Timberline Lodge and Eagle Creek

This past Saturday, I set out to do a difficult hike in the mountains near Mt. Hood. It was called vista ridge or something equally scenic sounding. The trailhead is located off of a tiny little, one lane National Forest road. It took me a long time to find it, and even longer to climb the mountain on the tiny little track, every now and then slamming on brakes and pulling halfway off the road to avoid colliding with oncoming traffic.

I never made it to vista ridge. As happened last time I tried to do something in the mountains, snow got in the way. This time, the road leading to the trailhead was snowed out. I thought that by late June the snow would be gone. Most of it is, but apparently good mountain hiking doesn't start until at least July, more likely August. In lieu of Vista Ridge, I decided I would go back to Timberline Lodge and see what it was like on a clear day.

Timberline Lodge is built on the south slope of Mt. Hood at an elevation of around 6000 feet. It was built in the 30's as a Works Progress Administration project. It's a bit of a drive to get up there, but the view is phenomenal.


First off, Mt. Hood is only a little over 11,000 feet, so Timberline Lodge is over halfway up the mountain. The views south to Mt. Jefferson were gorgeous, as you can see below.


The snow is still deep up there, so there were a lot of people out skiing and snowboarding. The most fun I had though, was sitting in my car and using my binoculars to watch the climbers nearing the top. The Lodge is a good place to begin an ascent, and there were a lot of people climbing on Saturday. When I was watching, there was a pair of climbers pretty close to the top. There was a large camp with at least twenty or thirty people further down, as well.

Timberline Lodge was pretty neat. I stopped briefly at Trillium Lake on the way back (that's where the first picture in this post was taken), but I had to be home by 6 to watch the Gold Cup Finals (as disappointing as that was), so I only had time for about a thirty minute hike.

I stopped back in at the place I had hiked Memorial Day weekend. As you can see in the picture below, a lot of the snow has melted. Once I rounded a bend and was back on the north face everything was inundated with snow again, but there has been some improvement. This path had at least 5 feet of snow on it a month ago.


My brief hike on Saturday was not enough to sate my desire for exercise, so I woke up with the dawn on Sunday to go to Eagle Creek.


Eagle Creek is an incredibly popular trail, and this was a nice weekend, so I decided to get there early. This plan worked out perfectly. I was on the trail by 7 am (it is about an hour away), and didn't see another person for the first three miles of the hike. After three miles I came upon the area where everyone camps, so there were a lot of backpackers waking up, but it was still quiet and peaceful. They were more interested in breakfast than anything else.


Part of the reason Eagle Creek is so popular is the number of waterfalls it offers. I skipped a few, but I had read about the Punchbowl falls and wanted to check it out. Apparently "punchbowl" is a type of waterfall in which the water pours into a large basin, but these waterfalls were also named upper and lower punchbowl falls.


Here's a shot from above that gives you a better idea of the punchbowl nature of the falls:

The hike was good. It was chilly when I started, but warm when I finished. I was on the trail early enough that I could enjoy the falls all by myself. By 9 am I had walked about 6 miles and made it to the line where the trail turns into a wilderness area. This seemed as good a stopping point as any, so I stopped there to break my fast.

On the way out I passed a ton of people. The parking lot and the sides of the road for a half-mile after were full by the time I got back. Definitely glad I got an early start. It may have been a bit chilly, but the solitude and quiet was well worth it.