Devils Kitchen - Mt Hood
Posted: June 3rd, 2019, 8:48 am
We had an evening start to our hike and camped overnight on the east climbers trail just outside the Timberline ski boundary, but this hike would be better done as a day hike with less gear to cart around.
The hike from Timberline Lodge to Devils Kitchen and back was pretty steep in sections, but the early morning snow was firm and we stuck to it with our micro-spikes. We chose to glasade back down to the bottom of Palmer and had a blast, though a large garbage bag cut into diapers would have helped quite a bit with the glasading, but we made due with our snow pants. If done as a day hike you could go a bit longer maybe to the base of hogback, but we were quite content to make it to 10,157 ft in elevation.
6.77 miles, 4236 ft elevation gain.
We had light past when we made camp.
Last light on Mt Hood.
I always love seeing the lights from towns on the east side of the Cascades.
The climber's headlamps can be seen on Mt Hood around 3am.
The whole night put into one picture.
We got an early start in the morning allowing us enough time to make the full hike.
More climbers making their way up in the early morning hours.
I chose to stick to the dirt trail to near the top of Palmer, though the snow might have been easier with all the loose sand.
We finally cut over to the climbers trail which the groomers had made, which we followed to the 8500 ft point. I noticed that they shift the location of the climbers trail and their grooming needs allow.
We stayed clear of any edges.
We had blue bird conditions on this day.
Our goals kept expanding as we got further up and were still feeling pretty good. I first wanted to make to illumination rock, the to the base of crater rock and then to get above 10,000 ft, which put us at the door of Devils Kitchen.
The climb got pretty steep, but we stuck to the snow with our micro-spikes. If we would gone much further than Devils Kitchen, I would have wanted crampons.
Trying to stay covered up in the bright sunlight.
That last portion right before Devils Kitchen seemed to be the steepest, though below it it didn't seem that steep.
Finally made our final destination.
Another smaller view.
We were pretty proud of ourselves looking back up from the parking lot.
The hike from Timberline Lodge to Devils Kitchen and back was pretty steep in sections, but the early morning snow was firm and we stuck to it with our micro-spikes. We chose to glasade back down to the bottom of Palmer and had a blast, though a large garbage bag cut into diapers would have helped quite a bit with the glasading, but we made due with our snow pants. If done as a day hike you could go a bit longer maybe to the base of hogback, but we were quite content to make it to 10,157 ft in elevation.
6.77 miles, 4236 ft elevation gain.
We had light past when we made camp.
Last light on Mt Hood.
I always love seeing the lights from towns on the east side of the Cascades.
The climber's headlamps can be seen on Mt Hood around 3am.
The whole night put into one picture.
We got an early start in the morning allowing us enough time to make the full hike.
More climbers making their way up in the early morning hours.
I chose to stick to the dirt trail to near the top of Palmer, though the snow might have been easier with all the loose sand.
We finally cut over to the climbers trail which the groomers had made, which we followed to the 8500 ft point. I noticed that they shift the location of the climbers trail and their grooming needs allow.
We stayed clear of any edges.
We had blue bird conditions on this day.
Our goals kept expanding as we got further up and were still feeling pretty good. I first wanted to make to illumination rock, the to the base of crater rock and then to get above 10,000 ft, which put us at the door of Devils Kitchen.
The climb got pretty steep, but we stuck to the snow with our micro-spikes. If we would gone much further than Devils Kitchen, I would have wanted crampons.
Trying to stay covered up in the bright sunlight.
That last portion right before Devils Kitchen seemed to be the steepest, though below it it didn't seem that steep.
Finally made our final destination.
Another smaller view.
We were pretty proud of ourselves looking back up from the parking lot.