Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Trip recommendations, current conditions, and other trail related Q&A
squidvicious
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Location: Troutdale

Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by squidvicious » June 15th, 2017, 3:24 pm

jonhinson wrote:Can you elaborate on "party central"?
Punchbowl Falls, around two miles into that hike, is a very popular summer destination for cooling off. It always shows up in lists of top area "swimming holes," and as such tends to attract a high percentage of the most obnoxious sort of trail user. It is crowded. It is loud. Every year there's someone doing reckless things and getting themselves injured or killed. On the trail, it is downright scary. In high summer season I have encountered people toting in coolers, unleashed or aggressive dogs, young lovers wrapped around each other who will not go single file to allow people to pass safely--if you've seen pictures of the narrow stretches of trail carved into steep cliff sides, imagine the fun of trying to get around any of those. Hell, just on Monday when it was cool and overcast I had three girls shove past me on a narrow, slick cable section, rather than wait ten feet down the trail on a nice wide landing for me to get clear.

Most of that crowd doesn't venture much past punchbowl (although you can certainly hear them for some ways around), so at least there's that. I haven't found weekdays vs weekends to be as different as you'd hope in spots like that while schools are out, but if you want to go your best experience is probably if you get there as early as you can, and then hang around so you're headed out as late in the afternoon as you can, and not running head-on into the throngs on your way out. Flowing with lots of idiots on your way in may be annoying, but flowing against them on the way out could be really bad news.

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Pick-a-Pika
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Location: Upper Hood River Valley

Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by Pick-a-Pika » June 17th, 2017, 2:00 pm

Wind protection is often the issue heading to Cooper Spur. I can't count how many times I've been grateful for packing a windbreaker -- even in August.

The views on the east side of Mt. Hood are fabulous - you can see into Central Oregon if it's clear.

Enjoy,

Pika

jonhinson
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Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by jonhinson » August 2nd, 2017, 11:02 am

Thanks again to everyone for all of your suggestions and feedback so far! We're 3 weeks away from our trip and couldn't be more excited. Another question I had was about footwear: is it advisable to bring some form of water shoes for portions of the Eagle Creek to Twister Falls hike or the Cloud Cap -> Elk Cove -> Barrett Spur hike?

EDIT: I just re-read about the Coe Creek Crossing via the Cloud Cap trailhead to Elk Cove. Would it be more advisable to take the Vista Ridge or Pinnacle Ridge routes?

jonhinson
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Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by jonhinson » August 2nd, 2017, 11:39 am

If I'm not mistaken, I just saw that the Eagle Creek Trail is closed: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/mthood/a ... ?aid=41927

Pretty bummed about that if it remains closed through the time we are there. Looks like I may have to find an alternative backup for one of our days just in case.

EDIT: Just noticed the thread regarding the closure due to fire.

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drm
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Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by drm » August 2nd, 2017, 11:52 am

It will almost certainly still be closed as the fire started mere yards from Twister Falls. You can still go up Eagle Creek a little over 3 miles, to High Bridge. It's still worth it for a short hike, as long as the group is not afraid of heights. Many sections have a narrow trail with a large vertical dropoff. If you're still planning on doing the Nick Eaton Ridge loop, that can be your long / hard hike in the area with Eagle Creek a nice half day hike.

Water shoes of some sort probably a good idea for Hood hikes, though not needed for Cooper Spur.

Has anybody mentioned Ramona Falls yet for a short hike? It's a bit of a drive from Hood River though - far side of Mt Hood. An alternative for short hikes to great waterfalls is to head across the Columbia. It's a short hike (3.5 miles RT, or add more to get to the top of the falls) to Falls Creek Falls, and in the same general vicinity you can do the very short hike (a few hundred yards) to Panther Creek Falls, which to my subjective opinion is the most impressive waterfall in the region (Ramona coming in second). These two would be a good choice for a hot day as the Falls and Panther Creek areas will offer virtually 100% shade, though the creeks are not really swimmable.

I also wanted throw in yet one more option for an alpine hike. If you get enough of Mt Hood in a couple hikes there, Mt Adams is across the way. Best option would be to go up the south climb a short ways (avoid weekends at all costs), turn right on the Round the Mountain Trail and hike into the Yakama Reservation (this is allowed) to Bird Creek Meadows, some of the best wildflower / lush meadows to be had in the region. If you just go to the western meadows (the prettiest), this would be a medium hike, 10-12 miles and not much altitude change. If you go through to the Hellroaring Viewpoint of the wild east side of Mt Adams, then it would be a longer hike, but still not too much EG. Flowers may be a touch past peak, but should still be great. This hike has some of the best bang for the calorie buck spent for an alpine hike IMO. The Mt Hood hikes have a much steeper and more dramatic mountain while Mt Adams has more gentle slopes - unless you get to Hellroaring View.

CMH
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Re: Day Hikes Near Hood River In Late August

Post by CMH » August 3rd, 2017, 1:44 pm

For variety you could also do something just East of Hood River for a different feel. You'll see fewer trees and more open grassland, which will be hot in August, but if you hit the trail early you should be fine.

Catherine Creek and Coyote Wall areas are nice:
http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... _Wall_Hike

Dalles Mountain area:
http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... _Loop_Hike

Both of these areas have multiple trail options, so you could hike for longer or shorter than the example hikes given by the OregonHikers Field Guide.

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