Mount Hood Trail Loop Hike
From Portland Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Ellis Street Trailhead
- End point:Powell Butte Summit Orchard
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 2.0 miles
- Elevation gain: 340 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: year-round
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
Contents |
Hike Description
The Mount Hoop Trail Loop Hike doesn't go around Mount Hood. It's not on Mt Hood and to be honest, there's only one brief view of Mt Hood. The Mount Hood Trail is one of several trails on Powell Butte that have rather careless names. The Mount Hood trail ascends the west slope of the butte mostly in the forest. This hike is a nice urban getaway with some great summit views.
Enter the park at the Ellis Street Trailhead. Walk straight ahead for a hundred feet or so to a marked trail junction. Turn left on the Blacktail Deer Trail and uphill toward the north. After about 2/10 of a mile, you'll come to another trail junction, this time with the Mount Hood Trail. Turn right and steeper uphill toward the summit. You'll pass evidence of November 2006 storms in the form of recently cleared blowdown. (observed 2006-11-01) Toward the top, the trail leaves the heavy forest for a lighter forest of Hawthorn. There are a couple of abandoned trails here, but the way is always clear. At the top you'll reach a junction with the Goldfinch Trail. Turn right and then turn left at the Orchard Loop Trail a few feet farther.
There's an old orchard at the summit of Powell Butte. There are a few picnic tables and a fun set of arrows pointing out all of visible mountains.
When you're done at the summit backtrack to the Goldfinch Trail and go back to the Mt Hood Trail junction. Just north of this is a junction with the Elderberry Trail. Follow the Elderberry Trail west down the hill to a complicated trail junction in a tight little valley next to an intermittent stream. Turn left here and you'll be on the Cedar Grove Trail, even though the signs marking it have disappeared. In 0.2 miles, you'll be back to the lower end of the Mt. Hood Trail. Continue south and head back to your car the way you came.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
Regulations or restrictions, etc
- None
Trip Reports
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Guidebooks that cover this hike
More Links
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Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)