After reaching top of Multinoma falls
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Mt. Hood camping trip day 3
So, we come to the last day of our trip. Everyone was in a holiday mood and no early morning wake up calls, except of course for Srijan, Sri and Sunil. The trio setoff early to drop Sunil to Portland. In the morning, the first place to visit was the camp river again. This time people shed all their inhibitions about the cold water and everyone washed face and feet in the river. We even managed to get Sumitra to face the cold water. We had a nice breakfast of waffles (thanks to paromita) and fruits. And then we set off on our final journey through the columbia river gorge. Headed for the oregon coast, we reached ..... beach. The meat eaters had lunch somewhere and we the veggies got to have fun lunch. That's where the boiled veg and naans came in handy, not to mention the left over khichdi. It was fun in a way. After taking good view of the beautiful beach, we headed back to Redmond. On the way was this enormous bridge Astoria Bridge. I had personally never seen a bridge that long. It was nice. The journey back was smooth but tiring. By the time we reached Seattle, everyone was dead tired. Except of course the people in Seattle, who put up a great b'day surprise for Rahul. One of the yummiest cakes I have ever tasted and potato chat. It was all we needed after the great trip :).
And finally, here is the link to the pictures we took.
Few Pics
And finally, here is the link to the pictures we took.
Few Pics
Mt Hood camping trip day 2
day 2
It was happy 'early' morning for all of us. I, as per my habit and excitement and maybe fear, could not sleep beyond 6 in the morning. Rahul woke up too and by 7:00 we were all ready to wake everyone else up. I hope people appreciate our giving them a good early start of the day as we made most of the day, having fun at waterfalls. We started the day with great 2 min. maggie noodles, and strawberries and grapes. Our first stop was our camp river, it was cool washing hands and face in the cold, 'nirmal' flowing water. My personal favourite in the falls was Wakina falls (more popularly known as W*). We visited it last, but it was the only place where we could actually go all the way to the falling water. It was fun getting wet!! But the first thing we saw was the oldest post office in US, still functional at bridal veil falls. First one we saw was Multnoma, we hiked to the top of the fall, but apart from the pleasure of hiking, there was not much up there. Our second stop was Horsetail Falls, everyone had fun getting into the cold water and shouting, "thands pani, thanda pani". After visit to the falls we all sat down to a nice bhel puri session, thanks to Sri (for cutting all the onion, special mention), Rahul and Sunil. Finally after the beautiful drives, it was back to the campsite. Our camps were intact there, and the next job was obviously dinner :) Day's menu was khichdi and mixed veg and I guess chicken again. So Sumitra and I got down to cutting all the veggies which Rahul and Sri were back on the campfire, grilling SPINACH NUGGETS and anything else that they could find, including mushrooms and baingan. Srijan was busy with the khichdi when we realized that there is no oil!! Well, after lot of different suggestions, we decided lets keep the khichdi healthy and do without oil. It did come out great in the end. Though mixed veg was quite a mess with no time and masala to make anything. So in the end poor cut veggies just went in water to make 'boiled vegetables'. Ofcourse no one wanted to even think about eating that except ... we will see later ;). So that is how the day 2 ended, and while everyone else was back in their tents sleeping, Srijan, Sri and Sunil were again busy with their air mattress. I guess this time they did manage to make the air boat into a proper mattress.
It was happy 'early' morning for all of us. I, as per my habit and excitement and maybe fear, could not sleep beyond 6 in the morning. Rahul woke up too and by 7:00 we were all ready to wake everyone else up. I hope people appreciate our giving them a good early start of the day as we made most of the day, having fun at waterfalls. We started the day with great 2 min. maggie noodles, and strawberries and grapes. Our first stop was our camp river, it was cool washing hands and face in the cold, 'nirmal' flowing water. My personal favourite in the falls was Wakina falls (more popularly known as W*). We visited it last, but it was the only place where we could actually go all the way to the falling water. It was fun getting wet!! But the first thing we saw was the oldest post office in US, still functional at bridal veil falls. First one we saw was Multnoma, we hiked to the top of the fall, but apart from the pleasure of hiking, there was not much up there. Our second stop was Horsetail Falls, everyone had fun getting into the cold water and shouting, "thands pani, thanda pani". After visit to the falls we all sat down to a nice bhel puri session, thanks to Sri (for cutting all the onion, special mention), Rahul and Sunil. Finally after the beautiful drives, it was back to the campsite. Our camps were intact there, and the next job was obviously dinner :) Day's menu was khichdi and mixed veg and I guess chicken again. So Sumitra and I got down to cutting all the veggies which Rahul and Sri were back on the campfire, grilling SPINACH NUGGETS and anything else that they could find, including mushrooms and baingan. Srijan was busy with the khichdi when we realized that there is no oil!! Well, after lot of different suggestions, we decided lets keep the khichdi healthy and do without oil. It did come out great in the end. Though mixed veg was quite a mess with no time and masala to make anything. So in the end poor cut veggies just went in water to make 'boiled vegetables'. Ofcourse no one wanted to even think about eating that except ... we will see later ;). So that is how the day 2 ended, and while everyone else was back in their tents sleeping, Srijan, Sri and Sunil were again busy with their air mattress. I guess this time they did manage to make the air boat into a proper mattress.
