Cooper Spur Hike on Mt Hood- 9/16/2012

[sparkpilot]

I think they guy with the brown lab was in the green car at the end of the lot, I was the tall
guy that looked grumpy and left in a hurry But, I didn't peel out in that dusty lot!!

Ha...I am sure I remember you but I don't remember anyone being grumpy:) and I'm sure you weren't the one who wrote "wash me" on the back of my Blazer:)

[Roy]

You two looked familiar do you hike in Wa at all? I frequent Cape horn,Silver star, Table and the Hamilton and Hardy ridge areas.

[sparkpilot]

You two looked familiar do you hike in Wa at all? I frequent Cape horn,Silver star, Table and the Hamilton and Hardy ridge areas.

We have only done a bit of hiking in Washington but Silver Star is high on the new list of hikes we want to go on. Have been to a lot of bluegrass festivals in Washington though...

[mayhem]

Sparkpilot,
Great to see you on PH . Great TR! I'm glad we meet you on the trails

I was actually hoping you would TR the hike you did when you saw us, because we never made it to the lake . I will probably never go there again unless I forget about how long of a drive it is! I think I drove more than I hiked.

[Eric Peterson]

Sparkpilot,
Great to see you on PH . Great TR! I'm glad we meet you on the trails

I was actually hoping you would TR the hike you did when you saw us, because we never made it to the lake . I will probably never go there again unless I forget about how long of a drive it is! I think I drove more than I hiked.

Yop! Takes 1 hour just from 26 to get up to Vista Ridge TH!! Plus if you mix in the other things
like stopping every 11 minutes to check out a Porcupine and numerous pee breaks...

I do want to head up there again though or maybe the much closer Bald MT TH and some loops
around there someday...

[Dustin DuBois]

Sparkpilot,
Great to see you on PH . Great TR! I'm glad we meet you on the trails

I was actually hoping you would TR the hike you did when you saw us, because we never made it to the lake . I will probably never go there again unless I forget about how long of a drive it is! I think I drove more than I hiked.

lol you just gotta go there without slow people =P

[sparkpilot]

Sparkpilot,
Great to see you on PH . Great TR! I'm glad we meet you on the trails

I was actually hoping you would TR the hike you did when you saw us, because we never made it to the lake . I will probably never go there again unless I forget about how long of a drive it is! I think I drove more than I hiked.

Mayhem, great to see you too. Thank you again for all of the info and the fantastic energy. We went on so many hikes in a short period of time that I didn't know where to start when I created a login at Portland Hikers. So we began with the latest hike...Cooper Spur.

About Perry Lake; First off... I fell asleep against the giant rocks at Owl Point. It was so peaceful there and was so different from everything I had seen, that I knocked off while reclining in the sun. Who would have thought that rocks could be so comfortable?

We headed down to Perry Lake but in the first half mile we found several spots where the trail was un-discernible. I flagged a couple of places to connect the trail which was a lot like walking on dried up stream bed. Needless to say we didn't go all of the way to Perry Lake, but would still like to.

Thanks again!

[mayhem]

Sparkpilot,
Great to see you on PH . Great TR! I'm glad we meet you on the trails

I was actually hoping you would TR the hike you did when you saw us, because we never made it to the lake . I will probably never go there again unless I forget about how long of a drive it is! I think I drove more than I hiked.

lol you just gotta go there without slow people =P

Slow people had nothing to do with it! The roads are bad and you have to go kind of slow on tiny skinny roads. I was up at 2:00am got to TH at 7:00 started hiking 7:35 left at ?no idea got home around 5ish.

I had a great time but I rather get hiking more than get driving...most days anyways . Ok I guess I might go if someone else really wanted too because it is a beautiful place.

[Excursionista]

I was up there on the 17th, just after you, and it was beautiful. One of my favorite places on the mountain... September or early October is my favorite time to visit, and your report captures why.

Just as a note, the hike from Cloud Cap to the top of the spur and back is 6.4 miles, and about 2700-2800ft gain. The hike to the shelter is about one-third of that, and the slope to the top looks deceptively gentle from the shelter. It is if you stick to the trail, keep a steady pace, and don't cut up the user path along the edge of the glacier rim. Try to avoid the big snowbank; pople were reporting that it was very slippery and sketchy.

The thing about Cooper Spur is that the sun sets behind the mountain pretty early, and it'll get earlier very soon. It set close to 5:30 or 6 on the 17th, and when I was there last October 17th, it set at 3:10pm. You need to get there early to take advantage of light on the Eliot.

[sparkpilot]

I was up there on the 17th, just after you, and it was beautiful. One of my favorite places on the mountain... September or early October is my favorite time to visit, and your report captures why.

Just as a note, the hike from Cloud Cap to the top of the spur and back is 6.4 miles, and about 2700-2800ft gain. The hike to the shelter is about one-third of that, and the slope to the top looks deceptively gentle from the shelter. It is if you stick to the trail, keep a steady pace, and don't cut up the user path along the edge of the glacier rim. Try to avoid the big snowbank; pople were reporting that it was very slippery and sketchy.

The thing about Cooper Spur is that the sun sets behind the mountain pretty early, and it'll get earlier very soon. It set close to 5:30 or 6 on the 17th, and when I was there last October 17th, it set at 3:10pm. You need to get there early to take advantage of light on the Eliot.

Jason, thank you for the info. Really appreciate it. We are heading back up there again on Saturday to get to the spur because it was too late to go that far by the time we got there last week. Not knowing when the weather is going to change we wanted to take advantage of the sunny day at hand and went as far as could get to safely that day. So this Saturday we are going to start very early and do the whole thing. Really looking forward to it. Thanks for the great information!