Timberline Trail-Day 1

Four forty-five AM comes pretty early, but I have a three hour drive to the trailhead at Timberline Lodge. And I want to get there to start hiking before it gets too hot. There is a heat advisory with temps pushing 100 in the region over the next couple days. On Mt Hood it should be cooler. Fingers crossed.

I’m in the car and swing by the only place open at 5AM on a Sunday, Starbucks. An Impossible Sandwich and Tall coffee in hand, I climb in and point the car to Mt Hood.

I was there just a couple weeks ago with the Slows- The Professor, Cappuccino, Jolly Rancher, and Scatman, for a stay at the Lodge, and we had a great time. But I had some unfinished business with the mountain. Mainly to hike the Timberline Trail. I had done some research on it and realized it would be more than the Slows might want to do, so we opted for the 3 Sisters Wilderness instead. But I still wanted to do the Timberline Trail. So that’s why I’m driving back up there.

I arrived about 8 AM, parked the car, and dropped by the Wy’East Day Lodge, the Mountain’s year round ski facility as they ski 365 days at Mt Hood. I was checking out the food, but didn’t see anything that struck my fancy. So back out to the car, grabbed my backpack, and started up the trail to the junction with the PCT. This is also the Timberline Trail. By the time I got up there, took a selfie, texted my whereabouts to my friends, and started it was 8:45. So much for an early start.

The Timberline Trail circumnavigate the mountain at, what else, timberline. Mount Hood is an active volcano and conical in shape. With what’s left of her glaciers, still melting, there are numerous river valleys radiating out from the summit. So walking around the mountain requires going down to the rivers, crossing the rivers and going back up the other side only to go down to the next river, etc. it ends up being over 10,000 feet of elevation gain, just walking around the perimeter of the the mountain. Which is what I was doing.

There are lots of people hiking the PCT coming through. This is the time of year when the majority of PTCers pass by Mount Hood. They all want to get through Washington state by the middle of September before the snow has arrived. So there were literally dozens of PCT hikers passing me by. But also there were scores of hikers doing shorter multi day hikes on the mountain. Which I found surprising. And most of them look to be in their 20s or 30s. There were a few geezers like me and a handful of high school age hikers.

Along with crossing a couple of smaller rivers, the main attraction I saw today was Ramona Falls. This lovely cascade is a popular day hike and there were plenty of people there. But it was stunning nonetheless. It is a kind of wall of cascade as you can see from the picture. And pictures don’t do it justice. Anyway, it was cool and beautiful and green and a great spot to spend a little time resting and contemplating.

After Ramona Falls, I hiked a few miles over to Muddy Fork, crossed it on a big log, and then started up the very long ascent of Bald Peak. At just about 14 miles for the day and 2000 feet of elevation gain and 3000 feet of elevation loss. I pretty much ran out of gas. So I found two trees and set up camp about 4 PM.

While I was eating dinner two women, Salamander and Pie, passed by on the trail. They are doing a short section of the PCT and we had a nice conversation.

Tomorrow I take on the North side of the mountain. Until then, safe travels and Happy Trails…