3.1 hr
Overview
This hike takes you up to and around Paradise Park, one of the most extensive and beautiful alpine areas on Mount Hood. The Paradise Park from Timberline Lodge Hike describes an easier way to get there - 10 miles round trip and 2000 feet elevation gain to the same spot as this hike. However, if you want to get a good impression of the different layers of climate/vegetation zones on the west slope of Mount Hood, this lollipop loop hike takes you from typical lowland woodland through the montane forest zone and into subalpine parklands. The destination, of course, is the alpine fell area above the treeline in Paradise Park, best visited from late July through August for prime-time flower blooms. While Paradise Park itself is a popular destination, this hike's long access and egress using the forested lower slopes will most likely be quite unpeopled. The trail begins in an old campground with the Zigzag River rushing to the right. It’s a clear understory at first, quiet and shady and carpeted with moss. Hemlock, cedar and Douglas-fir provide the canopy. The path switchbacks past an information kiosk and up a bank. Salal, pipsissewa, rhododendron, and red huckleberry contribute to the understory here. Hike gradually up past the wilderness permit box. Then switchback past large Douglas-firs in a vine maple understory. Traverse up and swing right with lady fern, sword fern and Oregon grape dominating now. The trail makes three long switchbacks and then levels in rhododendron, cedar and hemlock woods. Drop a little to reach the edge of Zigzag Canyon. The track heads up in the woods on the edge of the canyon. A spur leads right to the Paradise Park Lower Viewpoint, where you can get vistas towards Mirror Lake and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. Now mountain hemlock and lodgepole pine are in the mix. Hike steadily up under both western and mountain hemlocks, Douglas-fir and cedar with some western white pines. Bear-grass and rhododendrons form the understory. Pass through a blueberry patch and enter the silver fir zone. T
Trail Stats
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929 m
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Photos
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