Mt Hood Magazine 2011

Gary Randall, a full time “Mount Hood Mountain Man”, lives and works in Brightwood on the South side of Mount Hood, Oregon. He has lived around Mount Hood most of his life, and full-time in the Welches area for the last 20 years. He comes from a family that has lived near Mount Hood, Hood River and The Dalles, for the last four generations. He has raised two children in the area and doesn’t plan on living anywhere else.

Gary has operated his own graphic art, photography and web site design business, www.precisionartists.net, from his home office for the last eight years. His clients come from all over the northwest. Gary’s background includes the US Navy, and a career in pulp and paper mills and machine shops as a sales engineer and draftsman.

Gary is a local historian and is involved in the Mt Hood area Chamber of Commerce and is a volunteer for the Mt Hood Cultural Center and Museum in Government Camp. His interest in the development of the area that surrounds Mount Hood has driven his hobby of collecting and documenting the history of Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. He maintains a web site that is devoted to the local history, www.mounthoodhistory.com.

He enjoys hiking the trails that surround Mount Hood with his dogs Sadie and Betty, which gives him fuel for his photography and writing concerning The Mountain, and reinforces his love of the culture and beauty of the Mount Hood area.

Some of our stories are written by Andrèe Larson. Andrée grew up in the Portland/Vancouver area. She earned an MA in Art History at the University of Oregon, and writes about the history and culture of people and communities. She’s spent time in Europe and on the East Coast, and says the Pacific Northwest is hands down the best place to live. She currently lives in Tacoma with her husband, an artist.