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.
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.
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.
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.
