The Perpetual Tourist

I never thought I’d want to live anywhere but Virginia. I get around the country a lot, but it’s always nice to return home, even if it is only a short stay before I’m off again. My husband and I have been in Oregon for the past couple of weeks, and I have to admit, I’m not homesick at all. Sorry, Mom.

Some friends of mine from the Old Dominion were in Portland for a long weekend, so we joined up and did some exploring. Friday was a gorgeous day for a hike, so we packed up our car and drove out to Mount Hood, about an hour east of the city. I spend most of my time in Oregon staring at the mountains, but I’ve never actually been very close to any of the big ones, so this was a huge treat for me.

We picked up some trail maps and descriptions at an information center on the way. We had decided to park at the Timberline Lodge and take one of the trails from there up the mountain a bit. None of us are real mountaineers, so we settled on the 2-mile hike up the Silcox Trail. This would prove more difficult than we expected.

Today's view from the Timberline Lodge

The view of the mountain from the Timberline Lodge is incredible. As its name suggests, the lodge is at the tree line, about 6000 feet up the 11,235-foot mountain. Some glaciers remained on the mountain, but the first autumn snows hadn’t come yet, so most of the mountain was just rocky. With no trees for perspective, it almost feels like the top of the mountain is right within reach. In reality, the summit is still a mile above us, and several hours of treacherous climbing — not something we were going to try.

With our trail map and description in hand, we set off for the Silcox Trail to the Silcox Hut at 7000 feet. Only, we couldn’t find the trail. There are dozens of trails forking out from the Timberline Lodge, and none of them are particularly well labeled. Even those that are labeled have more forks as you venture higher up the mountain, and those forks don’t tell you which trail is which. We asked a lodge employee for help finding the right trail, but even with his description, we took a wrong fork very early in our hike.

Not to worry. In the early fall, with no snow on the ground, and a clear view of the lodge below us, we weren’t really in any danger of getting lost. We just weren’t really sure how far we were hiking or where we were going. We just took whatever trails were available to us, climbed on whatever rocks we came to, and took pictures of the mountain from every angle. If Mount Hood were a man, it would dominate People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue year after year. It’s stunning.

I’m glad I’ve been working out a lot lately, because this hike was up, up, up. Coming down such steep slopes wasn’t exactly easy on the joints, either, so be sure to wear supportive shoes if you embark on one of these hikes. We eventually came to a point where we could see a little hut on the side of the mountain. It was Silcox Hut, no doubt, only the trails we’d taken had put us on the other side of a glacier from it, and snowboarders were coming down that glacier.

Mt. Jefferson as seen from the ski slopes of Mt. Hood

We tested the ice. Strong, not too slippery. Walkable, probably. So we waited for the snowboarders to pass and we crossed the glacier to the Silcox Hut, which appeared to have several trails leading to it. Which one is the true Silcox Trail? We’ll probably never know. What was estimated as a moderately difficult 2-mile hike on the trail guide turned out to be about a 4 mile walk, in our estimations, which took us most of the afternoon. I’m not complaining about this — the hike was invigorating and the views were stunning. From most points on the path we took, we had lovely views of Trillium Lake below and Mount Jefferson’s peak about 40 miles away.

All in all, this hike was worth every bit of excitement in me leading up to it. I was even jealous of the gas station attendant who filled us up, because he gets to work every day with that beautiful backdrop. I can’t believe I’ve spent so much time in Oregon without ever getting to Mount Hood before last weekend. You can bet that I’ll keep going back, as long as my legs will carry me.