Treks and Adventures
A short hike of Hardy Ridge Loop to get out and stretch my legs. The forecast had it for westerly wind that was going to blow the wildfire smoke out of the Gorge but it did not happen so not a good day to take photos. The hike was 8 mile with 1900 ft. elevation gain with four hours on the trail.
I hiked Hidden Lake Trail up to Timberline Trail and a half mile over on it to get a picture of Mt. Hood. The Hidden Lake Trail is a up hill walk in the woods. You can’t get to the lake with out walking through a muddy marsh that surrounds it. It was an 11 1/2 mile hike with about 3000 ft. elev. gain and I was on trail for 7 hrs.
This time out I hiked the old Paradise Park Trail up to the last tree. The trail is an old horse trail the CCC build so it does a nice gradual climb up to Paradise Park and all of the flower meadow. The official trails ends where it intersects the Paradise Park Loop trail but a user trail continues up another mile or more. I found a number of large trees had fallen across the the trail that took some effort to get over or around or under. Adds to the workout.
A storm front was coming in so by the time I got up to Paradise Park Mt. Hood was staring to be covered by clouds. Prime flower season had past but still in spot there was still some good flower color.
The hike by the numbers – 17 1/3 miles, 3650 ft. elevation gain with 10 hour on trail.
It was smoky and it was hot so no hiking high up on the mountain but instead I stayed low and did a nice loop of Mt. Hood Meadows on trails. By the number: 8 1/4 miles with 1400 ft. elevation gain in 5 1/2 hours. During the winter this place is a busy ski resort but during the summer they open it up for hiking, with a new well thought out trail system. The trails allow you to go to not only the man made ski run meadows but also a number of natural meadows. They also pass through some of the last stands of old growth forests left on the mountain. On a day not so smoky you also get great scenic views.
A hike up to McNeil Point on Mt. Hood. 10 mile, 2700 elv. gain and 8 1/2 hrs. on trail
