Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray your 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. Then line it with parchment paper, allowing some overhang on the sides. This will help you lift out the cookie bars easily once they are baked.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, and butter. Mix until everything is well combined and forms a smooth batter.
Fold in the 1 cup of M&M’s and optional chocolate or white chips (if using), ensuring they are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan using a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup M&M's on top of the batter. Can also use some sprinkles if you wish.
Bake of 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool slightly before lifting out using parchment overhand and cutting into squares
Notes
Don’t over-mix.
Store in refrigerator in airtight container for up to 5 days.
The finished and cut bars can be frozen for up to 3 months.
This backpacking trip is an out and back, starting at Mt Hood to Olallie Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail and returning to Mt Hood. Backpackers on this trip are John Gundry, Ed Tucker, Liam Tucker Long, and Carl Fisher (the writer).
Four backpackers (Ed Tucker, John Gundry, Mark Schedler, and Carl Fisher) plan a 140 mile trip along the East and West loops of the Collegiate Loop of the Colorado Trail (with a couple of modifications) starting in late August. The planned 15 day trip ended after 8 days.
Homemade Soap (for front loading clothes washer)
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup blue Dawn Dish Soap (I don’t know why blue?)
1 Gallon of Water
Mix Borax and Washing Soda with 2 cups of hot water until dissolved. Add mixture to a gallon jug (I used one that had previously held store bought laundry soap) and add cold water until about 3/4 full. Add Dawn dish soap and shake to mix it up (it will suds a bit) then finish filling with cold water.
A backpacking trip report about a counterclockwise backpacking trip around Mt Hood Oregon. On this trip were Ed Tucker, John Gundry, and me (Carl Fisher).
September 8, 2002 Miles: 8.8
We stayed in a motel on the 7th in Portland OR and got up at 5:00am and on the road to Mt. Hood at 6:30am. Timberline Lodge, our starting point, was achieved at 7:30am and we were able to hit the trail at 8:15am. The first part of the trail was downhill so we made really good time before crossing two ridges and two major streams with no bridges.
Ed had to put at least one foot in each stream and was the start of his trail name “Splash”! The day ended at a site near the intersection of the Timberline Trail and Elk Meadow at an elevation of 5720 feet. The temperature for most of the day was in the 50’s and very comfortable.
Camp was set up and dinner eaten by 6:00pm. I was tired from both the physical exercise and lack of sleep the night before. We were all in the tent and our bags by 8:00pm and asleep by 8:30. I slept through the night until 5:00am when my feet got cold.
Campsite on the first nightMt Hood shrouded in the clouds
September 9, 2002 Miles: 9.8 Cumulative Miles: 18.6
Since we are all early risers, we were up at 6:00am and on the trail at 7:30am. All uphill until 9:00am for 1000 feet and there is 400 feet more to go. Fortunately, this will be the high point for the day and the trip. The soil / trail has been very sandy with lots of rocks. Real fun on the footing! We made it to the high point at 10:00am and asked someone to take our picture with the cairn marking the spot with Mt Hood in the background.
High point of the Timberline Trail with Mt Hood in the background
As would be expected we kept on hiking, mainly downhill, until we reached Cloud Cap, our intended destination for the evening. Since it was only 11:45am we agreed to keep going and made it all the way to Elk Cove. We camped right alongside a stream (a big no-no) but very handy for getting water and cleaning up. Our camp was only about 5 feet off the trail (another by no-no). This was my first back to back big mileage days!
September 10, 2002 Miles: 11.8 Cumulative Miles: 30.4
The temperature is in the low 40’s when we hit the trail at 8:00am but quickly rose to a comfortable 60’s. There were excellent views all day long of Mt Adams, Mt Saint Helens, and Mt Rainier. A long break seemed the right thing to do at Carin Basin where there were numerous campsites and a stone building. This would have been an excellent place to stay but there was still a lot of day left.
We skipped Eden Park to cut 0.6 miles off the entire trip. Prior to getting to Bald Mountain we decided to cut about a mile off the trip by going cross country, up a watershed and then down the other side, a hike of about 100 yards. This put us on the Pacific Crest Trail. Two miles down the trail we came up to Muddy Fork River which was washed out by a mud slide the previous year.
The power of the mud slide was incredible as evidenced by the 100’s of old, mature trees strewn about like matchsticks. Needless to say – getting across this ¼ mile stretch was challenging but fun! We had to hop from boulder to boulder which had been placed by the mud slide like so many grains of sand.
The night was spent on a sandbar of the Sandy River. Before getting to the Sandy River we spent about an hour at Ramona Falls – a 50 foot waterfall nestled right off the trail. The area was cool and refreshing.
Muddy Fork River washed out by a mud slide.Mt Hood shrouded in the cloudsCrossing a snow field
September 11, 2002 Miles: 9.2 Cumulative Miles: 39.6
Today was billed as a “butt kicker” by John and it lived up to the billing. Our plan was to make the first major ascent (2100 feet) and about 3 miles and to assess the time and how we felt to determine if we were going to continue. Amazed, we reached this point at 10:00am feeling strong so we made the decision to push on to the car. From this point on we gained another 1000 feet, mainly in the sun with temperatures approaching 80 degrees. We got to the car at 2:30pm.
Trail thru the rocksPacking up to hit the trail.On the way out
