Sunday, August 3, 2014

Timberline Trail - Mt. Hood, Oregon

The recurring theme of the last three weeks: Plain trails still are closed, so where to go? Paul had already made two trips up north, so it was time for me to head south.

The Timberline Trail is a National Historic Trail circumnavigating Mt. Hood, measuring just over 40 miles with 9,600' of gain. It includes a few miles of the PCT and many canyon and creek/river crossings gorged out by glacial melt, which can run high and swift during warm temperatures.

There is abundant clean (not glacial) water, varied trails and great views. Plus it's always fun to circle an entire mountain in one day... For reference, we went clockwise. 

Starting from Timberline Lodge
The first of many canyon and creek crossings
A few anvils around us, but no storms passed through
Zigzag Canyon

Paul's photo
Great morning light as the sun rose on the east side
Sandy River crossing; I imagine this would be quite a bit tougher in the afternoon
Ramona Falls
Awesome Western Toad
Creek feeding into the Sandy River
Muddy Fork
Skyline Trail section of Timberline
Paul's photo
Looking down into Muddy Fork, Yocum Ridge on the right
Meadows before Cairn Basin
Looking at the descent into the Eliot Creek washout; the trail after the crossing is visible in the middle
Final drop down to the creek; we went down the jumble directly below Paul
Rock move, fall down go boom: a blooming goose egg within seconds; Paul's borrowed compression sleeve did wonders to keep the inflammation down over the final 13 miles
Eliot Glacier feeding the creek
Not much coverage on the east side above Cloud Cap...getting warm
View from Gnarl Ridge, Newton Clark Glacier
Newton Creek crossing
Newton Creek crossing
Dropping down to Clark Creek
East Fork Mitchell Creek falls
White River valley; sandy slogging
Meadows on the PCT, about a mile from Timberline (ski lift on the skyline)
Salty Sweater and Squinty Eye

2 comments:

  1. Looks like it was fun! Wish I could've joined.

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  2. Beautiful photos, really enjoy some of the creek crossing pictures in particular

    ReplyDelete