Latest revision as of 22:56, 29 November 2022

Bear-grass in a ski run, Bear Grass Trail (bobcat)

Mount Hood from Picnic Rock (bobcat)

Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus), Jack's Woods Trail (bobcat)

Western pasqueflower (Anemone occidentalis), Timberline Trail (bobcat)

Pencil Falls, just below the Timberline Trail (bobcat)

The loop around the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort - Courtesy: Caltopo/MapBuilder Topo

• Start point: Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge Trailhead
• End point: Timberline-Lower Wizard Way Trail Junction
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 8.6 miles
• Elevation gain: 905 feet
• High Point: 5,935 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: Summer months only
• Family Friendly: No
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Description

In the summers of 2019 and 2020, Mt. Hood Meadows staff worked on creating eight miles of new trails inside the ski resort’s permit area in consultation with the Forest Service. The trails also connect with the existing Umbrella Falls and Timberline trails. While all of these trails cross ski runs, which bloom with wildflowers in summer, they also pass through natural glades and old-growth groves of mountain hemlock and subalpine fir. Perhaps the highlight of this particular loop is the excursion to Picnic Rock, a rugged outcropping which offers views down the Clark Creek and East Fork valleys to Gunsight Butte, Bonney Butte, and south to Mount Jefferson. 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.

From the parking area, walk to the right of the South Lodge building. Just past the Stadium Express chairlift, you’ll see a large map of the summer hiking trails. Follow a gravel track towards Mount Hood, keeping straight at the Blue chairlift and then bearing right on Trail #1 (the Bear Grass Trail). 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 mountain hemlock and subalpine fir. After it passes under a chairlift, the trail crosses a slope of bear-grass, fireweed, and huckleberry to enter mountain hemlock woods. Cross a gravel road, and begin a looping descent in and out of a ski glade, noting some impressive old-growth hemlocks and subalpine firs.

The trail continues past the junction with the Bear Grass Cutoff Trail #2 to pass below a spring that trickles over the tread. At another ski run, you’ll reach the Umbrella Cutoff Trail #4. You'll continue to cross two additional ski runs, which bloom profusely with bear-grass in July and offer clear views up to Mount Hood. 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, and a few gnarly ponderosa pines cling 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 of 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.

For the 3 ½ mile Timberline traverse across the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area, turn left. The Timberline crosses ski runs blooming with wildflowers and crosses 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, keep straight. (It’s a 4.2 mile round-trip diversion with about 1,700 feet in elevation gain to Wizard Head from here – see the Wizard Way Hike.)

From this junction, the Timberline Trail drops into mountain hemlock forest and then crosses a maintenance track and then a dry stream. You’ll pass under an andesite bluff and then traverse over a little creek that flows under two big boulders. After crossing a more open area of converging ski runs, the trail runs below another rock outcrop and enters a willow thicket. You may turn your ankle in the burrows of the local marmots or hear their loud alarm chirps. You're in one of the bowls that forms the headwaters of the East Fork Hood River, and the trail crosses another tributary above a green meadow of false hellebore, heliotrope, and western pasqueflower, which forms the endearing ‘towhead baby’ seed heads. There’s another campsite below in a hemlock stand before you cross another picturesque bowl. Two massive mountain hemlocks stand guard next to the trail, and then you’ll pass above little Pencil Falls on another East Fork headstream. Hike under a chairlift, getting good views up to Mount Hood. In another ski run, the snow melts late, so in July you can see blooming pasqueflowers and their seedheads in the same place! You’ll descend from a chairlift, and then do a rock hop across Mitchell Creek, the most substantial stream in the area. After winding up to cross a gravel track, you’ll come to the Timberline-Umbrella Falls Trail Junction.

Turn down the Umbrella Falls Trail #667. The trail descends across a spring-fed brook and passes through glades of bear-grass, lupine, woodrush, mariposa lily, and false hellebore. Switchback down a slope of mountain hemlock and subalpine fir, emerging in a lush meadow with a view of Mount Hood. The path switchbacks and descends alongside Mitchell Creek, turning to cross the creek and rising to a junction marked “To Lodge”.

Go left here, and follow the chip path to get views up the mountain. You’ll see the main Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge before you cross a gravel track and loop down to bear left. Cross another track, make a sharp turn right, and then go left over a culvert to pass between the Sahale Lodge and the Daisy chair lift to reach the parking area.

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 Mount Hood Meadows Resort Loop Hike

• Mount Hood Meadows Hiking trails

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Mount Hood Meadows Resort 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)
• Wizard Way: Mapping New Trails at Mount Hood Meadows (Elevation Changes)
• New Mt. Hood Trails Boast Views and Wildflowers Galore (Portland Monthly)
• “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)

Page Contributors

• bobcat (creator)