Mt. Hood

Recently, Irene and I had visitors to our home in Washington. They were my mom from Boise, my cousin Connie, and her husband Art from back east near Rochester, New York. We went a bunch of places while they were here but Art's favorite was our day trip to Mt. Hood, Oregon.

At 11,245 feet of elevation, Mt. Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon, is part of the Cascade Mountain range and considered to be an active volcano by the USGS. The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington, Oregon, to northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, including the rugged spires of the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades. The Cascades are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes and associated mountains around the Pacific Ocean. All of the known historic eruptions in the contiguous states have been from Cascade volcanoes. The Cascades volcanoes include Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and the notorious Mount St. Helens.

We left the house around 10 AM heading across the Columbia River to Highway 26. We climbed steadily from the river bottom to higher altitudes as we passed through the towns of Gresham, Sandy, Brightwood, and Government Camp. Just after Government Camp we took the road up the mountain to Timberline Lodge. Timberline, which sits at 6000 feet of elevation, was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Project Administration project during the Great Depression. It’s modern claim to fame was that the movie The Shining, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, used aerial shots of Timberline as part of its opening scene. Film of the exterior of the Timberline Lodge was also used for some establishing shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel throughout the movie. However, several of the exterior shots in the film which purport to show the Lodge, such as those with the hedge maze or loading dock, were not taken at the Timberline Lodge itself, but at Elstree studios in England, using a mock-up of the south face of the Lodge. We walked around the lodge, taking in the ornate timber construction and craftsmanship evident at every turn. Outside, looking up at the mountain, we marveled at the large number of summer skiers tearing down the slopes in mid August. This ski area is open year around. As we left the parking lot at Timberline, I noticed the coolest bus - The Bustache! I was disappointed not to be able to meet the owner since they obviously had a lot of humor and creativity...my kind of people.

After an awful meal in the ski hut, second only to the worlds worst cheeseburger (see blog post on Columbia Gorge Waterfalls below), we headed down the mountain in search of Trillium Lake. The area at Trillium Lake was part of the Barlow Road, a component of the Oregon Trail. Closely spaced logs provided passing immigrants with access across marshes to Summit Meadow which was a tollgate from 1866-1870. I had seen amazingly beautiful pictures of Trillium Lake and was determined to take some of my own. I was not to be disappointed. It would have been hard to take anything but gorgeous pictures of this scenic marvel. The air temperature was 74 degrees and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. After some time at the lake, I pointed us northwest again and headed us home, all the while knowing that I would be back to camp and kayak here another day. Who knows, perhaps there are also some rainbow trout waiting to challenge my fly fishing abilities!