Dog Mountain

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May 24, 2009 Sunday around Memorial Day Weekend.

We left the city by 9am and arrived to a full parking lot already on this beautiful Sunday of Memorial Weekend. The trail head , somewhere near the Bridge of the Gods and Char Burger. We anticipate the carpet of yellow flowers around May which by August had died.

It has been four or five years since we last went up to Dog Mountain. I was younger and in maybe better shape. I don't remember the hike being this hard to walk up. Right off the begining, the climb is steep, worse then stairs. There is a series of switch backs. Today, the narrow path is like a highway with dogs, and humans passing opposite and from behind me. I did not stop, I just walk slowly. If I stopped at the beginning, the climb might be hard the rest of the way up. I had to push no at the beginning to set the pace, the tone of the hike. The yellow carpet of flowers would be the pay off. The gorgeous views would be there waiting.

This is a story made in 23hq.com. The camera is Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1. What ever happened to the days of simple camera names like Leica M3, M4 etc. This camera has the Leica lens. There is a bit of troublesome dust spot which needs to be fixed. I did not see this problem until after the trip. I have to remember to be better prepared with equipments. The LC1 is light weigh and has manual switches and buttons to make adjusting the camera easier. It's like the old cameras, I don't have to dig through the manuals to find the functions. It has a 28mm lens for wide open shots of the landscape. Although, I think it does distorts the picture a bit.

This is me at the Summit of Dog Moutain. Tim took this photograph.

I found this man taking a nap at the summit. He's 'Dog tired'.

There are plenty of dog at Dog Moutain. This one seems very regal. Man's best friend is also useful for caring water and other essentials.

jet boat

If you want to cool off this summer check out willamettejet and Multnomah Falls. I highly recommend it. We went there for our Aniversary. We saw two eagles resting near their nest. I was surprised because the boat was very loud. Later, I saw an Osprey around the bend of the river. The Captain of the boat was very entertaining. He told us about the flood of 1996. Most of the house boats were destroyed. I remember being in downtown on first and second and the ground floor was flooded. The cranes float over the Meriwether Condo Project being built. Some of the units are appraised at $560,000. It is of course in the flood zone. People have bought most of the units even before it was finished.

The Captain told us about the Weaverly golf club. A pioneer brought apple seeds to start an Apple Orchard. People laughed at him because Oregon had so many trees already. He planted them anyway. Just in time for the Gold Rush. Food was in high demand by the people coming here to look for gold. He sold an apple for a dollar and made a fortune. He had two sons. Both thought that farming was not of very high socail status. When he died the sons cut down the trees to make a polo field. They went bankrupt two years later.

Sunday we went to Mutnomah Falls. It was very crowded. I took them to Multnomah Falls Sunday and it was so packed. I couldn’t find parking at first but then after one circle around the lot we found one