Mt. Hood camping trip
This long weekend, July 4th weekend, we went camping to Mt Hood National Forest and Columbia river gorge. The gorge is beautiful and home to 100s of water falls. We, 9 of us, Sumitra, Paromita, Srijan, Sree, Sunil, Arindam and Swati, camped for 2 nights by the banks of a river and drove around in the day. Camping was as usual fun, cooking by lights of 'lalten', though this time we had a big patromax light also. In food, spinach nuggest seems to be everyone's favourite, thanks to Sunil. Khichdi was also on the menu. Maggie for breakfast was a hit too. There was boiled vegetable on menu too, which made lunch for us veggies on the final day.
day 1
We left from Redmond in 2 cars and with a set of walkie-talkie. It was a nice toy for Rahul and Sunil, but soon everyone lost interest in it. The journey to campsite was pretty smooth. We did a small trek to Mirror lake on the way. No one could figure out what's there in the reflection of mirror lake, apart from ofcourse your own reflection. Srijan was of the opinion that you can see reflection of Mt Hood in the lake. Though we did manage to spot Mt Hood from the lake, but I am not convinced about the reflection theory! Inspite of all our apprehensions about the existance of campsite, the campsite turned out to be a nice and well organized place. As promised, the river was also nearby. We finally ended up setting 4 tents at 2 sites. After setting up the tents, everyone had a view of the river. And after that ofcourse there was dinner session. Campfire was lit, Day's menu: SPINACH NUGGETS, veggie burgers and something to do with chicken. Nuggets were a instant hit (thanks to Sunil, Rahul and Sree), veggie burgers too came out pretty good (thanks to me :) and Sumitra), chicken was Srijan and Paromita's field. After dinner we all MADE SURE that no food was left around which any animal could smell. And then finally off to sleep. At midnight, someone hears loud thumping sounds, almost animalish, and guess what, Sree, Sunil and Srijan are busy pumping their air mattress. So much for a good night's sleep :). Donno what time they finally managed to sleep on their air boat (as described by Sunil).
day 1
We left from Redmond in 2 cars and with a set of walkie-talkie. It was a nice toy for Rahul and Sunil, but soon everyone lost interest in it. The journey to campsite was pretty smooth. We did a small trek to Mirror lake on the way. No one could figure out what's there in the reflection of mirror lake, apart from ofcourse your own reflection. Srijan was of the opinion that you can see reflection of Mt Hood in the lake. Though we did manage to spot Mt Hood from the lake, but I am not convinced about the reflection theory! Inspite of all our apprehensions about the existance of campsite, the campsite turned out to be a nice and well organized place. As promised, the river was also nearby. We finally ended up setting 4 tents at 2 sites. After setting up the tents, everyone had a view of the river. And after that ofcourse there was dinner session. Campfire was lit, Day's menu: SPINACH NUGGETS, veggie burgers and something to do with chicken. Nuggets were a instant hit (thanks to Sunil, Rahul and Sree), veggie burgers too came out pretty good (thanks to me :) and Sumitra), chicken was Srijan and Paromita's field. After dinner we all MADE SURE that no food was left around which any animal could smell. And then finally off to sleep. At midnight, someone hears loud thumping sounds, almost animalish, and guess what, Sree, Sunil and Srijan are busy pumping their air mattress. So much for a good night's sleep :). Donno what time they finally managed to sleep on their air boat (as described by Sunil).