Picnic Rock Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge Trailhead
- End point: Picnic Rock
- Hike type: Loop with spur
- Distance: 6.0 miles
- Elevation gain: 700 feet
- High point: 5,935 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Summer months only
- Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Description
The Mt. Hood Meadows trail complex within the resort’s permit ties in with existing national forest trails so that several loop options are possible. This shorter loop, which includes most of the lower trails at the resort, takes in two picturesque features of the area: Umbrella Falls and Picnic Rock. Then you’ll hike up to the Timberline Trail and cross a series of ski run meadows before descending to the lodge. Families with children may want to take the Stadium chairlift up and follow the loop in a clockwise direction back to the lodge. Make sure you print out your own copy of the trail map before you leave home. In the field, the trails, which all have names, will be marked with numbers only.
Walk down to the bottom of the large parking area, and pick up a trail that descends through a goldenrod meadow. Soon the trail splits: keep left find yourself alongside the main branch of the East Fork Hood River and a small waterfall. The trail descends from here to a junction with the Umbrella Falls Trail. Here, you’ll go left to cross the footbridge below the pretty veil of Umbrella Falls. Bear right after crossing the bridge, and descend gradually in a beautiful lush parkland of mountain hemlock, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, huckleberry, bear-grass and false hellebore. You’ll cross a couple of creeks and keep left at the junction with the Sahale Falls Trail. After crossing another creek, you’ll arrive at the junction with Trail #4 in the Mt. Hood Meadows system.
Turn up the ridge here, winding up under the mountain hemlocks until you reach the junction with Trail #1 (the Bear Grass Trail) at the edge of a ski run that blooms profusely with bear-grass in July. Head right to get views up to Mount Hood, and pass through a wooded corridor to cross the next ski run. Another ski run has no views up to the mountain, and then you’ll pass under a chairlift to reach the Picnic Rock Spur Trail #3 and a great view towards Bonney Butte and Mount Jefferson.
Turn off on the spur trail, and hike up along a forested ridge. A short side trail to the right leads to a manzanita-carpeted viewpoint over Hood River Meadows and ridges from Lookout Mountain to Gunsight Butte and Bonney Butte. The main Picnic Rock trail takes you to an even better perch where redstem ceanothus and creamy stonecrop bloom, with a few gnarly ponderosa pines clinging to the rock faces. You can clamber down for a short catwalk and scramble up to Picnic Rock. In addition to points seen from the previous viewpoint, look for nearby Elk Mountain, the burned slopes of Bluegrass Ridge as well as across the deep Clark Creek canyon to Lamberson Butte on Gnarl Ridge and the southeast slopes of Mount Hood. On the clearest of days, you may be able to make out the Three Sisters beyond Mount Jefferson and perhaps even Diamond Peak.
After returning to the Bear Grass Trail, make a right to leave the ski run and descend a little before making a winding ascent in old-growth montane forest with Engelmann spruce added to the hemlock/fir mix. Three switchbacks take you up to snowmelt glades of lupine, groundsel, and false hellebore. A spur to the right gives you views down the Clark Creek drainage. When you reach the Bear Grass-Jack’s Woods Trail Junction, turn right at the #6 post.
Jack’s Woods Trail rises through conifer forest to pass through another pretty glade with lupine, heliotrope, and paintbrush. After passing under a chairlift, you’ll come to a gravel maintenance track. Here, go right for 100 yards, and then pick up Trail #6 at the Shooting Star Express lift. Switchback down to a small creek with a lush wildflower display, and then take stone steps up to cross another tumbling stream. The trail continues under the Heather chairlift to reach the edge of the Clark Creek canyon. From this viewpoint, You’ll continue rising, making three switchbacks and passing through a small burn to arrive at the Timberline Trail.
A worthy diversion here is to go right about a third of a mile to visit the picturesque waterfalls of Heather Canyon. Otherwise, turn left to begin a traverse across the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. The Timberline Trail crosses ski runs blooming with wildflowers and passes over a rushing mountain stream. There are campsites above and below the trail in a shady copse of mountain hemlocks. At the four-way junction with the Lower Wizard Way #8, turn left. It’s a short distance through the trees to the upper terminal for the Stadium Express chair lift. (If you are feeling energetic and want to head up Lower Wizard Way, see the Wizard Way Hike.)
Bear left to take a service road down below the terminal to reach a road. Directly across the road, Trail #5 (the Stadium Loop) begins. Keep left on this chip trail, and then left again at the junction with Trail #1 to get views down to the Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge. Descend through a goldenrod/lupine meadow, getting views down along the Cascades to Mount Jefferson, the Three Sisters, and Broken Top. The trail loops across the meadow again and then drops across a couple of ski runs to reach another junction, this time with Trail #2.
Bear right, and pass below a chair lift. Keep winding down, partially in forest and also crossing a couple of ski runs to get views to Mount Hood’s southeast face. The trail switchbacks down a total of four times in mountain hemlock forest to reach another junction with Trail #1.
Keep right here to loop in and out of a ski glade, noting some impressive old-growth hemlocks and subalpine firs. After crossing a gravel road in mountain hemlock forest, pass under a chair lift on a slope of bear-grass, fireweed, and huckleberry. Next, you’ll cross a lush slope of mountain spiraea, willow, lupine, bird’s-foot trefoil, subalpine daisy, mariposa lily, and false hellebore among copses of conifers. The trail leads above the Blue chairlift to a junction, where you should turn left down a gravel track to reach the Stadium Express chairlift. There you’ll see a large map of the summer hiking trails. Hike past the South Lodge building to reach the parking lot.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Restaurant, restrooms at the Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge; in summer, lodge open at 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Monday; 7:00 p.m. on weekends; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Lodge parking area not open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; park on the side of the road below the main parking lot
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Trail Maps (Mt. Hood Meadows) (hiking map accessible in the summer only)
- Wizard Way: Mapping New Trails at Mount Hood Meadows (Elevation Changes)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Picnic Rock Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Picnic Rock Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes: Northwest Oregon by William L. Sullivan
More Links
- Timberline National Historic Trail #600 (USFS)
- Umbrella Falls Trail #667/Sahalie Falls Trail #667 (USFS)
- Summer at Meadows (Mt. Hood Meadows)
- “Trail crews are adding four miles of new hiking trails” (Mt. Hood Meadows)
- “Mt. Hood Meadows will debut more than 8 miles of new hiking trails this summer” (Oregon Live)
- Mt. Hood Meadows Debuts More Than Eight Miles Of New Hiking Trails This Summer (Snow Industry News)
- Umbrella Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)