Way up high

For my birthday, my dad and littlest brother came to visit and brought my roommate and me up into the central Oregon Cascades. We had a time limit (because my roommate is a waitress :), so we hiked up to Canyon Creek Meadows in the shade of the big, craggy mountain that they call Three-Finger Jack. It was a beautiful day, there was still snow on the ground, and because we're cool, we hiked speedily past numerous puffing day-trippers. We dawdled a bit in the snowbanks because it's so much fun to throw snowballs in July, so we ran parts of the trail on the way back to save time. It was about a 4.5 mile round trip, I believe, not including the side trip to the upper meadows.

Pretty little pond right off the parking lot. No effort required!

The forest burned in 2003, and it's now in the process of reseeding itself. Even the burned parts are beautiful, but the living trees are draped in pale green lichen and are absolutely lovely.

Are you lichen our mustaches? We are so cool. Haha.

The hills are alive and all that. The field is full of shooting stars.

It was super fun. I love the mountains. Unfortunately the Cascades are a two-hour drive and not right in my backyard... but I take what I can get.