Puyallup, Washington to Hood River, Oregon

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Woke up this morning to a drizzly Washington day, it's the first time since I've started where I just didn't feel like kitting up to ride out. Anyhoo, I put on my big girl pants and went for a strong coffee and felt much better.

Our first point of interest to visit today was Mt Ranier. Although the summit had a misty cape we were still able to appreciate the fantastic windy road into Paradise (the name of the small village there) and the stunning national park surrounds. I listen to a random mix through my helmet via spotify and thought it ironic (although perhaps not entirely fitting) that G 'n' Rs Paradise City came through my helmet as I came into Paradise!

It was great to get away from the clogged and sluggish arteries of the city and into the woods and mountains. We had a brief lunch at Randel and then traveled south to Mt St Helens National Park. This was also a great ride as it's really windy and climbs a fair bit. It starts in lush green forrest before ascending into a more sparsely vegetated, semi-lunar looking space. Near the highest point is very rocky and steep. For those of you who want the history lesson you best use Google, the guts of it is, in 1980 it exploded wiping out 150 square miles of forrest which has been left to regenerate naturally.

Trev really enjoyed the ride out of the NP and headed us toward Hood River where we found gorgeous accomodation in the form of a glamping tent. It's an old style canvas tent with a built in floor and comfy bed which overlooks the river through the trees, I loved it!

There was a noticeable change of flora as we go into autumn with the leaves turning red and orange, hopefully we'll have some slightly cooler days. A great day in the end for riding and sight seeing.

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Photos

View from Hood River bridge
Nearly 1/2 a km of steel bridge in a crosswind. Terrifying stuff

Comments

[Raewyn Pennell]

Cool photos!
Love the glamping!