mount hood
1 September 1997

There was a time when you thought only a sudden glimpse of the full moon could cause her to squeal in delight. But rounding the corner of southbound 35, she slammed on the brakes nearly sending you through the windshield, your curses silenced by the pure awe of the spectacle before you. At an elevation of over four thousand feet, Mount Hood's additional seven thousand feet loomed overhead: snowcapped, majestic, imposing. She summoned child-like curiosity craning her neck this way and that, enchanted... as if cast in a spell.