I quickly made it through the forest and snapped a few shots with the camera.  The summit looked inviting as the weather was starting to clear and the temperature, rise. 

Missing my friend, I remember this spot the first time I made a trip up here.  I remember the fatigue and the blisters, none of which I had now.  I only had excitement of what the day was going to bring me.

Almost at the summit, it had only been an hour since I left the truck.  I decided to try out another local mountain using this route.  Augspurger Mountain was a peak that I had not yet climbed in the Columbia River Gorge and today, it was calling my name.

I topped out and took some pictures.  I was not tired in the slightest and delighted in my decision to tackle Augspurger next.  I hiked down a section that I have never taken before, heading to the junction with Augspurger Trail.  The day was turning out to be absolutely stunning.

Taking a right at the junction I found out why this trail is not well used.  It was an overgrown, muddy mess with salmon berry bushes covering up the trail completely.  The steepness of the trail, while being sheltered from the foliage, made the potential for a twisted ankle a reality.  When I stumbled into a field of thistle covering up the trail, I decided it was time to retreat.  I hiked back to the truck, not knowing what to do next as I had the whole day free and lots of energy left.

At the truck, my phone rang.  It was Bob on the line, asking if I had walked the Dog yet.  I told him of my trip and he asked if I was up for another.  I did not hesitate as I jumped in the Runner and sped off for Stevenson to burn some time while Bob made his way out.  I fumbled around Stevenson for about 45 minutes, taking various pictures.

I was full of vigor today as I snapped away while feeling artsy.  The bees were bussing.  The sun was shining.  The breeze was blowing.  I was smiling.  I made my way east until I could find no more things of interest to take pictures of.  On my return to the dock, Bob was there waving.  We came up with a plan quite quickly and jumped in his Volvo.  We drove to another peak I have not climbed yet, Wind Mountain.

Wind Mountain, at 1600 or so feet, was small in comparison to other peaks in the gorge, but offered stunning views anyway.  I felt, on a day like this, nothing could really be better.  Besides, we had some time to kill until Walking Man Pub was open.

We made the summit rather quickly as I stripped off my shirt and let the sun warm me.  The wind was indeed stronger here, even more than Dog Mountain.  We made out way to the eastern side of the mountain.  Since the wind was approaching from the east itself, this gave us great shelter from it's cooling effect.

Warmed contently from the sun, I stood up and looked around for things to take pictures of.  This day was one of the best I have had in some time as everything seemed to fit into place.  I gazed at the peak I was on just hours ago, not caring one iota about my timing with the balsam root. 

I even made out Mt. Adam's monstrous girth, looming over 11,000 feet above where I was now.  I sat back down in the sun as we had the whole summit to ourselves.  I glanced at my watch, noting it's report.  "Almost time for the pub to open Bobby", I said. We both lazily packed our gear back up and started off towards the trailhead and back to the Volvo.

I took one more shot on my way down as my daughter loves pictures of living things doing what they do.  Off we drove to the Pub, perfect food and beer for a perfect ending to a perfect day.

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