Mt. Hood

We live in a beautiful part of the world. Because of that, we spend a lot of time on our back deck. From there, we can see many things. All of the photos below were taken from there.

We live in a place called Lookout Ridge. From here, we can see the weather coming in from the West long before it hits us.

We can watch the neighbors, like this killdeer foraging. It appears that she's working on her second brood of the season.

Across the river in Oregon, we can see the mouth of the Sandy River as it flows into the mighty Columbia.

In the other direction we can see the beginning of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic area. It is a panorama that we can stare at for hours. We often have dinner on our back deck with this in the background. Easy on the digestion. The most spectacular thing we see from our deck, however, is Mt. Hood.

Sometimes, she only reveals her peak to us.

Sometimes we get to see the lower slopes.

Sometimes she shares her beauty completely with us.

Every time we see her, she is a little bit different. Here she is at 5:00 am. Note the condensation plume from her peak. This often happens when there is relatively humid air with strong winds aloft. It is a phenomenon similar to the condensation you see when high flying airplanes go over.A few hours later at 9:00, she has changed completely.

Here she is at noon.

By 3:00 pm, the shadows are beginning to lengthen.

By 7:00 pm, shadows have lengthened a great deal. Note how much brighter the peak appears due to the low angle of the sun which shines at full intensity at her peak, but not on her lower slopes.

By 8:30 pm, the change has become quite marked. Note the reddish cast of the peak which is now much brighter relative to the lower slope.

As we watch beautiful Mt. Hood change through the day and from day to day, it seems to put the world into perspective. We've been in our house now for four months, and are still inspired every time we look at her. May our souls never be so dead that she fails to move us.