Timberline lodge, not a bad place to be!

So now it is 7/23 and we have made it to Timberline Lodge, around the fire reroute, with the help of Ian's friend Beverly, and my friend Dianne Tapfer. Our hiker friend Ian is with us again, and the 3 of us decide to get a room for the night at Timberline, since a storm is definitely in action out there and it is pretty nasty. Dianne talks to the front desk and she and Connor are able to get us the last room at Timberline.

For those californians reading this, timberline is Oregon's equivalent to the Awhanee hotel in Yosemite--grand,historic and an incredible experience. So we go for it. of course :) So we get a behind the scenes tour from Ranger Steve (they have forest rangers on duty at the hotel). He shows us the room that Eleanor Roosevelt stayed in when she and President Roosevelt cut the ribbon for the hotel back in the 30's, as part of the Work Relief effort. We have lunch (thank you, Dianne!) in the upstairs cafe, and then it's 3pm and we check into our room, overlooking the pool and valley. Dianne leaves us, and the moment she does, we realize that we have sent things with her that we will probably need (2nd law of the trail---if you send it back, you will need it!)

So, after sending back our long sleeve warmth layer shirts, we now have to go to the outdoor store in the hotel and buy new ones. Guess we still have trail brain after all! We enjoy a wonderful wonderful day at the hotel---we have dinner at this incredible pizza restaurant downstairs, and see fellow hikers, we take photos with the Axe from "the Shining" (the exterior of the lodge was used for the exterior of "The Overlook" hotel in the movie), then we roast s'mores by the fire, and finally watch "the Shining" on the big screen. the staff is amazing and the most accommodating of any hotel I've stayed at. Love this hotel.

Of course the weather cleared up and was sunny pretty much the moment we rented the room…but by morning we were in a huge storm again. We awoke to THUNDER and LIGHTNING soooooo loud, it seemed like the building was being carried down the hill, and that we were in a rock avalanche. We have never heard lightening and thunder so loud. it really sounded as if the mountain were crashing down around us. We had set our alarms to 6am, hoping to leave right after breakfast, but with this new development, we rolled over and went back to bed.


Finally, after a lavender-blueberry pancake breakfast, and after much consulting of maps and hotel staff, we were ready to hit the trail at 9:30am. It was murky, rainy,misty and cold, but we couldn't stay forever. We were a bit apprehensive about crossing the sandy river, as we heard that the day before it was impassable, with whitewater at hip to waist level. Ian wasn't worried, but I certainly was, and rightfully so……..