Timberline Trail - Mount Hood

<im>https://files.viewranger.com/image/f7698926120d16b9f4f1a5349628945e.jpeg</im> The Timberline Trail is a 40 mile circumnavigation of Mount Hood. Although there are several places to enter the trail the most common is to start at Timberline Lodge and proceed in a clockwise direction. However this year I tackled the route in a counter clockwise direction. The options for starting points are: Timberline Lodge Cloud Cap Top Spur Romana Falls All of these have decent parking, although for some you will need a NW Forest Pass. Weather is a critical consideration for this hike. It is generally best as a late summer / early fall hike. Earlier in the season there is likely to still be snow on the trail and high snow melt making the river crossings more challenging. By late September / early October more variable weather can roll in, including cooler nights and rain. The river crossing are the most challenging element of this hike. There are several glacial river crossings that have a variable level difficulty. Often its possible to jump or rock hop across them. Additionally there are often logs that can be used for a crossing. However you should always be prepared and know how to make a safe river crossing. The glacial streams are cold and run fast. Remember that they are lowest in the morning. There is plenty of camping and so its not really necessarily to target an exact area for each night. Going counter clockwise popular areas are Newton Creek, Elk Cove and Ramona Falls. Although there are plenty of options in between. Water is seldom on an issue on this hike - with the longest carries being often no more than 2 miles. Possibly the longest carries being from Newton Creek to the top of Gnarl Ridge and from the Sandy River to Paradise Park. The route followed here takes two detours from the standard Timberline Trail route. The first is to follow the PCT at Top Spur and rejoin the Timberline Trail at Ramona Falls. This then crosses the Muddy River further a little further down where there has been two very large logs which makes the crossing very easy. Secondly the Paradise Park loop is a must see. It's one of the most beautiful areas of Mount Hood with stunning meadows as well as having some great campsites. For more details see: <link https://hikeit.info/2020/09/04/timberline-trail-around-mount-hood/>https://hikeit.info/2020/09/04/timberline-trail-around-mount-hood/</link>