Slide Mountain July 1997

Waking up and admiring the view across the Willamette Valley at sunrise

I guess you could call this my first backpacking trip.  My friends Andrew and Rachel and I decided to head off on our bikes one summer afternoon and we rode into the coast range west of McMinnville, Oregon.  We ditched our bikes when the logging roads we were on got rough and we hiked the rest of the way to the top of Slide Mountain.  By the time we got to the top it was dark and Rachel and I were spooked by any noise we heard in the pitch black forest.  Andrew had been up there before and assured us by saying we would have a wonderful view when we woke up in the morning.  So we spread out a tarp and slept in our sleeping bags under the stars.  We woke up at sunrise and the views were indeed spectacular.  We could see across the Willamette Valley to Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood.

Rachel at sunrise

Andrew didn't want to wake up so we threw all the sleeping bags on top of him

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