Oregon Hikers

Afrer a nearly 2hr drive, arrived at TH at 10.18am, that included a steep mountain side ride for another 4.5 miles, but the road is in great shape. No other car in front of the closed gate, we geared up and started the hike, first passing Lake Hebo, and then thru 2 miles of beautiful old growth forest with informational sign boards. After that it is pretty much in and out thru logging territory and the climb is steady and steep. The weather was clear, no rain, clear skies, but very cold. An occasional view of the horizon thru breaks in the tree line. You get a good view of the plains below where the trail sort of "ends". Just passed 2 sets of people in all for the day. We continued on the logging trail beyond the "view" point, up a hill, and ~200 ft away as I looked up a Cougar crossed the road and entered the bushes. Unfortunately, I could not capture a picture of the animal. Trip Computer 8.9 Miles RT, and EG of 1650 FT

Cougar!! That’s pretty cool. I have yet to see one in the wild. Love the second lake photo - very nice!

Tom

yeah, same here, never seen one much less get a picture. I've seen tracks including tracks on top of mine from the previous day.

Tom and Jerry,
I double checked with a friend who hikes in that area quite frequently and he also mentioned seeing one sometime back. This is my 2nd sighting, in May 2014 on my way to St. Helens summit, a Cougar crossed my path about 1/2 a mile from the worm flows winter trail head, it stopped on the trail, looked right at me and just continued on!

Very cool. Did you continue on or turn around? Any nerves?

What's the boards opinion in general on the amount of wildlife seen on Oregon trails (specifically in the Oregon Cascades / Mt Hood)? Why does it seem like there's so much less than Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, etc? Or is it just me?!

mjanardh wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2019, 10:09 pm

... as I looked up a Cougar crossed the road and entered the bushes.

Hmm. Is the capitalization significant?

Cougar Cougar cougar

I'm still waiting for my first sighting. Thanks for sharing.

hikinglover4life wrote: ↑

January 7th, 2019, 8:56 am

What's the boards opinion in general on the amount of wildlife seen on Oregon trails (specifically in the Oregon Cascades / Mt Hood)? Why does it seem like there's so much less than Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, etc? Or is it just me?!

It's not just you; we're pretty lacking in macrofauna out here. I have no idea why.

hikinglover4life wrote: ↑

January 7th, 2019, 8:56 am

Very cool. Did you continue on or turn around? Any nerves?

I was hiking with a friend, we continued. we had already hiked longer than we intended, we turned after a few minutes.

adamschneider wrote: ↑

January 7th, 2019, 6:27 pm

It's not just you; we're pretty lacking in macrofauna out here. I have no idea why.

What are you, new? It's too much competition from Bigfoot; obviously!