Last weekend, Lindsay and I kicked off our summer with a three-day, two-night backpacking trip in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness in Mt. Hood National Forest. We spent a few days researching hikes and potential destinations - we did not want to run into swarms of day hikers or a significant amount of snow at higher elevations. I came across Big Slide Lake and Bull of the Woods Wilderness in a backpacking book - the hike seemed like it was exactly what we were looking for - a moderate hike (too far for most day hikers) to a beautiful destination with ample day hiking options from our base camp at the lake. And, to top it off, Bull of the Woods is far less traveled than the other Mt. Hood wilderness areas. While we weren't expecting solitude, we knew we would see fewer hikers. We were pleasantly surprised by this wilderness gem.