[olderthanIusedtobe]

I didn't do as much hiking in '23 as I used to, but I did get out some. Just extremely lazy about putting up trip reports. Again more of my hiking was in Oregon than Washington. I also didn't have my camera with me fairly often, so resorted to using my way less than state of the art camera phone. Some of them should probably be thought of more as impressionist paintings than photos. It was actually a decent year for exploring some new to me places. Some I'd been curious about for a while, some I never gave much thought to and then tried on a whim. I might get these slightly out of order, but it will be more or less sequential. I found myself near Portland in late winter/early spring, and had a free day with nice weather and decided to sprint out to Cannon Beach and finally check out The Thumb or God's Thumb. Pretty intriguing end point. I'd been on the beach below it but this was definitely a different perspective.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

My nephew that was here recently also came out to visit last spring. He got a decent sampler of Seattle and nearby surrounding areas. On his last full day here we went to the south TH for East Bank Baker Lake. The weather hadn't been great but was perfect this day.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I'd been to Badger Lake in the pocket Badger Creek Wilderness just east of Mt. Hood previously. Wasn't overly enamored with it, but decided to try a different hike along the creek, starting further south and east. A bit of a drive getting out to the trailhead. Quite a bit of snow melt, creek was high and fast. The trail actually stuck close to the creek for the first several miles, which was nice. I rather enjoyed this one.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I'd known generally of the existence of Timothy Lake, never had much interest, until suddenly I did. I parked at a CG a short distance away so I could start out with a short stroll to Little Crater Lake. It's GORGEOUS. My pics don't do it justice. Using that as a start/end point, did around a 14 mile loop. The south side of Timothy is extremely developed w/ about a half dozen campgrounds, day use areas and boat launches. It is popular and busy. The rest of the lake trail is close to deserted. Once was probably enough, but I'm not sorry I tried it. I did return a few days later with my mom to the day use area. Some of her good friends like to camp there, she'd never been so was curious to see it.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I've utilized most of the trail system around Mt. Hood by now. I'd been up Pinnacle Ridge Trail once, but ran into snow and lost the trail. I wanted to see what I missed. Turns out not much, it turns into a swampy mess for a bit. Also the lower portion was in rough shape, lots of blow down, hadn't seen any maintenance in a while, was worse than my previous visit. I was a bit worn out by the time I hit the junction with the Timberline Trail. Stopped and had a snack. Contemplated just heading down. Then figured since I was up there, I'd stroll along the TT for a bit. Went counterclockwise. Took the high route at a junction I quickly reached, toward Cairn Basin. Didn't go far, but was in my happy place in and out of a series of pocket meadows. I love the north side of Hood!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I'd done Elk Meadows/Gnarl Ridge several years ago. Missed where the trail crosses Newton Creek, then came back down a different way so was curious where I missed it. Turned out to be fairly obvious, so not sure what I did before. Oh well. I decided not to go up higher this time, but made a double loop. Did a lollipop around Elk Meadows. Most of the way back to the TH took a side trail to Umbrella Falls. That was a bit of an adventure. Not much in the way of signage up there and a few meandering social trails that go...somewhere. Did manage to find Umbrella, then was surprised to find out it's RIGHT by a parking lot at one of the ski areas. Continued on a loop to Sahalie Falls (not to be confused with the much larger Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie River east of Eugene/Springfield), dumped me back on the access road a short distance from my car. Pretty nice jaunt. Between Sahalie and my starting point was the appropriately named Big Meadow, which was quite lovely.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Had done Mazama Trail (Cathedral Ridge) once before, quickly became one of my favorites in the vicinity. Decided to do that again. Ended up climbing up to McNeil Point again. On the way back down found a delightful spot by a creek. Could've stayed there all day but peeled myself away to complete the hike.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Last one. I'd done everything around it, but had not gone counterclockwise from Cloud Cap to the infamous crossing of Eliot Creek. Was curious to see what the fuss was about. Granted this was September, which is much different than trying it earlier in the year I realize due to snow melt and volume of the creek. Crossing was easy at this time of year. Trail on the other side was definitely a bit steep and loose but not terrible. I found the Coe Branch crossing to be more challenging, at least in terms of finding the trail again once on the other side. Went as far as Elk Cove, where I've been several times before. With that I think I've pretty much done the entire TT on the north flank of the mountain, and the vast majority of the east and south faces as well. Anyway, that drive up to Cloud Cap is always interesting, with a few great views on the way.

[Nancyann]

Very nice report on the Timberline Trail and other Oregon trails which don’t get much attention on this site. I vaguely remembered Timothy Lake from my PCT trip in 1972. It was nice to see pictures of it on a sunny day because it was pouring down rain the day we passed through!

[Scramblin Rover]

I really like this format of trip report - looks like you got out on some great adventures last year! The pictures of Little Crater Lake are especially captivating.