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Table Mountain,
Columbia River Gorge |
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Every year a meteor shower called Perseids illuminates the sky with streaks of light. Each year starting in July, you can see these magnificent balls of fiery rock race towards the earth, burning up in the atmosphere. This year was suppose to be rather grand, so Bob and I scratched out a plan to hike to a local mountain where there would be less light to inhibit viewing. We decided that Table Mountain was close enough to drive to and long enough of a hike to get in a good workout. With no rain in the forecast and clear skies overhead, the evening was hopeful.
We stopped at the typical last spring on the PCT before the climb up the mountain. Since this was to be a dry camp and stocking up some water was necessary.
Once on top, we strolled about looking at views in all directions. Sacagawea and Papoose rocks arose from the distance as well as the remainder of the mountain.
A mandatory summit photo was taken. Bob tried carefully not to tread too close as the edge was eroded quite a bit.
Sunset on top of a mountain or in the desert is quite a spectacular thing to behold. The stars begin to poke out with their various luminous intensities.
The mountains in the viewable circumference of our campsite were spectacular. The contrast was so stunning, I had to ogle, if only for a minute.
Night was falling fast as we decided that a small fire was in order. I quickly set up a minimal-trace campfire. It slowly burned in a circle about 12 inches wide. With no wind, it is was quite easy to make a very small, shallow fire.
Streaks of light began to appear. Although lights from Highway 84 and Stevenson began to reflect brightly in the night sky, we could still observe the showers just fine. With the Milky Way overhead, and a bottle of whiskey to dull the senses, this was truly another weekend to remember.
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