Now that we (US citizens) are not allowed or wanted most places in the world that I would like to visit, I had to come up with an alternate plan.

Last week it suddenly dawned on me that I miss walking in the woods and enjoying new beauty. I had two trips planned in 2020, one in Spain and the second in Italy. Both involved long distance hiking through towns and countryside, breathing fresh air and being surprised every day. I had to find a way to get back out there, and be satisfied with a closer destination,

Rick and I decided to camp and check out some of the trails in the Mt. Hood Wilderness. We reserved a camp site at Clear Lake, which is on the east side of Mt. Hood. The campground was one mile off the main highway and each space was comfortably large. We enjoyed the additional distance between camp sites and could easily socially distance from our temporary neighbors.

Speaking of socially distancing while camping, most everyone had a mask handy or wore one when using the restrooms. The exception was the group of probable high school graduates that had two camp sites and did not wear a mask – that we saw. There were 6 people in each site and they went back and forth between the two sites, throughout the day and evening. They are of course the low age end of young adults being infected with the virus. The invincibility of youth…

We enjoyed two nights at camp.

We did check out Frog Lake and Timothy Lake for future camp trips. Frog Lake was small and popular with families. Timothy Lake was large, had at least three separate campgrounds and a lot of area for day use. And bonus – the Pacific Crest Trail was very close.

My choice for our next Mt Hood camp trip will be Timothy Lake. It’s time to make plans!