Lolo-ng Gone

For those not "hip" to Portland area news, here's a newsflash. It's been raining.

Yes, I realize for a state whose reputation for horrible weather rivals that of Merry Old England, this isn't of much note but here's the thing: It's been raining a LOT.

On Mt. Hood it's rained so much that it's actually driven people out of their homes.

I grew up safely in Suburbia, but Katie grew up near Mt. Hood. It's a wild place, filled with towns with silly names like ZigZag, and Rhododendron. It's the type of place where men grow beards for warmth and kill deer as much for sport as sustenance.

Katie lived in the city of Sandy, where I imagine she spent her days hacking through underbrush and killing small town sheriffs who foolishly drew first blood.

Which, in my mind looked something like this:

"Murdock... I'm coming to get you!"

But even the rugged mountain man spirit of Hood's roughest hombres hasn't been able to compete with mother nature over the past few weeks.

With heavy rains and melting snow, the Sandy River has grown to pretty intense proportions.

The river destroyed one of the few roads in the area, Lolo Pass Road, and the 250 people that live in the area now have to walk miles to get to their cars, those that were able to get their cars out of there before the flooding came. It's pretty intense, and makes for some incredible images.

This video isn't ours, but we found it online here.

Enjoy.

(FULL SCREEN IT, you won't be sorry)

Sandy River Flood from alexandra erickson on Vimeo.

It's a crazy amount of destruction. People who live on the road are focred to either relocate or walk miles from their home to the nearest road. According to some officials with the county it could be several MONTHS before the road is back to a workable condition that people are actually about to... you know... drive home.

Luckily, we know someone who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather. To live off the land...

"In town, you're the law. Out here, it's me."