Trip Report
Mount Hood Timberline Trail Backpack
A 3-day jaunt around Mount Hood in near-perfect conditions. Peak wildflower season, manageable water crossings, only intermittent bugs, and not quite as crowded as I expected.
Sherrie Trecker
- Sat, Jul 26, 2025 — Mon, Jul 28, 2025
- Backpack - Timberline Trail
- Timberline Trail
- Backpacking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The Timberline Trail crosses several rivers and streams. None have formal foot bridges so all must be navigated carefully. During this trip, significant crossings included the Muddy Fork (no footbridge so we waded in knee/thigh deep water) and Eliot Branch (required scrambling on loose sandy and rocky terrain. There were ropes to assist with the descent to the river). We changed into sandals for three crossings total; the rest had usable logs and rocks that allowed us to keep our feet dry.
One of the many river crossings There were many, many blowdowns covering the trail on the north side of Yokum Ridge, which slowed our pace considerably on day 1.
There was a portable shower in the parking lot, which made for a nice treat at the end of the trip!
Trip report by Emma Agosta and Sherrie Trecker
Total trip stats according to my Garmin watch: 42 miles, 9984' gain/loss
Saturday, July 26: Timberline Lodge to Muddy Fork, 13.88 miles, 2405' gain, 4131' loss
A group of five backpackers arranged to meet at the overnight parking lot just below Timberline Lodge at 7 AM. When I arrived at 6:45, I got the second to last spot in the lot. Emma and Brian arrived a few minutes later and took the last spot. Caleb and Christina arrived a few minutes before 7 and had to park a bit higher.
After intros and gear discussions, we headed out clockwise on the PCT at a quick clip. We crossed the Zig Zag River, the Sandy River and some minor other streams along the way. The Sandy River became our most consequential water crossing. There were no log/rock crossings, and the water appeared to be knee-to-thigh deep, so we opted to cross in our sandals. Unfortunately, one participant's shoes came off during the crossing, so we spent a bit of time searching downriver to see if it ended up stuck on a rock somewhere. Luckily another participant found it, floating in a mellow tidepool. It was on the other side of the river, so I had to cross back over and walk downriver to retrieve it. I'd already put my hiking shoes back on and opted to just cross in them, knowing that they'd dry out eventually given the hot weather.
The west side of Mount Hood is mostly forested, but has several great viewpoints and spectacular canyons from which the west side of the mountain really shines! The last couple of miles before our camping spot we had to go through several blowdowns, which slowed us down quite a bit compared to the early cruising miles of the day. We camped in the forest near the first channel of the Muddy Fork.
Sunday, July 27: Muddy Fork to Cloud Cap, 14 miles, 3731' gain, 1995' loss
Monday, July 28: Cloud Cap to Timberline Lodge, 14.11 miles, 3848' gain, 3858' loss
Monday's forecast was for very warm weather, in the mid 80s, so we set out on the trail at 6 AM. The day began with a climb out of Cloud Cap camp to the high point of the route on the east side of the mountain well above tree line. This was a very open, exposed volcanic landscape, crossing several snow tongues and descending down along Gnarl Ridge to the Newton Creek drainage. As we ascended, we expressed relief that we'd opted to stay at Cloud Cap rather than push on, as there was no running water until the creek.
After crossing the Newton we had one other major stream crossing, walked by some spectacular little waterfalls before arriving at the Hood Meadows ski area, which was filled with gorgeous wildflowers and mellow open terrain. Several of us took a mini-shower in one of the waterfalls; a refreshing treat!
The final challenge was crossing the White River drainage which has two distinct channels before ascending over 1000' to reach the Timberline parking lot again.
