For my first trip report, I’d like to recount one of my more memorable hiking experiences from last summer; our hike up the copper spur trail on Mount Hood out in Oregon.
-Approaching Mt. Hood on Hwy 35-
The Hike
Date: 9/3/2014: The Copper Spur Trail is the highest hiking trail on Mount Hood. Keep in mind I said highest hiking trail. To go any higher would require climbing equipment and experience.
To get to the trail was an adventure in itself. We left Portland early, with some cloud cover. After driving a little over an hour along Rt 26 to Government Camp, we hit the intersection of 26 and 35. From there, it’s another 30 minutes or so to the left turn onto Copper Spur Road (look for signs to the Copper Spur Ski Area), and then another 45 minutes of twisting, winding, rough roads up to the Cloud Cap Campground, which serves as the trail head for this hike.Here’s a link to the USDA Forest Service website with information/directions/etc…
-Saw a few of these guys on the way up and the way down-
-View from the Copper Spur Road, this is the upper part of the road through the burned up forest-
-One more view of the Copper Spur Campground Access road. See that ridge to left? See where it meets up it glacier? We’ll be there soon…-
You’ll need a recreation pass, which you can purchase at the trail head. After parking our rental and getting our recreation pass from the self-serve station, we headed through the campground towards the trail register. At the trail register at least one person in your group needs to fill out a permit and attach it to their pack.
We started by following the Timberline Trail. The beginning part of the trail is below the tree line, so you walk through a beautiful fir forest. Pretty soon you exit the forest onto a sandy, rocky ascent along a stream bed.
-View down the trail where you exit the woods and start the climb up… up.. up…-
Pretty soon you reach a trail junction. This is the junction of the Timberline, Tilly Jane, and Copper Spur Trails. You’ll bear right on the Copper Spur trail. Very shortly after starting up the Copper Spur Trail, you reach your first milestone… a stone hut. This makes a nice spot to catch your breath before the climb ahead.
-Stone hut, Mt. Hood… there’s that ridge off to the left again…-
The trail keeps going up for about a mile across bare, rocky ground. We were lucky to have such a nice day, as there were beautiful views to the north/northeast. Eventually, the trail begins a series of switchbacks. By series, I mean there’s switchbacks for about 2 miles or so, up a loose rocky trail. Off to your right you get periodic views of the Eliot Glacier, which is the second largest glacier in Oregon (fun fact!).
-This is one of the flatter parts, notice my hiking partner up the trail waiting for me-
-View of Eliot Glacier-
The wide-openness of the trail messed with my perception of distance, and it took a bit longer than I thought it would to ascend this section. After the endless rocky switchbacks, you finally reach the ridge. Again, this part of the trail is made up of a lot of loose rocks. The ridge also gets fairly narrow in some spots, so you do have to watch your step. Also, it can tend to get quite windy up here. It was at this point we had to put on our extra layers to block the wind. We also enjoyed every boulder that we could find to huddle behind to get a quick respite from the wind.
-Hey! It’s that ridge we keep seeing!-
To get an idea of how your perception of distance can be skewed… see that rock just above my head in the above picture? Well, when we finally arrived at the rock, it was about 1.5 times my height. This trail just kept going. Finally, we reached the end-point of this hike, a big rock with a plaque on it. This plaque commemorates the death of 5 climbers in 1981. A fairly somber stopping point, but the boulder dis provide some good shelter from the wind.
-Plaque of the top of the Copper Spur Trail-
We got lucky to have such a clear day for this hike, as the views were absolutely incredible. We even caught a few glimpses of Mt. St. Helens to the north.
-Mt. St. Helens in the distance.
The return trip was back the way we came… back down the endless rocky switchbacks. Somehow the hike down didn’t seem to take nearly as long as the hike up. Perhaps it was due to the promise of a beer and some good food?
-Heading back down…-
Total time for the hike: A little over 4 hours.
Total distance: 7.8 miles round trip (3.9 miles up, 3.9 miles back).
Beginning Elevation: 6,660’
Highest Elevation: 8,515’
The Beer:
It took about an hour and 15 minutes to travel back from the cloud cap campground back to Government Camp. We had to stop at the Timberline Lodge along the way. This lodge was built in the 1930’s as part of the Federal Works Project Administration during the Great Depression. It also served as the facade for the exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel from the movie ‘The Shining’.
-Timberline Lodge-
Of course, when we found a bar on the second level of the lodge, we had to belly up and get a beer. We chose a couple of beers brewed right down the road at Mt. Hood Brewing Company, just to make sure we still wanted to visit the brewery (ha).
Mt. Hood Brewing Company is located right at the western intersection of Government Camp Loop Road and HWY 26; you literally can’t miss it. It’s a brewpub, with a very interesting food menu. We chose the Pub Poutine and the MHBC wings.. because nothing helps you recover better from a hike than fries, gravy, and hot wings. The food wasn’t your typical hot wings and poutine though… the poutine was made with a peppercorn demi glace and fontina cheese, and the wings were served with a sweet chili apricot sauce. Very tasty indeed.
As for the beer, we went with a tasting, which gave us a sample of all the beers they had on tap at the time (which happened to be 14… which made me a happy hiker). If I remember correctly, one of our favorites was the fresh hop kellerbier… a very refreshing, citrusy lager to recover from our hike up Mt. Hood. All the other beers we tasty as well. If you’re in the Mt. Hood area, and are a craft beer drinker, you’d be missing out if you skipped this place.
-Our Glorious tasting tray at Mt. Hood Brewing-
