Hiking around the 'Hood'

Bear grass blooming in meadow near Mt. Hood

When we were in Oregon two years ago, we did some exploring around Portland and the Columbia River Gorge.  One place we loved and wanted to spend more time was the Mt. Hood area.  This trip we got our wish.  Since we had to wait a week for our RV appointment in Portland, it was the perfect opportunity to explore the Mt. Hood National Forest and three of the surrounding wilderness areas.

 

Spring-fed Little Crater Lake remains a constant 34 degrees year-round

 

There is an unbelievable amount of outdoor fun to be had in this area!  Summer activities include hiking, mountain biking, paddling, fishing, swimming, snowboarding and the really adventuresome can climb Mt. Hood.  A dormant volcano, Mt. Hood is the highest peak in Oregon at 11,239 feet, the home to 12 glaciers and the source of five significant rivers, one being the federally designated Wild and Scenic Salmon River.

 

Trail along Cold Springs Creek shaded by Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar

 

Tamanawas Falls

 

We spent a whole week camping in the Mt. Hood National Forest.  This forest has over one million acres with more than 300,000 acres designated as wilderness.  A week to explore over a million acres is not quite enough time but we did manage to hike 8 trails, four in the Mt. Hood Wilderness, one in the Badger Creek Wilderness, one in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, one in the Wildwood BLM area and one trail was in the forest but not in a wilderness area.  Four of these trails had sections on the Pacific Crest Trail. 

 

Mt. Hood view from Boulder Ridge Trail in Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

 

The forests around Mt. Hood are beautiful and diverse.  The trails range from riparian areas around streams and lakes to lowland rainforest to high alpine forests with many trails leading above timberline.  We hiked along several rivers including the Wild and Scenic Salmon River.  Sometimes lakes or waterfalls were our destinations, sometimes high alpine meadows filled with wildflowers and mountain views and sometimes we wandered through deep and seemingly unending dark forests.  It was fantastic!

 

Lush lowland forest near Salmon River

 

Heavily forested mountainside

 

We also discovered that camping when July 4^th falls on a 3-day weekend is maybe not the best of plans.  For three days our campground was crammed full.  Good thing we like kids and dogs ‘cause we saw a lot of them.  But we only had to put up with the crowds at the campground at night since we were hiking all day (and on the more remote trails for the holiday days).
 

Ramona Falls

White fawn lily

 

Monday we made it to Portland and got our RV problems mostly resolved.  There is one part that will eventually need to be replaced but it is ‘patched’ for the moment.  It was warm in Portland, near 90 degrees and that is out of David’s ‘Goldilocks Zone’ so Tuesday we headed for the coast.  It is a little breezy and cool this afternoon but Maya thinks it’s perfect and she is hoping for another beach walk in a few minutes.

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked       8
Total Miles Hiked   57.23      
Ave. Miles per Day      7.15
Total Elevation Gain   9,337   
Ave. Elevation Gain per day    1,167

Sandy River and Mt. Hood