Timberline Loop around Mt. Hood

Date: 7/3 - 7/6 2020
Who: Megan, Eric, Matt
Activity: Backpacking

We drove to Portland on Thursday night and stayed at an Airbnb, then woke up early the next morning to drive to the trailhead at Timberline Lodge. We got moving around 9am. Our first day was the longest, about 15 miles. I was impressed with our pace through the first 12 miles or so but as we neared our destination for the night we slowed down as fatigue from the long day set in.  We camped in a clearing near Muddy Creek on the first night and learned how to play Hive (though we got some of the rules wrong).

Group photo

On Saturday we had a short 9 mile day to Elk Cove. We absolutely cruised through the first 5 miles which contained the majority of our uphill elevation for the day. It was cloudy in the morning so the views of Mt. Hood were limited, but it made for a nice cool hiking without the sun. We encountered some more extensive snow pack around Cairn Basin but navigated through it successfully with the help of some google GPS help. Our campsite for the night was a well established campsite in an open clearing. I'm afraid we shouldn't have camped there as the area was formerly a meadow, but given the area had clearly been used extensively before, I thought it was alright. This ended up being a very windy and cold night.

Elk cove campsite

Sunday we rounded the corner and hiked south along the east side of the mountain. This involved a steep climb above the tree line to a long exposed ridge nestled close against Mt. Hood. This was probably my favorite day of hiking. We had the very nice views of the south side of Rainier all day. After 12 miles we arrived at Newton Creek and set up camp in a great area between two large boulders that provided a shade and a wind break.

Rainier in the distance

Our final day brought us back to the parking lot at Timberline Lodge. We got an early start out of Newton Creek and arrived back at the parking lot around noon. After a quick stop at the gift shop for souvenirs we rolled out and stopped at McDonald's, Voodoo donuts, and Korean BBQ on the way back to Seattle.

Many thanks to Megan and Eric for organizing and bringing me along. This was a great trip and one that I hope to repeat - our timing was great as we were pretty early in the summer so the trail was less populated and we had near perfect weather the whole weekend.