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Cooper Spur Ski
Area,
Mt. Hood |
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I read in a guidebook that Cooper Spur was the highest hiking point in Oregon. I did hesitate to pack some gear the night before and speed towards the Cooper Spur ski area on the local Mt. Hood. I had only one problem; Amber. She was hell bent on setting off with Daddy again on another mission of exploration. Despite my plans, I could not resist the pull that little thing has on my heart, so I grabbed the Piggyback and we were off.
We arrived 2 hours later with clear skies and no one around. Since I was not willing to drive the nine mile, rough, gravel road to Cloudcap Campground in my Acura, my itinerary instead had me taking off from the Cooper Spur ski area.
Amber's ambition faded as her entomophobia kicked into overdrive. After a short comforting session, we set off at a brisk pace towards somewhere. We entered the main ski area and found a cross country ski trail that we followed while looking at views of the mountain. Since this whole area was on in my guidebook, I had no idea what trail would lead me where. We just went up.
Cresting out at the ski area, we discovered a small trail that followed the side of a large landslide area and worked our way up the increasing grade.
Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainer came into view as we passed the last piece of lift equipment, desperately in need of maintenance. The flying insects worsened as we entered the dense forest above the lifts.
We ate a snack as Amber used all the consumed calories to swat at all the flying pests. She decided that she did not like it anymore as I decided that carrying this 30 pound fly swatter and 15 pounds of kit up a 20 percent grade.
Not knowing what trail we were on and Amber's persistence with unpleasantness over the flying insects, convinced me to turn around and keep a poor hiking from getting worse. We did not bother to follow the trails back and just lopped down the ski area instead, taking pictures of the numerous butterflies along the way.
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