Mount Hood area (10-1-24)

 We seem to be moving from one volcano to another this summer, because our next stop was the Mount Hood area. There are no visitor centers here,  just a small museum or two. ( spoiler alert, since I am writing this a month later, we visited 7 volcanos this summer, and visually saw a few more.)

This time, we were able to get decent views of the mountain the day we arrived, but it went downhill from there for a bit.

There is a small federal campground nearby, which is where we stayed. After setting up we went to the local museum. I found it fascinating that the 10th Mountain Division of the army was born here, during WWII.

The army needed men that could handle extreme cold conditions, and they basically hired the National Ski Patrol to train them. It was the only military division to grow out of a sport. Overall, 14,000 men were trained at the highest mountains in the United States.  They actually saw active combat in Italy, climbing an unclimbable cliff at night, overtaking the Germans below.

Afterwards we headed up the hill to the historic Timberline Lodge.

By the time we got to the parking lot we couldn’t see the lodge and actually went to the wrong building (the only one we could see).

There was a gift store there that had some interesting things for sale.

The lodge itself was built by the WPA in the mid 1930s, and dedicated by President Roosevelt in 1937. The speech he gave is posted on the wall, and there is a video of the building process for the lodge and surrounding outbuildings.

 

Some of what he said seemed to give me an idea of why he had the CCC and the WPA building and working on so many recreation areas while they were in force, including this one.

“I am very keen about travel, not only personally (you know that) but also travel for as many Americans as can possibly afford it because those Americans will be fulfilling a very desirable objective of our citizenship, getting to know their own country better. 

And the more they see of it the more they will realize the privileges which God and nature have given the American people. So I take very great pleasure in dedicating this new adjunct, not only of national prosperity but also as a place for generations of Americans to come, in the days to come.”

I feel like something like that happened for me when Paul and I sold the house in 2009 and began traveling the country full time. Over time we began to realize just how much there is to see in this country and how gorgeous it all is and how lucky we are.

Many of the furnishings in the lodge are original, and those that aren’t are very close copies.

There are several restaurants, and a couple of bars. We chose to have a drink in the bar, which had many cute sitting alcoves along with regular tables.

The following day was our “big” hike day. Although there were lots of clouds, the visibility was  better than the day before. We could see Mount Jefferson clearly, off in the distance.

The trail was 5 miles, with 900 ft of gain, to Zig Zag Canyon Overlook. We were glad by the time we got to the overlook that we weren’t descending into Zig Zag Canyon, since the trail looked exactly as the name implies it would.

On the way back we took our time, as the hawks kept circling directly over our heads, which is always fun to watch (took lots of pictures, but cell phone cameras don’t do hawks justice) 

Although hidden by clouds for most of the day, we did get some good looks at the mountain later in the day.

We had one more day in the area, and although I found out that Mount Hood is actually the second most climbed mountain in the world, second to Japan’s Mount Fuji, we were not going to be two of the 10,000 people who climb it each year.

Our final hike was much shorter at 3.5 miles. The loop trail took us through a meadow with views of the mountain, and ended at Umbrella Falls.

We took advantage of some down time to get out our maps and calendar. Our original intent this summer was to travel down the coast, from Washington to California- but we have been completely side tracked by volcano exploring. Anyway, we figured if we were going to get to the coast, we better do it soon, since summer is winding down. But first we had to make one more stop on the way.

The Trail of 10 Falls is a 9 mile hike that passes by 10 waterfalls. Even though we are kind of waterfalled out at this point, we wanted to do this hike, located in Silver Falls State Park, Oregon.

Some of the waterfalls warranted more than one photo, and some barely warranted any at all, but here are a few of my favorite shots: