Week 3

    This week I planned a trip to a beautiful campsite, little crater lake. We were lucky to have amazing weather over our trip, allowing us to appreciate nature even more. On our way to our campsite, we stopped at a much bigger lake to go swimming, clear lake. As we were finding our way to clear lake google maps took us on logging roads and need at a trailhead to walk down to the lake. We thought it was pretty awesome and remote, but as we drove down 26 later we realized there was a completely paved road and parking lot that lead to the lake. We laughed about it but appreciated the adventure we had had.

This is clear lake.

    After finishing our swim we headed back to the car and drove to our campsite. There we set up all of our stuff and walked to the little crater lake. The lake was formed by a crater and is spring-fed causing it to be very cold, so there was, unfortunately, no swimming allowed. We were able to relax, enjoy the beauty and eat lots of ramen noodles.

This is little crater lake.

    We woke up on Thursday to a beautiful clear sky and enjoyed our breakfast under the morning sun. We packed up our camp quickly because Hannah had the idea to go for a hike before we headed back to Portland. The idea of a long hike sounded a bit daunting to me at first, feeling pretty sluggish in the morning. But I am so glad Hannah pushed us to go for a nice hike because it was such a beautiful day that when we reached the top of our hike we could see Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, Mt Rainer, Mt Adams, and Mt St Helens. The hike was called Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, and on your way up to the beautiful clear top, you pass by a lake that's perfect for a refreshing swim or dip of the feet. Another awesome thing about this hike is you can either go to mirror lake and turn around or continue up the mountain to reach the top making it super accessible.

This is a photo from the top of the mountain

This is a photo of Mirror lake.

    This week I learned a lot about taking the time to enjoy where you are. In previous trips, I think I have been anxious to move things along and make sure we are following a strict schedule. But this trip taught me a lot about making sure to enjoy the moment that you're in and taking advantage of the opportunities that come, like having beautiful weather and going on a hike to a clear lookout point. My first goal in this project was to be more independent in the wilderness. I improved my independence this week by finding a campsite and a place to go swimming on the first day, creating a packing list, and researching any animals, weather, or other natural forces that could cause us trouble. I now am confident that if I spontaneously decided to go for a camping trip or hike I would know how to find different spots and everything I would need to bring to have a comfortable trip. My second goal was to build connections in nature. I think I really furthered this skill this week by bringing two of my friends along with me and allowing for us to choose our own activities. We went swimming, camping, and hiking all in one trip gave us a wide range of knowledge of each other. We also met lots of people along the hiking trail and at the campsite, it felt nice to build connections with strangers and learn new things from each of them. As we were walking down from our hike we ran into an older couple and they found out that me and Hannah were going to UVM, they had gone to Middlebury and were very excited, they started telling us about all the cool hikes that we had to do once we got to Vermont. My final goal was to work on being a sustainable outdoor recreator. After learning the 7 principles of leave no trace last week I was able to practice on this trip. I made sure we were following the rules and enjoying nature as it was without leaving changes. After this epic week, I am wondering if I will be able to sustain the skills I have worked on into summer so that I can plan more trips.