relocated to High Rock Spring area outside Estacada, OR
My 14d at that popular (crowded, trashy) spot was almost up, and I was ready to move on. I made a run through the day use / camping area I’d been hiking to and dropped off trash and filled the water tank.
I actually wanted to do a stretch of stealthing to reprovision and find some open wifi, but a heat wave in the area had temps in the 80s-90s in every nearby town of any size. I decided to stay in the Mount Hood NF for another round and drill down into my food stores. I need to “rotate” stock anyhow.
I found a spot on google maps that was higher ( 4700’), so theoretically . The good news is there are paved roads right up to the spot, so I’m not getting beat to death on washboard.
When I got there I saw there was a surprisingly nice view (completely unexpected) . The bad news is there are paved roads right up to the spot and cars were forever driving up to take pics.
Muffin and I walked up a steep dirt trail away from that area and found a clearing we will make home for a bit. Can’t see the mountain from here but there is a nice rocky outcropping nearby:
There was a spot further up before the trail becomes tricky, but this spot had clearer solar exposure.
While we where getting set up a fellow hiked past and came back down. I asked him if he could get his rig up there and he said he could if I could, since he had a Promaster, too. (Hi Mike and Rose!)
The main downside here is this open area is covered with very fine dust, like lunar material or baby powder. I’d welcome some rain to calm it down a bit.
weather
The temps here are about 10F cooler than the nearest weather station, (Estacada, OR) so hopefully I can interpolate from that. If true, that will put me in two hot days (83-84F) and the rest in the 70s over the next 14 days. Nights in the high 40s - low 50s.
{Note: I looked up Estacada and it’s around 500’ ASL. In theory this spot could be 14F lower than that forecast. Fingers crossed.}
With any luck 2 weeks will make a difference and I’ll have additional places to choose from with comfortable temps.
trivia
from wiki:
[Estacada] formed as a camp for workers building a [hydroelectric](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity) dam on the nearby [Clackamas River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clackamas_River) that was to supply [Portland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon) with electricity
In theory, there is a spring a few miles away. I might look for it on the way out.