Mt Hood National Forest

Sept 1-2, 2025 Day 1

This is the forest of my childhood. I hiked many trails to go fishing or play with newts when I was a kid. This seemed like the best place to try my first ever backpacking trip. My son joined me for the hike and camp. The Roaring River Wilderness and Serene Lake were not a part of the forest I had been to before. It did not take long to realize I should have started with a flatter trail. 2500 feet of elevation gain over two days was a bit much for a beginner and made the hike super slow. The lack of forest service presence was felt right away with lots of down trees on the trails. I slipped trying to go over one of the logs and ended up scrapping up my leg, even had to remove a chunk of wood. I had bandages in my first aid kit but it kind of seeped through a bit. We stopped at the Shellrock and Rock lakes on the way to Serene Lake where we camped for the night snacking on ripe huckleberries during the trek. We had the lake to ourselves with a prime camping spot. My son put up the tent while I jumped in the lake to wash the sweat away.

Day 2

The night was restless due to achy muscles, but I was able to look out the tent at the wonderful stars, moon and cloudy milky way. Venus popped up over the trees just before dawn. My son played with crayfish while I made breakfast and packed up camp. The switchbacks this morning were rough with still being sore from the day before. There was a nice viewpoint of Mt Hood, but the sky was hazy, so it made the mountain look faint. Another viewpoint was further along the trail at the point when my son was tired of me slowing him down. He started going ahead about ½ mile, dropping his pack and coming back to meet me ambling along to take my pack. We did this a couple times until he set my pack down on a ground yellowjacket nest. We suddenly had an angry swarm. One of the bees stung me in the side as I was trying to get the backpack away from the nest. I am allergic and did not have any antihistamines with us on the trip. It swelled up decently by the time I got home. This ended up being one of the most painful hikes I have ever done and I am rethinking my future of backpacking. I will probably stick with day hiking.