Rain, Snow & Sun, Oh My! Mt. Hood in May!

One last weekend in May to take advantage of, so we headed up the Mountain to a favorite place of ours – Camp Creek! This time of  year, the campground is basically deserted so reservations aren’t needed. All the spots here are pretty fabulous…unless you’re hit with torrential rain…and then some sites are definitely better than others we found out!

The forecast the night before we left was for 50% chance of rain all day. Not great, but we figured we’d get a few dry spells here and there between rain showers. Apparently though, Saturday morning, the forecast turned to 100% chance of rain in the mountain. The forecasters are good at predicting rain around here 🙂 When we woke up in the morning, our spot, one we’ve camped in many, many times was totally flooded. So flooded in fact that there was a small lake around the fire pit. There are springs it seems that come out of the surrounding forest during downpours and turn site 5 into a complete bog. So we did what any true Oregonian would do…instead of heading home (45 minutes away), Todd hitched up and moved us to a dryer site. We could hardly complain as we were the only campers there with a trailer. The other campers were all tent campers buried under blue tarps. Oregonians are a hardy bunch!

I didn’t take a photo of our site underwater…here’s our new site tucked under the trees. Really, there’s not a bad site here!

Stir crazy, we decided to head up the mountain for breakfast. Just a few miles up the road in Government camp, the rain turned to heavy snow! It was hard to believe that it was almost June! Kind of fun actually! It made our breakfast at the Huckleberry Inn, cozy and wonderful. After stuffing ourselves with huge pancakes, bacon and eggs we decided to drive up to Timberline Lodge to spend the afternoon. Again, just a few miles up the road, but with enough elevation gain that we drove right out of the snow storm into blue sky and wind. Timberline is a fun place to hole up. There’s always a warm fire going and snug little areas to claim with a good book and drink. It’s also fun to just wander around and appreciate the craftsmanship that went into building the old lodge.

Road up to Timberline, just a few miles from where we were camping. The change in elevation on the mountain makes for some very drastic weather varieties.

Thought this was a neat picture of one of the bars in the lodge backlit by snow.

We wandered from room to room and saw art work we’d never seen before. This was Mother’s Day weekend so this carving seemed appropriate.

My class was learning about the Barlow Pass on the Oregon Trail and I found this neat carving to share with my kids.

One of the cozy little nooks you find everywhere in the lodge.

We returned to camp late in the afternoon and the weather cleared enough to afford us a short walk through the woods. There’s so much beauty up here…even in the rain!

Old forest trail signs

Lots and lots of green!

Always a favorite

I love bleeding heart wildflowers. This one was particularly pretty with the raindrops on it!

Early in the season…fiddleheads just uncurling.

I always come prepared with a little of my own sunshine!

Camp Creek that runs along the perimeter of camp.

Tucked in the old growth. I love it here!