Party Update!

So the totally awesome party that is planned is now on Friday, June 1 at 8 pm.

The swank fundraiser is at our hip mid-century mod house. There's beer donated by Bridgeport, food made by me and Lisa, two hand crafted cocktails made with home infused vodka, door prizes, raffle, bocce ball, fire pit, and for the dodgeballers out there beer pong!

Please come enjoy our house and help me raise money for great cause.

PARTY!

So I still have $1700 to raise before I can climb Mt Hood (if I don’t raise my money, I can’t climb). So let’s have a party.

June 2nd at Disjecta on East Burnside I will be having a benefit Cocktail Party for the Lung Association! It will be a 100% tax deductible $20 to get in the door. For that small $20 you can have beer, a couple of signature cocktails make by me, and hors d’oeuvres. For a little more the will be a raffle and some kind of Ping Pong tournament (beer pong?). More on that later.

Please oh please mark this on you calendar and remember how important raising money for the Lung Association is to me.

See everyone June 2nd!

Dog Mountain

So, I’m skipping a couple of hike that I’ve done, but Dog Mountain requires a quick talk.

Dog Mountain is one of the most popular training hikes in the Columbia River Gorge. Many people try to take their dogs along, but the mountain is not named that way because it is a dog-friendly hike. Pioneers got trapped up at the top, and instead of starving, they ate their doggies, fun right!?!

It is one of the steepest hikes we get, as the trail rises 2,820 feet over just 3.7 miles, closely simulating the rate of elevation gain on Mount Hood. The hike's summit is 2,920 feet. Fortunately, the views from the hike of the Columbia River were the best we’ve had and I saw three kinds of wild lilies and one kind wild orchid.
I took the Dog Mountain Trail up (the hardest route) and came down via the less-steep Augspurger Trail.

This hike was hard, painful and awesome! Seem’s like I have a couple of asthma attacks in the beginning, and then I only stopped a couple of times on the way up. Once to stop a blister from starting, and for potty breaks. Otherwise I just hiked up the hill. The last third of the trail is out to the trees. The views are just awesome. There’s just no other was to describe it. We lost out memory card for the camera, but found it now, so I can take pictures next week finally. I was kinda pissed I didn’t have it this week.

The walk down we took the “less steep” Augspurer Trail, but I don’t think it was any easier. The trail up was really really really steep, but mostly packed dirt, with little rock, the way down was lots and lots of rock skree. Very hard on knees! Plus the leader was basically jogging down the trail. I’m still sore, but it’s joint pain. My muscles seem to be getting in shape for the crazyness I’m putting myself though.

I still love that I’m doing this.