Here are a few things I don’t like; camping, cold weather, insects, coffee or flying. So why did I agree to go camping in the mountains on the other side of the country when it involves four of the five things previously mentioned? Well because my girlfriend Jessica loves all five. Since we were already heading out to Portland for a wedding (which only really involved flying), and Jessica loves the area surrounding the Cascades mountain range, I figured why not let her show me what she loves so much about this part of the world. After spending a week out there, I now know why she loves it so much. Though I still don't like camping, cold weather, insects, coffee or flying.

We flew out on Friday (7/9) with plans to spend a few days in Portland, Oregon for a wedding.  On Saturday, we did some shopping for ‘wedding car decorations?then went with some good friends over to the Oregon coast and explored that area. We started in Lincoln City and quickly vacated that region. It was way too much of a tourist trap. Instead, we headed north and spent the remainder of the day viewing the coastline between there and Tilllamook.

On Sunday we attended the wedding. The reception for the wedding was held at the Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner, Oregon. The vineyard, sits up on a hill overlooking it’s own grape plants as well as a few other vineyards and the Oregon countryside.

Monday is when the adventure really begins. Before heading up North towards the mountains, we decided to go back and visit the vineyard for some wine tasting. J We ended up buying six bottles of wine, six to have shipped home and one for the road (so to speak). That last bottle never got opened on our journey. More on that later. After tasting (and purchasing) some different wines, we walked around the vineyard to check out the views and to make sure that any effects of the alcohol had warn off since neither of us had eaten a real meal that day yet.

We left the Vineyard and headed north to the Columbia River Gorge where we traveled along the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Highway towards Mt. Hood. Along that route, we stopped and saw numerous waterfalls (Bridal Veils, Wakheena, and Multnomah) and the Bonneville dam. Have you ever seen a 10-foot long sturgeon?

We stayed overnight at a hotel near Hood River before making an early start to Mount Rainier. Our directions from there, got ‘interesting?as we got lost for approximately an hour. Then, after getting turned around and headed we in the right direction, we traveled about 3 hours on an assortment of roads that were mostly gravel, dirt and miscellaneous minerals before our rental car, a brand new Chevy Blazer, started making some hideous grinding noise. Kind of like the sound a cat makes when it's stuck in a car engine. Only with a little more 'emotion'. It was rather discomforting especially since the car only had one mile on the odometer when we picked it up, and it had been about an hour or more since we had seen another car or anything that resembled civilization. We kept driving and pretty soon, the noise stopped. At least for now?/P>

Our goal was to head straight for Rainier without stopping so we would have as much time on the mountain as possible. We failed miserably in our goal. We ended stopping a few times to take pictures of Mt. Adams and we passed it and we stopped at (something?) creek falls to take some more pictures. We then rationalized that since we were on vacation and part of the whole idea was to get some decent pictures, stopping wasn’t really hurting anything as long as we got there with enough time to spend a couple hours exploring the mountain on Tuesday. We stopped in the town of Packwood just outside of the National Park to pick up some supplies (many of which ended up getting tossed out), then on to the mountain.

We were planning to camp Tuesday night and Wednesday night in the Ohanapecosh campgrounds on the southeast part of the mountain. We finally got our campground and were set up by about 4:00 giving us about 4 hours of good light to tool around and explore.

We headed up towards Paradise (elevation 5,400 ft.) on the southwest part of the mountain where the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center is located. Our desire was to see some of the waterfalls, see some wildlife, see the mountain peak in Reflection Lake, and look down from the visitor center across the other ridges and valleys on the mountain. Well, we didn’t see any wildlife, except for birds, on the way up and he view we wanted from Reflection Lake didn’t exactly turn out as planned since the lake was still completely frozen. Using a telephoto lens, we were able to see climbers headed Columbia Crest (elevation 14,411 ft.), the peak of Mount Saint Helen's.

However, we did see many beautiful waterfalls and the view from the visitor’s center was spectacular. He headed back down to our campground to have dinner and sleep for the evening, as we were both tired from a full day of driving, setting up camp, and sightseeing. We decided to save our bottle of wine from earlier, for a better day. We never got one.

