Agile Trekker: PCT miles 2096.9 - 2101.3, Paradise Loop Trail, Mount Hood, Oregon

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
08/22/2018	13.85 miles	7 hours 58 minutes	3,228'	27:24

Map: National Geographic Mount Hood Wilderness
Parking: Timberline Lodge
Directions: 100 Hikes / Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington, Hike #77 Paradise Park

One must do hike that was recommended to us was to start at Timberline Lodge, and just turn left on the PCT and hike as far as you like and turn back. We had time, so we decided to add in the Paradise Loop trail, which is popular alternate to the PCT. Oh my gosh - the Paradise Loop trail is a must! If you skipped it and just did the PCT, you'd miss out on the best views. This was one of my favorite hikes of the trip. I would do it again and again.

We drove to Timberline Lodge, which is in Government Camp. Parking was free. We headed uphill from the lodge on a road, and then turned left onto the PCT. We had to fill out a wilderness permit. There was a sign giving instructions for how to do a safe river crossing. It was good to read, but also upped the anxiety I feel about river crossings. The PCT felt easy in the beginning. Again, really nice terrain. We could see Mount Hood from the start of the hike - where we hiked under ski lifts and watched people skiing down a glacier. We switchbacked down to Zigzag river. I felt anxious ahead of time about the river crossing, but it was fine. We climbed up from the river, and then took our second trail on the right towards Paradise Park (I think the hike in the book has you take the first right). We started seeing lots and lots of wildflowers. I would love to be in Oregon when the lupines are blooming. Somewhere in this section we came across 2 huge trees blocking the trail, one on top of the other. They were a bit tricky to climb over. We came through the same section on the way back - and there were 3 trail crew there starting to work on clearing the trees. It seemed like a monumental task considering how wide they were. They had one of those really long saws - I can't remember what they're called - the saw looked taller than the men. We stopped and talked to the trail crew for a while and thanked them for their work.

We turned left onto the Paradise Loop Trail. At this point, I forgot how tired I was feeling. This 1.5 mile section was amazing. It had stunning above treeline views of Mount Hood. I stood in awe. There were even camping spots up there with water sources. I would love to camp up there. There were actually a number of streams - I should have filled up then, but didn't. I ended up dehydrated at the end of the day - running out of water. At the end of the Paradise Loop trail, we turned left onto the PCT. We lost our views, and I remembered I was tired. Ha! Climbing up from the ZigZag River was tiring. And my feet muscles were really, really sore. I was wearing my Altras, which I always wear, but I couldn't wait to get out of them. I feel like I want to do so many more hikes in this area - there just isn't enough time. I could spend at least 2 weeks just hiking in the Mount Hood area. At the end of the hike, we saw a sign saying that the Paradise Loop trail was closed due to enormous blowdowns. Oops - that sign hadn't been up when we started our hike - so we were on a closed section of trail.

After our hike, we drove to Bend, our next stop on the trip. The sky in Bend was filled with smoke and ash. You can smell the smoke in the air, and see some ash falling from the sky. The smoke blowing over the sun, made the sun red. We stopped at Whole Foods for dinner before going to our hotel. We stayed at a LaQuinta, which was expensive (as everything is in Bend). The hotel was dated, but fine.