Hike to McNeil Point

Labor Day weekend, Trevor and I decided to hike up to McNeil Point which is located on Mt. Hood. His brother said it was a beautiful hike and would be good for my 1st backpacking trip. Little did I know it would be 5 miles to the top, uphill the whole way (I'm not exaggerating) and I'd be caring 20lbs on my back. I thought I was going to die. I knew I would be caring weight and I have done long hikes before, but I didn't expect it to be as difficult as it was. My loving husband was more then patient with me as I struggled to make it up the steep inclines and in about 3 and half hours we made it to the top. The weather was a little foggy for the views, but we did get a couple breaks and could see as far as the Columbia River Gorge surrounded by hills, streams, and few patches of snow. We even caught a few glimpses of Mt. Hood's peak. The exhaustion was well worth it, and I was pretty excited to know that the whole way back would be down hill. We hiked back down about 2 miles to our camp. It was at the foot of a gorgeous bolder slide surrounded by trees and wild flowers. The clouds lifted enough for us to catch the sunset and I was so eager to crawl into my warm sleeping bag. We got into our tent to play a few hands of cards and then it started to rain, then hail, then snow. I was glad we were inside and prayed we wouldn't have to hike in the snow the next morning. We woke up to fog and a light rain which was just enough to cool us down as we quickly manuvered our way throught the trees and mud. I was so happy it was down hill and when we finally broke through the trees and saw our car I was more then excited. It was quite an event-filled trip for us and I can't wait to do it again.