Mt Hood this weekend (to eat, activities, family friendly)

[MyYahoooo]

Hi,

We will be visiting Mt. Hood this weekend and was wondering if there are any trails you could recommend us doing? What do you think about heading to Trillium Lake Loop Trail, it looks amazing.

Any other activities there we should check out?

Thanks

[hamellr]

Trillium Lake is a great trail. I love cross country skiing it in the winter too.

You can also hike portions of the Pacific Crest Trail, the best location in my opinion to get to it is at Little Crater Lake. One of these days I'll get to finish that portion of the trail all the way up to the Columbia River.

For a shorter and less technical family friendly hike, I recommend Mirror Lake.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by MyYahoooo

Hi,

We will be visiting Mt. Hood this weekend and was wondering if there are any trails you could recommend us doing? What do you think about heading to Trillium Lake Loop Trail, it looks amazing.

Any other activities there we should check out?

Thanks

If you haven't been--it's great to check out Timberline Lodge, both for the old lodge itself, but also because it's the easiest access to the high alpine terrain on Hood. There's some pleasant short hikes around the lodge itself you can hike a portion of the Timberline trail to the edge of the canyons--and there might still be some wildflowers in parts. It's nice to get a bite to eat or drink in the Octagon bar/resturant in the top of the lodge.

There's a lot of different trails around Hood, I've probably hiked most of them, but it depends how long and how challenging a hike one wants to do. McNeil Point is a good one that get's into some of the most beautiful meadows and terrain on the mountain on the west side of Hood. The best high elevation one is the trail from Cloud Cap up Cooper Spur. Nowhere else on the mountain can a non-climber get to that high an elevation on a trail--you're literally above glaciers in the canyon below for most of the hike. These are more moderate trails with some vertical gain ranging about 7-8 miles round trip however. Ramona Falls is a good one that's a little easier in terms of going uphill though about 7 miles round trip as well.

[Nell Plotts]

If you are starting out at the Lodge I recommend you check out a transponder in case you get lost or need rescue You will save the community a lot of money looking for you, and may well save your life.

Cell phone reception is spotty.

[AndyAMG]

We are going tomorrow, my advice is to park at timberline and then hike to paradise park, just do a Google search. Check the Timberline webcam before you go. The marine layer was thick this morning and looked to be over 5000 feet, where as yesterday it was only 1700 feet. Tomorrow, is not supposed to be as thick and in the afternoon Mt. Hood is usually above the clouds and warmer when we have low hanging clouds in the valley from onshore flow.