Mount Hood Meadows Resort Loop Hike

Overview

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 a

Trail Stats

Photos

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