I had the chance to capture time lapse photos during two recent hikes. Here are the outcomes:
King's Mountain: Here the camera is positioned westward towards the Pacific Ocean
Table Mountain: Overlooking the Columbia Gorge in a very cloudy morning. Once we got back to the trailhead, the clouds were completely gone.
Finally, we had an opportunity to have a family hike this summer. My son, Omer and my daughter, Meryem were with us as well. Omer was walking by himself and Meryem was comfortably carried in my back. After a pleasant hour of walking starting from the south trailhead, we reached to the top of Neahkahnie Mountain. The view of the Nehalem Bay and the Pacific Ocean was stunning. Omer was happy to be at the top and couldn't help but took his selfie.
Seems so simple in the GPS track log. But in reality, it poses both physical and mental challenges to walk up to Mt. Hood. And definitely, it requires well studied planning from what to have in your backpack to what to eat before the start etc. After the attempt, I now realize that I wasn't well prepared for the challenge. My crampons were not fitting very well and at every step my mind was preoccupied whether they would get out of my shoes or not. The glasses I brought and started using after 2500 m where not fog proof. So, with the influence of sweat and breath warmth, the glasses became foggy making me half blind. After 2500 m, the wind was strong and the weather got really cold. I didn't have anything to cover my face and it got really cold. Eventually, I started to have headache which grew only bigger. I started to feel so sleepy and they told me that I was going through altitude sickness. Hence I needed to get down as quick as possible. I had to abort the climb. I was ~100 m away from the Hog's Back. Hopefully, next time with better preparation I can do better than this one.
Here are some photos from that day:
Mt. Hood right before the sunset as seen from Timberline Lodge. Getting ready for the midnight walk-up.
The walk-up starts around 1 am and the trail is already full of fellow hikers lighting up the trail.
Sun is rising behind the Mt. Hood. Since we are in the south-west side, we are left in the shade. Mt. Jefferson is seen at the background.
At 2915 m (9563 ft), altitude sickness kicks in. I have a very bad headache and drowsiness. Cannot continue further, need to turn back. This is the last point I was able to reach close to the Hog's Back.
This was my second attempt to hike up to the Mount St. Helen's peak which is at 2526 m (8287 ft). Almost exactly 1 year after the first ascent, this time our group was only 3 people which was a big reduction compared to last year's 8 people. Similar to our group, the parking lot at Marble Snow Park also had much less cars/campers compared to last year. For the record, the starting altitude was 886 m, so roughly 1500 m was ahead of us.
Being a smaller group, we were faster to pack and start the hike in the morning. It was 6.40 am when we were in the trail. After two hours clouds started to come over the St. Helens but later on they were completely gone. It took almost 6 hours to reach the top, the view was gorgeous. The smoke from the volcano was on. The view of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams was great. Here are some snapshots from the top:
King's Mountain is one of the most popular hiking destination for Oregonians especially those living in the "weird" Portland and vicinity. Among many of our hikes to King's Mountain, this one was particularly spectacular when we got closer to the peak. The thick clouds left below formed a virtual blanket over the Tillamook Forest. It almost felt like a sea of clouds. Here are some photos from the day:
