Rambling Mt Hood’s southeast

I read that Badger Creek Wilderness (just east of Hwy 35) was a prime early season hike as the snow melts early. For 4 days, 3 nights, I rambled around Mt. Hood’s southeast side, camping at USFS Nottingham Campground all nights. When the trip was planned, colder weather, melting snow and bugs were expected; the weather flipped – temperatures were above 90 Mon / Tue and high 80s Wed / Thur. Routes were modified to stay off of exposed ridges and keeping to creeks and forests on those hot days. Oregon’s green tunnel came in handy!

Wildflowers were amazing everywhere – flowers.

Six tracks were recorded, but they can be summarized into the following hikes / day:

• Monday : Gumjuwac Saddle Exploration + Tamanawas Falls
• Tuesday : Elk Meadows from Tamanawas Falls & the Falls too
• Wednesday : Surveyor’s Ridge & Cooks Meadows + Lookout Mountain
• Thursday : Elk Meadows via Newton Creek Trail to Timberline Trail (not shown below)

Nottingham Campground

Nottingham CG is right off of Hwy 35, but just far enough that road noise is minimum further back in CG. My site, #18, is among 4-5 great sites, 15-19. All are right on East Fork Hood River, level and some shade – camp chair is on river bank.

First couple nights, the campground was 1/3 full and the last night there were 4 of us after a squatter was asked to leave (and did). Only downside for Nottingham was that driving was required to get to a trailhead; the silver lining, no drive was longer than 5 miles, and I had 2-3 trailheads left to explore at week’s end. I recommend Nottingham CG for expeditions (base camp), but not a CG to hang out in.

Gumjuwac Saddle

The first hike started a bit later after driving from PDX early am. Gumjuwac Trail is a MTB ‘DOWN!’ and a hard slug up on foot. 3 miles of steep incline to the saddle but from there 4 trails branch out: Lookout Mt, Badger Creek, Divide and Gunsite Butte Trails. I tried them all, but 2 were complete busts!

At the saddle, a forest road and informational sign. Roads and signs were common on the east side of Hwy 35.

Badger Creek and Divide were unmaintained … for years! I went as far as I could before blowdown frustration hit and I turned around.

Gunsite Butte is an interesting trail until one walks it. I was expecting more exposed views to Mt Hood to the west, but alas … I found only 1 or two.

Lookout Mountain meadows were spectacular with wildflowers blooming and at one odd turn, a good view of Mt St. Helens.

The trail up to Lookout Mountain was completely exposed but I went most of way to top until fatigue and heat turned me around. Coming back down Gumjuwac the first day (I hiked it 2x), I met the only hiker on the trails the entire week (excluding Timberline and Tam Falls). For completeness, I hiked Tamanawas Falls Trail after this to get cool.

Elk Meadows and Tamanawas Falls

Tamanawas Falls Trail is the busiest trail in the area. Oddly, it’s a tough (and medium risk) 2 mile 1-way hike, and people were doing it barefoot and in flip-flops – scared me. I hiked the Falls trail basically 2x – first just to the falls and back, and second with the Elk Meadows trail included.

Elk Meadows trail from Tam Falls is a wonderful forest walk. The flowers were just amazing, and most of the walk is within ‘hearing’ of the creek above Tam Falls. Originally, I was going to return on Bluegrass Ridge, but that trail was messed up by recent fire and I received advice to avoid Bluegrass – so I returned via same Elk Meadows Tr.

At the Elk Meadows shelter a party of 3 campers held the best view. The meadows were blooming big.

I walked around the entire Elk Meadows perimeter and never saw even an elk hoof print.

Surveyors Ridge, Cook Meadows and Lookout Mountain

Zig Zag trail is the TH that goes from Hwy 35 to Surveyors Ridge. Zig Zag is named for its switchbacks – the entire way up the ridge – I was beat at the top. Luckily, Surveyors Ridge and Cook Meadows trails were the cleanest and fastest trails of the week – they are all MTB trails primarily. I cruised Cooks Meadows to Lookout Mountain rd and turned around. I then drove back down to Gumjuwac and walked up Lookout Mt.

Along Surveyors Ridge was a weird, weird surprise … the city of The Dalles watershed. The city claimed the Dog River watershed for ‘itself’ and then built a pipeline to carry the water in the 1880s! They are replacing the pipeline (what a surprise) so for 1/2 this hike chainsaws were blaring in the background, and 0 animals. Every time the trail neared a forest road, those big yellow signs popped up everywhere, and gates across roads. I guess water is valuable.

Newton Creek to Timberline Trail

Newton Creek trail is not far from Elk Meadows trailhead and a 1 hour walk up the ridge to Timberline Trail. This was my favorite and most surprising hike of the week – a separate post.

Data Geek Corner

• Carbon Karma: 7.5 hours driving = 23.5 hours hiking objective
  • Actual: 31.5 hours moving
  • Bank: +8 hours
• Hike start times: Mon = 6:30, Tue = 5:00, Wed = 5:30, Thu = 5:00
• Length: 80.87 miles
• Elevation gain: high
• Pace: each trail different
• Weather: Sunny – very hot! around 90 3 of 4 days
• Description: fast hikes with full fast-day hike gear kit. Trail conditions ranged from terrible to MTB highway