Sometimes you just want to wear the Wolf as a shelter from the storm. At least that is what Nova wanted on this rocky peak in the Badger Creek Wilderness near Mt Hood. I count on God as my shelter from any storm, but He also gave me a 40 foot Lookout Tower today to eat my supper in the shelter of the wooden scaffolding. Besides how often can you toast a Lookout Tower with a pear? But more about that in a minute.
The drive was long on forest service roads to get to our destination. We made so many turns I started to wonder how I would ever remember how to drive out in the dark of night. In the Bible's book of Revelation, I have learned that streets in Heaven will be made of gold. But God and I had a little discussion on this drive that I would prefer the street to my house in Heaven be a dirt or gravel road. Long, narrow and winding through the trees at that.
We pulled into the tiny no-fee campground made up of three small sites each with its own wooden picnic table along a river. I chose site number 3 to back my truck into. We then walked up the road 200 yards to find the trailhead climbing steeply up from the road. We were surprised by the number of downed trees in the forest in this section. Clearly a very violent storm had moved through here! Even Novaleigh was shocked that the first bridge we came to over a small creek was broken in half, but still serviceable.
One of my favorite things on the East side of Mount Hood in the Fall are the Larch trees. During most of the year, it is hard to distinguish the green Larch trees from all the others. But in the Fall, they turn a brilliant gold color and are outstanding! You can see them scattered throughout the forests for miles as they appear to glow among the green evergreens. Then the Larches start to lose their needles all over the forest floor. It felt at times as if the forest here had literally rolled out a carpet of yellow for us to tread upon. I told God that my road in Heaven could be golden if coated in Larch needles like these!
As we climbed higher to gain the elevation to make it up to just under 6000 feet where the tower was to be found, we started to feel that we were being watched. I knew it was hunting season, but we did not feel that it was a human watching us. The girls grew anxious and Josie started to smell the air picking up on the scent of whatever was nearby.
We soon found fresh cat scat and then a large fresh scratch across the topsoil alongside the trail. A big cat had just been here and we surely interrupted it. At least we knew what was watching us! Josie was very, very interested in smelling the fresh scratch site.
The trail then climbed incredibly steeply for a period of time making me long for switchbacks. "Who built this trail?" I thought. The path was so steep that you could only walk with just the front of your boots contacting the surface and your heels hanging out in mid-air. To do otherwise would snap your ankles in two from the angle required. If this was snow or ice, I would be kicking steps in, but the compacted dirt here did not allow for that. It was uncomfortable and unnatural to say the least. Even the girls wanted to stop next to trees to lean against them to get a break from the climbing. If only there were switchbacks on this climb it would be so much easier. Such a simple thing, but what a difference it makes! Luckily before long, we crested the top of the climb and found ourselves at a small private lake. I was shocked to find half of it covered over in ice. I reached down to check the thermometer carabiner that is attached to the side of my pack to see what the air temperature was. Without putting on my glasses, it appeared to be somewhere between 45-50 degrees. I was again surprised by the ice, but realized that the lake was hidden among trees and high rocky ridges so probably didn't get a lot of sun.
About a half mile beyond the lake, we came to a trail junction and turned left to continue our climb toward the lookout tower. This tower was first built in 1924, rebuilt in 1932, remodeled in 1955, and then finally rebuilt for the last time in 1973, a year before I was born. The 40 foot tower has outstanding views on a clear day, but I also find it alluring on stormy days. This was only my second time to visit this tower, but I still remembered the fierce winds from the steep staircase on my first visit that had the whole tower swaying. This is one of the few lookout towers still manned in the summer to look for fires. I have never visited the tower during the months when workers are there, but some day would love to get a full tour. During the rest of the year, it is locked up tight and you cannot make it through the padlocked and chained upper hatch. Believe me, I have tried. It is sadly impossible. But I enjoy the tower nonetheless and was looking forward to arriving to our final destination for the day.
We finally reached the upper ridge-line walk which I knew now only put us about two miles from the tower. Of course we had to take the time to climb hand over foot out on some boulders hanging over a deep ravine with views up and down the ridge. Nova's eyes grew wide as she felt the storm coming our way. We could all feel this storm down into our very toes and smiled as the wind pulled at us.
One of the last times the three of us were at a lookout tower together, we had a vicious thunder and lightening storm quickly descend upon us which we will never forget. I think we were all thinking we might be re-creating that moment today. I realized that I might have been more excited to stand on a 40 foot swaying tower during a thunder storm than the girls were when Nova took cover under the Wolf.
As the clouds blew quickly all around us, swirling mist through our hair, we caught glimpses of the lookout tower on the next peak over. When the clouds parted, we could occasionally see the tower standing tall and proud, with sun glinting off his windows before he was covered up again by the blowing clouds. I smiled knowing what fun was in store for us as we continued on the path across the ridge toward the tower beckoning to me.
As we walked the ridge I was practically humming, despite the fact that I needed to zip up all four layers I was wearing on my upper body and that my hair and outer layers were saturated from the mists around us. It was growing colder as we gained in elevation and the winds became fiercer. I checked my external thermometer again and saw we were now closer to 40 degrees. Suddenly Nova alerted me that something was ahead of us on the trail. I stopped to look and listen. The Wolf was busy smelling something, so wasn't paying attention to the direction Nova and I were staring intensely at. At first, I didn't pick up on anything, but then I saw movement far up ahead. I realized with a start that there was actually a lot of quick movement and I slowly worked to unzip my camera bag as quietly as I could so I could be ready to capture whatever this was. But then I saw a flash of blue through the trees and put my camera back realizing that these were merely humans (the first we had seen all day) heading in our direction and not elk or bear or something more exciting. Before I could be too disappointed though, I instantly had an idea. I just could not help myself. Since I knew I was dressed in all black and we were behind a stand of trees and not moving, we were going to have the drop on these guys. I didn't know how many there were or if they had guns or dogs with them, but I had to have a little fun at their expense. We quietly hid and waited patiently. By now Josie knew what was happening and on board with the plan. Just as they neared our hiding place along the trail, I had Josie the Wolf step out from the trees to stand on the trail and do what she does best with humans.....the hard cold stare of disapproval of their existence.
