Snowshoeing Mount Hood
I think I’m discovering a new favorite winter sport: snowshoeing! I’ve only gone once before thanks to the invitation of my friend Dan who lives at the base of Mt. Hood. That was two winters ago when we first went, so it was well overdue for another adventure in the snow and this time we chose the aptly named snowshoe trail starting at Timberline Lodge.
If you, like me, don’t own your own set of snowshoes you can easily pick some up for the day in Sandy at Next Adventure or check out Mountain Sports in Welches. Be sure to get, and use, hiking poles too.
We chose to go easy on ourselves, though that didn’t mean I had plenty of huffing and puffing as we headed nearly two miles up the mountain. What we weren’t doing was going past the furthest ski lift post, nor skiing down (for free) like others we saw on the trail. What we were doing was 2,533 feet of elevation gain in about 3.5 hours with a distance of 3.6 miles with a moving time of just under 2 hours. Yup, lots of points in which to rest and enjoy the view. And that… was… amazing!
While we packed gear for foul weather, we ended up in a light jacket or shirt soaking up the sun.
It is especially rewarding to know that a finished hike means sitting around the fire in the lodge sipping on a favorite beverage, or filling your belly with expensive tasty food.
