Timberline Trail
Stats: 40 miles, 9712 ft vertical gain.
Timeline:
Day 1: 4 miles, Timberline Lodge to Mt. Hood Meadows.
Day 2: 23.65 Miles, Mt. Hood Meadows to Muddy Fork River
Day3: 13.23 Miles, Muddy Fork River to Timberline Lodge
Looking to escape the smoke of Central Oregon, I realized I had a free weekend to finally complete the Timberline Trail after putting it off for 5 years despite living 40 minutes away. I had entertained the idea of completeing the trail in a day, but glad to say I finally got it done. My plan was a counter clockwise quick strike mission starting on Friday Night and hopefully ending early enough on Sunday to get to the famous Timberline Lodge Buffet. This timeline was optimistic and either underestimated the toughness of this trail or my fitness, maybe both.
Day 1: Leaving the trailhead at 6:30 pm, I had ambitions to make it to Newton Creek, about 7 miles. I felt this was reasonable as on a typical day hike this would not take more than 2 hours. Overall this hike was uneventful. The white river crossing was easy with some routefinding necessary to find the trail on the oposite side of the river. The climb up the east face of the canyon was punchy and washed out, but otherwise short. Getting into the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area, I found a meadow landscape (makes sense) void of people. The vast wildflowers and quiet camping area convinced me to stop early of Newton Creek at about 8:30 PM.
Day 2: Waking up and realizing I had put myself behind schedule with the early campsite was a little discouraging, however, I knew I was up for the challenge and had completed longer days before. My goal today was to make it to Ramona Falls, about 26 miles. Was I ready to hike a marathon… no. Did I know that this was good training for having to run a trail marathon the next weekend… yes. Eventually, I decided f* it, lets have a go. The day started off great, sun out and no smoke. I hiked out from Mt. Hood Meadows prior to stopping for breakfast at Newton Creek. I did feel some validation upon arriving the Newton and seeing the hoard of campers. Good to note that if you like to camp alone, do not stop at Newton Creek.
Shortly after crossing Newton Creek the first obsticle is getting up Gnarl Ridge, a roughly 2,000’ climb from Newton Creek to Cloud Cap. This climb was a bit relentless. However, for anyone that has been to Cloud Cap, we understand the views of the east side of Mt. Hood are worth the painful entry fee. From Cloud Cap you descend to the most challenging water crossing of the trip, Eliot Branch. Eliot Branch is a steep fast flowing river off of the Eliot Glacier.
Note: The west bank of the river is steep with loose rocks. The path to the river is unclear. Be careful of where you stop and stay observent for rocks other hikers may kick loose above you. The earlier you can get to this crossing the better.
The remainder of the day was uneventful, a bit sloggy with blowdown and burn area but overall an mix of terrain with some semi-difficult river crossings. At this point of the route, smoke from fires in Washington had blown in, obscuring most views, a risk that is always present in the PNW summers. Ultimately, I stopped a little early… again… at Muddy Fork River because the air quality seemed decent. Looking forward it only looked like it would get worse. Ultimately, it probably did not matter and I wish I would have pushed on to Ramona Falls.
Day 3: My final day can be summed up in one word, “climbing”. The negative of completing Timberline counter clockwise is that there is almost 4,000 feet of climbing from Sandy River to Timberline Lodge. My hope was to camp in a spot to reduce the number of miles and focus on punching out this climb. Camping at Muddy Fork meant that I had about 3 miles until the base of the climb at the Sandy River. Getting to Paradise Park, I traveled roughly 6 miles and 2500 feet. From Paradise Park you drop back down to the Zig Zag River and climb another 1,000 feet to Timberline Lodge. Both climbs are challenging, however, the view of Mt. Hood’s summit provides much needed distraction.
Summary: Ultimately, this was a doable itnerary for someone willing to put there head down and cover distance. I thought 3 days was a typical itinerary for Timberline, however, most parties I talked with were doing it in 4-5. If you looking for a more Type 1 fun trip, I would recommend 3 full days into a 4th morning.
Counter Clockwise vs. Clockwise: To my surprise most backpacking groups were completing the trail clockwise, in contrast to most trail runners. As someone who had planned to complete the loop in a day, I have only ever thought of the route as counter clockwise because you would get the exposed east and north side of the mountain done in the earliest part of the day. However, after some discussion with fellow backpackers, we realized that almost all guide books describe the loop clockwise. If I were to recommend a direction, here is what I would say.
Trips 3 days or less: Consider counter clockwise.
Pros:
You can get to Eliot Branch early. Although you would likely able to cross throughout the day, getting here earlier is better.
You break up your big climbs. You have 2 climbs from Gnarl Ridge and then Sandy River to Timberline. When going Clockwise you will have a sustained climbe from Sandy River to Cloud Cap, roughly 4,000’ over 18 miles.
Cons:
The climb from Sandy River to Timberline can be a bit soul crushing.
Trips 3 days or longer: Consider clockwise
Pros:
More options for camping.
Cons:
Long sustained climb from Sandy River to Cloud Cap.
