8/29/21 Cooper Spur hike on Mt. Hood. This almost didn't happen, and there are a couple side stories which I will share for those interested. Or just scroll to the pictures, because it's really all about the views anyway.

I've lived in Oregon since '98 but until last year never hiked up any of the volcanos. And I like volcanos. So last year I finally climbed Mt. St. Helens, going to the rim of the crater. That was quite a hike and took a lot out of me. Not sure why I didn't do a blog post about that honestly.

While climbing I saw Mt. Hood in the distance and thought it might be cool to do that one too.

Two months later I flew next to Hood with a friend in his airplane. Looks more intimidating than the St. Helens climb - maybe because it still has its top.

And in fact climbing to the summit is no easy task. It requires training, preparation and generally more effort than I can dedicate at the moment. But, there is a day hike up Cooper Spur, that goes just to the base of the top cone. It's along the ridge in the airplane picture above and stops about the middle of the glacier.

Still a significant hike but somewhat easier than St. Helens and very doable in a day. A total of 7.1 miles roundtrip, 2,680 ft elevation gain peaking at 8,500 ft. So I put it on the bucket list.

Fast forward to now. The summer is almost over and we finally have a perfect weekend - 75F, clear sky, light breeze. Won't get many more of these.

The downside is that I have lots of work to do, and haven't been feeling too well lately. The folk remedy is 'walk it off' - well, might as well make it a good walk. I was going to do it yesterday, but was really not feeling it. So went to the beach instead, then did two conflicting things. One, I bought the forest pass which is needed for the hike. Two, I washed my car. The hike is accessed by 8 miles of dirt road, so totally counter productive.

Overnight I had very cool apocalyptic dreams. I get those occasionally, and they are vivid, elaborate, and I remember them the next day. Not nightmares really, but very immersive. This one was the best yet, with Hollywood level effects and all that. I watched chunks of coastline drop hundreds of feet and giant walls of water rush in to fill the void. I watched a ripple travel down the side of a mountain and felt the earth drop when it got to me, with full-on 'falling in your dream' realism. Yep, I'm going to hike up a volcano.

In the morning I got a late start and almost canceled, but then - let's just do this. It's a 2 hour drive from Portland, mostly owing to the fact that the last section is slow going on a pretty gnarly dirt/gravel/sand/boulder road. There was a fire several years ago and most of the trees are dead, making for an eerie landscape.

The Mazda did great, but I'm definitely going to have to wash it again.

At the trailhead there is a cool old lodge. The destination looks far away - just to the left of the base of top cone. But I'm here, I'm doing this.

There are a couple trails one can take - one along the ridge that is fairly steep but has better views, and one that zigsags up the flatter part in countless switchbacks. I ended up taking the ridge on the way up and the switchbacks on the way down. Worked out well.

The views change as I go up. This is definitely less steep than St. Helens and the views are less diverse, but still amazing. The other difference is that at least on the ridge trail you can see the destination pretty much the entire time. That's not the case at all on St. Helens, where you get some vague peeks of the summit and then suddenly WHAM, you're looking into the crater. This is much more gradual.

Arriving at this point, 3 hours into it, there is a bit further I could go. But the path looks precarious, I'm a bit wobbly, and I tell myself I should save something for next time. Whatever the lame excuse, discretion triumphs over valor and I decide to head back down. Only takes 1.5 hours, half the time it took to go up.

From my St. Helens experience I learned that poles are essential, so I got some for this hike. They make a huge difference. Much more surefooted going up, and can go much faster going down because I can catch any missteps with the poles. Put weight on them hundreds of times. Worked well.

On the way down, a few more pics and then retracing the dirt road drive down to pavement.

So, after 23 years living just 50 miles away I finally hiked up the volcano. And no apocalypse. Yet.

A good day. Despite drinking four liters of water and eating five zone bars, I'm 4 lbs lighter than I was this morning. I'm pretty sure I'm feeling better too, although quite tired. Tomorrow will tell.