Date: August 10, 2024

Location: Mt. Hood Meadows

Arrival Time: 5:38am

We last hiked from Mt Hood Meadows in 2022. At that time we were able to park in the parking lot.  Now there is a gate (open) with a large sign indicating the hours of 10a-5p Sun - Thurs and 10a-6p Friday - Saturday.   Just turning around in the lot, we were quickly intercepted by a man in an SUV advising us we could park outside the gate and walk in to hike.  We parked just outside the gate where there was one other car parked. He also confirmed the vehicles on the right/East side of the lot are allowed to camp and must have their own” greywater” systems (weekend camping).  The website states:
“Pick-up truck campers, camping trailers and RVs will be permitted to park in the parking lot in the designated Main Parking Lot area and strict accordance with the rules” “overnight RV vehicles must be fully self-contained for water, wastes, fuel and garbage”.  Tents, and sleeping in passenger cars is not permitted.  

Road conditions: Paved the entire way, it is easy to park outside the gate along the road.

Weather conditions: We began before sunup, temps were in the mid-50s to start and about 70 when we finished.

Trail conditions:  The trails we traversed are mostly in great shape.  Where the Timberline trail crosses Clark Creek there is still a significant snow bridge to cross.  It was fine when we crossed but be careful as the creek continues to melt and weaken the snow.  

Trail grade and tread: Very good tread.  Some loose scree as you climb out of Clark Creek.

Hike features:  Wildflowers, streams, waterfalls, views of Mt. Hood, ripe huckleberries

Wildlife: None, though we did see some bear scat in the section between Clark Creek and Umbrella Falls.

Bugs: buzzing pollinators, no bothersome bugs

Flowers are great around Mt. Meadows, further East the lupine is spent.  The huckleberries were large, plentiful and juicy along the Elk Meadows and Newton Creek trails - some of the best we have ever seen.

Number of cars upon return: Several cars parked in the lot when we returned a bit before 10am. They must allow folks to enter the lot and park a bit earlier than 10a as the lot already had ~20 + cars at 10am. There are signs that state restrooms open at 9am though according to a camper I spoke with they were not open at 9a.

Mileage: 10.52

Elevation gain: 2200

The Timberline Trail was busy.  A few small groups of trail runners caught up with us and passed us, at least one pair began this morning from Timberline Lodge.  We also crossed paths with some small groups of backpackers going the opposite direction, finishing up their round the mountain adventures. 

#HikeAThon 2024

Did this in the CW loop from Timberline Lodge over four days when my permit for Adams was canceled due to the Williams Mine Fire. 

All the creek/river crossings were fine.  Nothing was exceptionally sketchy, and if it seemed that way, looking up or down stream usually found me a better spot.  Plenty of dogs went across as well, but I would feel very nervous about that myself.  (Dogs seemed quite happy about it.)  I didn't keep my feet dry, but with the amount of water around there, you don't really.

Speaking of water, ranger station cautioned about only filtering from springs, not the fast creeks, in order to avoid glacial silt.  This is mostly obvious, and there are some faster creeks that look like they've filtered through meadow and ground long enough that they're fine to filter from. There are a few places at the moment with 4ish mile stretches without water, so that's relevant, but not super critical.  Asking others usually got the info I needed on water, and carrying capacity for 2.5 liters was enough.

Started 5:30pm the first night, so camped at a fabulous little spot by Lost Creek that was absolutely empty.  Camped at Elk Grove the next night, with much busier sites.  Camped just after the Newton Creek crossing the last night with a whole lot of other people around.  I'd probably try for different camps next time, but I had to find hammockable ones.

The trail is around a volcano with glaciers - expect lava rocks, ash, sand along with your standard dirt tread.  Expect long stretches without shade in the sun.  I hike plenty, but the terrain definitely takes more out of the legs/ankles/knees than your standard forest, and I'm glad I had two full days and two half days to do it.

Flowers at the moment are amazing, bugs are annoying a bit when you stop, but all in all, great trip.

Hiked from 7/17-20 and did the loop clockwise with my wife and dog. Camped at Ramona Falls, Elk Cove, and Newton Creek. Sandy River was most difficult crossing because we did it late afternoon. We waded about mid thigh and dropped our backpacks on the other side and then carried the dog across. The Elliott and Coe Crossings were easier as we did them early in the morning. Our dog was able to wade and rock skip across. All the campsites were clean and with plenty of room. Trail wasn't too crowded. We only lost the trail once the whole loop and only briefly. After cloud cap in the cooper spur area there are lots of snowfields to cross and I was not looking at the GPS map so briefly lost the trail and found it again. Overall, this was a great trip and at this point I think it's safe to do for hikers with dogs.

3 days, clockwise from Timberline, went through Paradise Park and down the Ramona Creek trail (not the old, high route across the upper branches of the Muddy Fork), camped near the lower Muddy Fork crossing and at Cloud Cap.

The Timberline Trail has been on my to-do list for years, but I've always put it off because I could 'do it anytime.' I had planned a circuit of the Loowit Trail with my daughter, but she hurt her knee a few weeks ago. Finding myself with a few days already set aside for hiking, I decided this was a good time to check this one off the list.

There are plenty of great guides to the Timberline, starting with this site, so I'll try to limit this mostly to current conditions.

Departed my car at the Timberline parking lot around 11:30 on Wednesday. We had a big thunderstorm in Eugene the night before, so I was worried about arriving and finding fires all over the mountains. Fortunately, no fires, no smoke. There is a layer of smoke developing in the distance to the east.