Then I waited for it. The giant startled gasp of shock and surprise that always comes.....and I was not disappointed in this loud gasp either! I removed the hand that was covering my mouth to hold in my giggles and tried to plaster on the most innocent face possible as I stepped out behind Josie. "Oh, hello there." I said very demurely as if surprised to see the other hikers. "I thought" the lead hiker said while gasping for air, "I thought that he was a wolf!" Why everyone thinks Josie is a boy is annoying, but I just responded, "Yeah, we get that a lot on the trail." I told them to have a good hike as we passed their party and I could finally smile from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat. "That just never gets old" I told Josie as I patted her back and was sure I saw her smiling as well. In fact I think I was laughing and smiling for a solid mile after that one, recreating their gasps the whole way to the tower. "Oh, I am surely going to hell." I thought.
The final approach to the tower involves popping off the trail and back on forest service roads. I don't mind this at all as dirt road hiking means we can all three walk side by side, but as we were about a quarter mile from the tower, we heard an unmistakable sound and turned around to see headlights slowly heading in our direction. As the green Jeep Cherokee passed us I looked inside to see men in all camouflage saluting us. "Great" I muttered with a deep sigh, "our peaceful evening tower visit ruined by hunters cheating the trail." They had to drive so slowly on the rocky and pitted road, that we were keeping up with them while just walking. They piled out of their truck moments before our arrival. As usual, they were surprised that I was up there alone and couldn't figure out where I had come from. I stood so they could see my gun clearly visible on my hip just to make sure that we would not have any misunderstandings while alone on this peak as it was getting dark. The talkative hunter with the grey beard kept pulling his hat up over his greasy hair and spitting on the ground as he talked to me. He wanted me to know that he felt it very dangerous for me to be hiking in the dark as I told him how many miles away my truck was parked. Knowing that it was already almost 5pm, gave away that I was going to be night hiking. I assured him that we night hike all the time and I have night lights on all of us so we don't get shot after dark by hunters. He then wanted to tell me that there is a well known large pack of wolves in this wilderness and that the number of bear has been overwhelming this year. He said he would not want to be out here moving at night like I was going to be and he is an experienced hunter and works for Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife. He was very concerned for my safety.
If he was trying to get me to accept a ride from these guys back to my truck it was not working and he could tell as I was very nonchalant about his warnings. We hiked around near the tower to give the men a chance to see it for themselves. Once they left, we came out to enjoy it all to ourselves for the evening. "Who wants to climb the forty foot tower?" I asked the girls. Nova raised her ear in acceptance.
Although Josie loves to stand on the very edge of cliffs, she doesn't much care for man-made structures. So she stayed on solid ground as Nova and I made the climb to the top. We could feel the sway of the wind and hear it whistling through the wood and cables around us. I held on extra tight to the railings the higher we climbed. Funny thing is that I am not generally a fan of heights myself and this climb got my heart in my throat and breathing hard. Despite the clouds blocking our mountain views, we enjoyed surveying the golden larches among the evergreen trees and seeing the color pink light up in the evening sky. We looked far below to check on the wolf who was guarding the tower for us. I wanted to tell her that if there was a handsome Prince down there, she could let him up our tower since I don't have long enough hair to reach the bottom!
After going up and down the stairs several times to force myself to get more comfortable on the seemingly steepening staircase while enjoying the views, I figured we better eat our supper before my hands grew any more numb. I needed to get my gloves on, but couldn't do so until after we had eaten. So we convinced the wolf to come to the first landing where we could be sheltered from the storm brewing and I filled their bowls with their special hiking food and poured some of my hot soup over them. I had the best dinner ever, which I lined up on the railing to visually enjoy before consuming. (Although sadly it was too much to eat all at once, so I ended up packing half of it back out.)
As we turned to leave, we took a couple final photos with the tower. The girls wanted to pose in front and I gave the tower my best pear toast before turning my back to hike out. I felt the first rain drops on my face shortly after leaving and thought about the man's warnings of wolves and bears as we hiked in the dark of night through the forest back to our truck. I'm not going to lie, he must have gotten under my skin a bit with his stories because as I found myself standing in my tank top and panties by my truck in the dark pouring rain and was bent over to pick up my soaking wet gear, I swear I heard something big growl deeply just behind the truck. Since both girls were already asleep in the truck, I jumped up and aimed my wimpy flashlight all around. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I seemed to be moving in slow motion pointing the light in all directions while waiting to be attacked by some giant creature in the night. I couldn't see anything but I instantly had goosebumps and a real bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I quickly squatted to pee, put on my dry clothes and didn't bother to get my thermos of hot chocolate out until I was safely inside the truck with the doors locked. I was working to stay calm and reasonable, by my imagination was running away with me as I drove off onto the winding forest service roads to find my way home. It would have been real ironic if I had been eaten by a pack of wolves while my own wolf was asleep in my truck. That is not the obituary I want. I need something far cooler and less stupid than that! Struck by lightening on a 40 foot tower in a wind storm at night would have been much sexier.
Comments