Mt. Hood tubing and snow cave digging

On Sunday we went up to Mt. Hood with the Cub Scouts to do some tubing on the mountain. We drove up with another scout since Matt was still gone and I didn't think that I could chain up on the side of the road. And we did need to chain up. They had just gotten snow and the roads were snowpacked and icy. We got to the Boy Scout Lodge about 10am and after the orientation, the boys headed right out to the snow.

They spent a lot of their day digging out snow caves/tunnels. Michael and Evan happened to find a snow cave that was started in several spots. As more and more kids heard about the tunnels and cave, they all came to "help." Except very few kids had shovels, so many used their hands. I convinved them to go down the hill at least once. Actually, I told them it was a requirement. I don't think they every intended to leave the snow caves. After their first run down, Evan said "This is fun" and up he went again. During the course of the four hours we were there, he must have gone up and down more than 10-12 times. Michael did about half as many runs as Evan. Must dig snow cave!

When we got there, it was a sunny beautiful day - gorgeous! The glare off the snow gave me a nice rosy color. Well, later the clouds moved in and holy cow - did it ever snow! You will see the every changing varying conditions of the weather in my pictures. Then it was nice again and then it was like a blizzard again. Enjoy the pictures.

This is a view "up" the mountain. The kids were still breaking in the tubing runs when we got there. A lot of fresh powder had fallen the night before.

This is Mo, Michael, Evan and David. They are working on the snow caves / tunnels.

Michael comes down the hill for the first time. Notice his hat covering his face. He said he did that for two reasons - it was too sunny and it helped keep the snow off his face.

Evan comes down the hill. He surprised me with the number of times he went up and down that hill!

This is the Boy Scout Lodge. It has four separate kitchens and sleeping areas inside. The bunks are tri-level. In the middle of the building is a big fireplace, ping pong table, some couches, and lots of wood!

This is another view up the moutain from the lower part. You wouldn't believe some of the snow I had to climb thru to get pictures! Often I was thigh high in snow!

Michael gets to work digging out another hole in the side of the big snow pile! They needed yet another way out.

Evan uses his rather large shovel to widen the tunnel and entrance to the snow cave.

Mo and Michael work to widen the tunnel entrance to this snow cave.

Michael with his inner tube. He's going to go up the mountain to tube again.

Tim and Evan both heading up the mountain.

Michael comes down the mountain. His eyes are closed in this picture. In fact in most of my pictures I noticed they closed their eyes to go down the hill. Maybe it makes it more fun if you can't see where you're going?

Evan and Dawson going up the hill together. Too bad the flake of snow was exactly in front of Dawson's face...

One of the other parents was kind enough to take a picture of me with the boys up on the mountain.

Evan is coming down the mountain and about to take out one of the boys who is coming up the mountain. Michael gets the most points for the day when he clipped two people on his way down. One went flying after Michael hit him with his tube. The lesson of this story - don't go up the down!

Now it's snowing - and it will get much heavier. Michael coming down the moutain again.

See what I mean? His eyes are closed! Evan makes another trip down.

Okay - it's now like a blizzard up there. Can you make any of our Pack out? We picked a great time for a group picture. Some of the families were on their way out.

Here is a great picture of my boys completely covered in snow. They had a great time on the mountain!

Michael's Newspaper Debut

The fifth grade classes at Michael's school submit brief writings to our local paper based on a weekly writing prompt. All the elementary schools in Hillsboro (I think there are 24 or so) submit writings for the column. Michael's class has only participated in this writing exercise a handful of times. A number of weeks ago, Michael wrote a blurb on Freedom of the Press. His writing was submitted to our local paper along with five or six others from his class. His was one chosen to be published in the paper. His article appears below in a picture I took of it in the newspaper. Michael was so proud as was I of him!!

Fieldtrip to Hagg Lake and Scoggins Dam

Today Michael's class and the other 5th grade class took a field trip to Hagg Lake and Scoggins Dam. They went to release the trout that they had been "growing" for a number of weeks now. They released the fry into the river/creek that feeds into the lake. They estimated about 400 fry were released today. Following the release of the fry, the kids boarded the bus and went to listen to one of the employees of the Dam talk about how and why the Dam was built there. Michael should now be able to tell you five reasons the dam was built and where the water from the dam goes/is used. I'm sure it will be on his test this week. Then the employee - Mr. Otto - opened the spillways and showed the kids how they control the water leaving the lake. Following that, it was back on the bus for a tour of the office area and the lower spillway. The day ended with lunch at the boat launch that was opened just for us. The Lake does not officially open until this Saturday. Michael had a good time today.

At the lake, the kids got to choose a partner. Then they got a bag with the fry in it to look at. They counted the alive and dead trout. Some kids names their fish, but Michael and Mo did not.

Michael and Mo hold the bag of fish in the river/creek to acclimate the fish to the cold water temperature. After about 5 minutes, they release the fish.

Here is the release of the fish. It was more gentle then the picture shows. They guided the fish out into the river and then held up the bag to be sure it was empty.

Friends - Michael E., Mo, Michael K., Zach, and Trevor.

A picture of Hagg Lake that I took from the top of the Dam.

The kids are at the top of the dam in the restricted area. They are looking over into the spillway to watch as Mr. Otto opens the doors to release some water into the river system.

Mr. Otto explains how unsafe riding down the spillway would be for a person. He said once a year in all of the dams across the U.S. someone tries this and they have one death per year.

Michael looks at the 7000+ gallons of water that comes out of the pipe per minute. Wow - that' s a lot of water!

Michael with his 5th grade teacher.

After lunch, the kids got to walk out on the boat dock at Hagg Lake. Their science teacher was explaining how the pier raises and sinks with the water level.