first stop, I headed off into the woods. It didn't take too long to get to the end of the trail. Initially disappointed, I started to turn around, but something familiar caught my eye. I walked over to it and recognized the mountain blueberry bush! It had berries forming on it that would be ready in the next couple weeks. Outstanding!

I was gonna head back to the car, but decided that I hadn't found the mountain view yet. Just because I had hit the end of the trail didn't mean I was done looking! So, I grabbed a stick and made my way into the woods, this time without a trail. (Probably not the best idea...) {An Aside: it was about five minutes into this trail-less hike that my phone suddenly got service and there was a text message from my friend telling me not to get too lost out there! hahahahaha! I laughed a lot. Thanks Scottie} About three minutes in, something bit me hard on the leg. I looked down expecting to find the snake I was looking out for earlier or a deer fly confused by the bright white flesh of my seriously untanned skin. Nope, it was a raspberry bush. :) Now, I've never even attempted to go raspberry picking because I've never known where there were raspberries. Until I went to my dad's a couple weeks ago( where he's growing a few raspberriy plants), I didn't even know what the bushes looked like. So, to literally stumble across one out there was just too wonderful. Of course, no berries.

So, in this one location, I can return in a couple weeks and get strawberries, pink and blue hunckleberries and raspberries! Back at the car I was just giddy with excitement over the find. I was telling God how grateful I was while I looked into my nearly empty berry bucket. GASP! All but one berry had escaped! Apparently the berry bucket had not faired the hike as well as I had. I thought to myself, "do you really think you're gonna come across any more today? Nope. Then you better take care of this one before it gets away too! OK." So I ate it. Good decision. Then I was back on the road.

There was a split in the road ahead. I knew my road went down the hill, but the other one was dirt and a mystery, so I took it. It led me up to Top Spur Hiking Trailhead for Mt. Hood hikers. Well, I may like to hike through the woods at my own pace, but I am no hiker, so I passed on by. However, the road was significantly less used this far up. In fact, the bushes were growing over most of the road and it was clear that no-one had been up there recently. I pulled over then and took my bike down to ride. Once again, exhilaration! it was fantastic.

Farther up the road I found something I had never seen before. I had known it exisited, but I had never seen it with my own eyes and I found it to be amazing. I didn't even know that it was so close! I was in such shock at the sight that I was sure a trick was being played. Alas, there it was - Mt. Adams. Hahaha, I had to pull out my maps...like three of them to make sure that I was actually looking at Mt. Adams. I never would have believed it if someone were telling me. So, that felt like a God hug...a big tight one. (The mountain is actually a lot closer than it looks in the picture). Amazing.

By this point it was getting late in the day and I knew I was going to need to get serious about heading somewhere. I decided to go all the way to Hood River. My mountain road meandered this way and that and eventually I made it to a highway. That highway took me to a freeway and that freeway would have taken me home....except there was a sign for the scenic Columbia Highway. :) I couldn't resist. My last stop was at Bridal Veil falls. I hiked down and took a picture (which didn't turn out great :( ) and hiked back out. I thought it was a fitting end to the day and felt very satisfied with the day on the whole.

I think I spoke 5 words Sunday. I can't remember the last time I was completely silent and just listened. Granted there have been periods of silence, but not whole days. Thank you God for the gift of time spent together.