Wishing to avoid traffic, we hung around Ochoco National Forest for an additional night. Scott enjoyed sleeping in the hammock, with an elaborate setup to ensure he didn’t become dinner for any mosquitoes.
Since we were close by, we stopped by the painted hills.
Originally, we had hoped to spend more time in central Oregon (e.g. Crater Lake), but the entire area was socked in with smoke. We learned that you could not even see across the lake at Crater Lake. With horrible air quality, we decided to head north in hopes of avoiding the smoke.
We found a campground on the northern slope of Mount Hood at a place called Lost Lake. We didn’t manage to take any pictures of the lake, but we did manage to go swimming in it a couple of times. Our first swim was the evening we arrived, and our second swim was after a hike up the Lost Lake Butte.
The views of Mount Hood from the top made the hike worthwhile. You will notice the haze in all our photos, this is smoke from the various forest fires.
Our second night at Lost Lake, Becky decided to sleep in the tent (rather than the van) while Scott opted to sleep in his bivvy. However, when morning came, there was a fine misting of rain, which made Scott sneak over and stick his head under one of the tent vestibules.
From Lost Lake we decided to head towards the coast via the Mount Hood Timberline Lodge and ski area, and yes, there were people skiing up there!
The Pacific Crest Trail crosses just above the lodge (I recall it from the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed).
We didn’t quite make it to the coast that night … so one last stop before the coast.