Mount Hood Travel Guide

 richiecdisc Says:  Some places you anticipate and they let you down. Others you hold little regard for and they make you eat your hat. Then there are the places you know nothing about that flat out bowl you over in surprise. That was Lavender Valley. I can thank my wife, Oregon brochures and... 

 richiecdisc Says:  Elliot Glacier Public House is a great small brewpub in the foothills of Mount Hood. In the small town of Parkdale, this rustic little wooden pub is filled with climber artifacts and oozes ski lodge warmth and hospitality with an alternative flair. We arrived before it... 

 goingsolo Says:  The restaurant is located in Government Camp, a short drive from Mount Hood. It may have changed ownership as the name changed between 2006 and 2007. But the food remains the same- standard pub fare with a good selection of beer and wine. I've sampled quite a bit of the menu... 

 goingsolo Says:   Be prepared for temperature variations. It may be sunny and warm one minute, but a couple of clouds and some wind can change the temperature drastically. Layering is always a good bet. Bring fleece and a down jacket, even in summer. The photo below is my clothing for the 2... 

 richiecdisc Says:   Capturing nature in photos is no easy task. Waiting is the key word. Lighting is the another. You do a lot of the former and often to get the latter. Animals don't pose though in some of the best shots you would swear they do. Even seemingly inanimate objects change over... 

 richiecdisc Says:   In the morning, we decided to walk over to the lake. It was not quite as early as I normally would go out for a shoot but I had no idea what I would find on reaching the lake. There was Mount Hood with a lake begging to reflect before me. There were some slight ripples and... 

 goingsolo Says:  Mountains always look different after you've been to the summit. This one is no exception. That's when the rush comes to you. To view Mount Hood in all her glory and be able to say "Been there, climbed that", but with awe and respect and not an ounce of swagger. To know that... 

 goingsolo Says:  I started loading gear into the car. Walking through the lobby at about 12:50 a.m dressed in ski pants, a ski cap, mountaineering boots, holding my helmet, ice axe dangling and harness around my waist clanking, I received a curious stare from the front desk person. I... 

 goingsolo Says:  Not long after I shut my eyes, the alarm sounded. It was 12:15 a.m. Adrenaline jolted me out of bed and I began getting ready. I put on a couple of my lightest layers, and a windbreaker to ward off the chilly evening (or was it morning?) air, stuffed the rest of the gear... 

 goingsolo Says:  We headed back to our rooms at the Mount Hood Inn, took quick showers and walked over to the Ixeaxe Grill for some food. It was about 5:30 p.m. and we were trying to convince ourselves that we were tired enough to go to sleep. Last year, I had a leisurely meal here with some... 

 goingsolo Says:  The day before our climb, we met our guides at 9 a.m. to go over gear and head out to a slope along the base of the mountain to learn some snow and ice techniques. The view and the day were so different than they had been when we trudged to this spot the year before. This... 

 goingsolo Says:  After our fifteen minutes of celebration at the summit, it was time to head down. The guides kept pressing us to keep moving, as the sun would quickly warm the ice and snow, turning it into slush which would be harder to navigate with crampons. The first and second photos... 

 goingsolo Says:  This was, for me, the toughest part of the trip, and not one I am enjoying writing about. But I feel the need to tell the whole story, the good, the bad, and the breakdowns.After descending the steepest part of the chute, we had another area of relative steepness to descend...