I'm playing around up at Mount Hood in the snow, with my sister Petra, who appears to be a young teenager. It is night. I have to leave at 6am and go back to Portland to meet a club group, who will be coming back to the mountain later for some crevasse rescue exercises.

I go over to the area where we will be doing the exercises just to check it out, and accidentally walk right to the edge of a steep dropoff, suddenly looming down a scary distance, and notice that it is marked with black and yellow caution stripes. Dang, that was careless! Looking around, I notice that Mike, one of the crevasse rescue students, has marked all the moguls and edges with yellow and black caution stripes. Nice job, Mike!

I tell Petra that I have to leave, but she doesn't want to go. She says she'd rather stay here and play in the snow than go home to her birthday party. But I have to go home, and I can't leave her here alone. "Oh wait," I ask, "how old are you now?"

"I'm 24," she says. Oh well, never mind. A 24-year-old can do what she wants - if she wants to stay, she can stay.

I go back to where my truck is parked. There's a lot of glass on the ground in the parking lot, mixed with the snow and gravel, and I'm concerned about cutting my feet.

I start to drive back in my truck and I realize that my plan was unsound. I was planning to be back in Portland at 6am, and it's two hours away. I seem to know that I am dreaming, and I thought I wouldn't have to drive back, I'd just wake up there. But now, here I am, two hours from Portland, and I can't get back there without driving it. I pull over to consider my options, and turn the truck facing the other way.

Down over the edge of the road is a dry dusty park, like Smith Rock, with a visible ridge of rock, at the bottom of which is a trail. Coming up the trail, I see my friend Rory, except I don't remember her name. She's hiking long distance on the Pacific Crest Trail. I go down to greet her on the trail, and she hugs me enthusiastically. On the trail behind her is her sister, whose name I also think I should know. I have a moment of awkwardness as I try to introduce them to my brother Steve, who exploring this area with me, and just came over a lower hill. Then I remember two names for them, regular names that don't seem quite right.

(Reality: I am getting up at 6am to go up to Mount Hood to instruct in some crevasse rescue exercises. Mike is the star student, always on the ball, and the instigator of the day and effective leader of the group heading to Mount Rainier in July, for which this exercise is intended. I'm planning to come back for Petra's birthday party. Rory is hiking the PCT this summer, and I don't know if she has a sister.)