Trail conditions were good throughout. Minimal blowdown--probably not more than 15 trees across the trail over the entire 40 miles, and none were a challenge to get around. The north side has many diminishing snow patches, and the east side has significant snow fields especially around the high point. These got tiresome but none were difficult. Poles help a lot. Plenty of flies (but not swarms) from Zigzag to Cloud Cap. Repellent kept them at bay. Did not need any on the third day. Noticed very few mosquitoes. The trail never felt crowded. Some day-hikers from Timberline to Zigzag, but they mostly disappeared after that. Then saw very few people until mid-day on Friday, when the counter-clockwise backpackers starting their weekend trips started to pass through.

Here is what I remember of the water crossings. (Those not mentioned were easy and obvious.)

Zigzag: early afternoon, narrow log downstream or rock-hop options upstream, crossed with dry feet.

Sandy: mid-afternoon, no dry option, had to ford after scouting for awhile both up and down. Found a spot well upstream with moderate current and good footing, came up just past my knees. A couple with a dog used a different spot nearby (had to carry the dog across). Trail exits the canyon on the north side well downstream of where it drops in on the south. 

Glisan, Ladd and Coe: early to mid-afternoon. These have run together in my head. All looked daunting at first, but I crossed each with mostly dry feet after a little scouting. On one, this involved throwing my pack ahead and making a pretty big jump. Of course, as soon as I was across, I looked back and up and could see a line of cairns well upstream that probably marked an easier crossing.

Eliot: about 4:30. Was able to cross by scrambling to a large boulder mid-stream, then jumping down and across to a reasonably flat gravel bar, then rock-hopping the rest of the way. There was no point that looked safe to ford. A group of four coming the other direction scouted for an hour before concluding it was impassable from that side and retreating to Cloud Cap for the night (jumping across and up to the rock I used wasn't possible). There are no spots to camp on the east side. There is one spot just big enough for a small tent on the west side just before the final drop into the canyon bottom.

Newton: mid-morning, no dry option, had to ford. Found a spot pretty much in line with the trail, water was pushy but didn't reach my knees. I crossed immediately upstream of the largest rock in the picture.

Coe: still covered by a large, solid snow bridge/ice sheet. 

White: around 4:00 pm, still able to cross with dry feet after minimal scouting. Easy to step across using the three large rocks in the lower right of the picture.

A couple of other notes. Cloud Cap now has at least six official sites and a working water spigot. Three sites were occupied by hikers on Thursday night--myself, another solo, and the group waiting to try the Eliot in the morning. No car campers. The forest service website says 'no potable water' at Cloud Cap but there are no caution signs at the campground, so I guess the water at the spigot is drinking water safe? Maybe the website statement is just leftover from when they turn off the water for winter.

I saw several dogs. Unless you and your dog are very experienced with difficult water crossings, I would leave the dog at home. The couple who I saw carry their dog across the Sandy planned to complete the whole loop. I find it hard to imagine how they (and others I saw) were going to safely cross the north side streams, especially the Eliot.

Happy hiking!

TLDR; circumnavigated Mount Hood along the Timberline Trail in about 31 hours. Crowded trail, bad smoke, plenty of blowdowns, annoying flies and semi treacherous water crossings. Still fun though.

Overall stats:

Nights on trail: 1
Distance: 41.36
Elevation up: 9,876 ft.

Day 0

We left King County around 3:$5pm on Friday 8/18/23. As expected, traffic was absolutely horrendous. We stopped for food in Vancouver, WA and arrived near Timberline Lodge around 8:30pm. We slept not far away.

Day 1

Distance: 27.24 miles
Elevation up: 6,083
Moving time: 10:34

We woke up at 4:30 and were walking by 5:15, when it was just light enough to hike without a headlamp. We headed clockwise from Timberline Lodge and filled-out the self issue permits about a mile away from the parking lot.

The morning was cool and the sky was blue. We came across numerous PCT thru and section hikers, plus more trail runners and day hikers than I could possibly recount. The trail through this section is well maintained and easy to walk on all the way to Ramona Falls, where we enjoyed a mid morning snack (10 miles by 10am calls for shoes off and leftover Taco Bell).

If you visit Ramona Falls, please be mindful to not step on or sleep on the vegetation. There are signs and barriers in place for a reason.

The stretch from Ramona Falls to McNeil Point is a bit hairy. There are many blowdowns, and although the bulk of them have been cleared, we still must've navigated through at least 50 of them this day. The trail also gets away from fun geographic features and points towards a monotonous climb, so be forewarned.

The entire northern side of the mountain is very crowded with day hikers and backpackers a like. Fireweed, lupine and paintbrush are abundant here, as are views of Wy'East. Unfortunately, smoke began to roll-in in the afternoon, and views were limited for us. Elk Cove had more of the same, plus numerous campsites.

We crossed several rivers this day. Most of them we could successfully rock hop, but on multiple occasions we got our feet wet. We camped at Cloud Cap around 8:30pm.

Day 2

Distance: 14.12 miles
Elevation up: 3,793
Moving time: 5:35

We slept with masks on most of the night to mitigate any harm from the dreadful air quality. We woke up at 5:30 and began to climb on our way back to the parking lot. Views on the northeast side of Hood are normally spectacular, but we were unable to see any other mountains in the distance through the smoke.

The east side of Wy'East has a ton of beautiful meadows with abundant wildflowers as well as water features throughout. We enjoyed a quick snack at Newton Creek and pushed all the way back to the car. Once back at the parking lot, around 12:30pm, we visited the Timberline Lodge buffet to celebrate our safe hike.

I highly recommend this hike for anyone who likes longer days in the mountains and doesn't mind some rough tread and creek crossings. Also, flies were a nuisance.