We woke up early (4:00am) to go to Sunrise (elevation 6,400 ft.) on the northeast part of the mountain for sunrise. It was too cold and too early, but it did provide us our first view of wildlife as we saw a couple elk walking along the side of the road. Sunrise is the highest point in the park accessible by car. We saw a nice sunrise with the morning sun hitting the face of the mountain from above the clouds and we saw the clouds rising from below us to above the mountain. Meanwhile, no matter what I did, I could not manage to warm up. My hands felt numb, and I was shivering to no end. Jessica had warmed up enough to function, but once I had taken the pictures I wanted, I was back in the car with the heat on ‘cook? We head back down the mountain and Jessica mentions that she is feeling really tired and sleepy. Not a good condition to be in when driving down a narrow two-lane road on the side of a mountain with shear cliffs right next to you. I ended up driving the rest of the way back to camp.

We got back to camp and Jessica slept, while I tried to sleep. Instead I did nothing but shiver. In between the shivers, I did manage to sleep a little but not much. After a little while, we woke up with Jessica cooking breakfast and me starting a fire. I miserably hunched over this fire trying to understand why I was out in the woods freezing my ass off when there were many heated hotels and motels within a 40-minute drive. Anyway, we have a little breakfast and start back up to Paradise to photograph some of the sites we had seen but not stopped at the day before. As we head back up, we stop at a few areas, but I don’t get out of the car as I’m still freezing and my stomach is now feeling pretty twisted. We get to Paradise and Jessica casually puts her hand on my forehead to check my temperature and her face just drops. I can tell by her expression that she didn’t like what she felt.

Next thing I know, I’m checked into the Paradise Inn, tucked into bed and she’s headed back down the mountain to pack up the tent and the rest of the camping supplies. My day was done and hers was just getting started. On her way back down the mountain, the Blazer decided it wanted to start making the horrible, cat-like noise again and Jess' was just ecstatic. She really loves noises like that. She returns about five hours later only to find out the kitchen area is closed so there's not really anything warm to eat. Being the quick thinking camper that she is, she remembers that all the camping gear, including the propane burners, is still in the truck. She sets up directly outside the exit doors to the inn and promptly cooks up a nice big can of chicken noodle soup that she had just conveniently purchased. We find out the next day that people get thrown out of the inn for cooking on the premises. Ooops!

We get up on Thursday and I’m feeling a little better, but very weak. No energy. We decide to take our time and cruise out of the park by way of Longmire on the southwest part of the park and head on down to the Mount Saint Helens area. As we're leaving Longmire, we see the Rangers and a local TV crew preparing a rescue team to head up the mountain. Seems a 'day-hiker' has been missing for four days. His car was still in the parking lot, but he was no where to be found. It was very sad to hear and we never found out the outcome of the search.

We get to the Mt. Saint Helens area and decide to get a room for the evening then go see the mountains on Friday. Things are looking better as I am starting to feel better, and the hotel room has cable and free HBO! Now, if I could only get a hold of a computer with a modem. I was starting to feel out of touch with the outside world.

Friday rolls around and I’m feeling much better. Unfortunately, Jessica isn’t. She’s feeling like I did a day or two earlier, but her stomach is hurting her more than mine did and she still has some energy. She decides that she’s well enough to go up the mountain and for the most part she was. The picture directly to the left of this paragraph would not be possible without her wonderful navigation and strong desire to continue our journey up the mountain. If you ever get a chance to talk to her about the trip, ask her about this picture, it's a story she loves telling. We spend the day visiting the some of the welcome centers and exploring the damage that the volcano caused when it erupted in 1980. It’s very surreal seeing the damage that Mt. Saint Helens did after only being on Mt. Rainier a few days earlier. Especially knowing that there is a very good chance that Rainier will erupt sometime in my lifetime.

After coming off the volcano, we drove back down to the Portland area and stayed at a bed and breakfast on Sauvie Island. Ironically enough, the host of the bed and breakfast was Marie Colasurdo is the mother of author Christine Colasurdo. Christine wrote the book ‘Return to Spirit Lake?/a>. It’s the story of her return to Spirit Lake, an area totally destroyed by Mount St. Helen’s eruption in 1980 where her family owned and vacationed in a cabin on the mountain.

To see more pictures from this trip, click here. (40-50 thumbnails, so it may take a few minutes.)