A Three Mountain Day

It takes a combination of three elements to be able to see all three mountains: Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams.

1) Clear natural weather (no rain, snow, clouds, fog)
2) Low pollution level (mercury emissions from up the Gorge and from across the ocean)
3) Viewpoint higher than The Hideaway

I can see Mt. Hood every day, but I have to be out driving around on errands to be on a hill high enough to see over the ridge in Washington.

It all came together yesterday as I came home from Book Club in Gresham and headed down the 223rd Street hill. What a splendid and spectacular sight! Later Windy called on her way north to Vancouver to exclaim over the sunset on these mountains and a full moon rising.

You have to grab those moments when you can as they don’t occur too often. This is Oregon,after all, and it does rain fairly often. PGE’s coal-fired power plant and the cement factory in the eastern end of the Gorge send emissions that cloud the air most of the time. And I am usually not out on errands in the late afternoon. So yesterday was special.

A Three Mountain Day!