32 COOPER SPUR

DISTANCE & CONFIGURATION: 6.8-mile balloon loop

DIFFICULTY: Strenuous

SCENERY: Old-growth forest, glaciers, wide panoramas, the upper reaches of Mount Hood

EXPOSURE: Mostly out in the open, with plenty of wind

TRAFFIC: Heavy on summer weekends, moderate otherwise

TRAIL SURFACE: Packed dirt, sand, rocks

HIKING TIME: 4.5 hours

ELEVATION CHANGE: 2,800'

SEASON: July–October

BEST TIME: August and September

BACKPACKING OPTIONS: One site at Cooper Spur Shelter, but access to water is tough from here. Other options along the Timberline Trail, but why not just camp at the trailhead? It’s $15 a night.

DRIVING DISTANCE: 98 miles (2 hours, 15 minutes) from Pioneer Courthouse Square

ACCESS: Northwest Forest Pass required

MAPS: Green Trails Map 462 (Mount Hood), USFS Mount Hood Wilderness, USGS Mount Hood North

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: No

FACILITIES: Outhouse and water at trailhead

CONTACT: Hood River Ranger District, 541-352-6002, www.fs.usda.gov/mthood

LOCATION: Cloud Cap Saddle Campground at the end of Cloud Cap Road, 19 miles south of Parkdale, OR

COMMENTS: No matter the forecast, bring warm clothing—weather at this altitude can change quickly. Also, Cloud Cap Road (Forest Service Road [FR] 3512) can get a little rough and tedious, but virtually all cars can handle it.

Eliot Glacier looms large from beyond Cooper Spur Shelter.

THOUGH IT’S NOT the toughest trail in this book, it is the highest—right up into the realm of the mountain climber. But while you’ll be in the world of rock and snow, you won’t wear yourself out getting here—well, not completely. You’ll also get to see the oldest buildings on Mount Hood and the results of a massive landslide and a recent forest fire.

DESCRIPTION

If you want to get way, way up there, this is your hike. In the days before Timberline Lodge and the road to it were built, Cooper Spur was the standard climbing route to Mount Hood’s 11,239-foot summit, and people still climb it that way today.

The whole area, in fact, is historically significant. Just up a hill from the trailhead, at the end of the road, is Cloud Cap Inn. Built in 1889 by two prominent Portland families as a recreation destination, it’s the oldest building on Mount Hood. The hotel venture never took off, however, and by World War II the property was given to the U.S. Forest Service. In 1956 the Crag Rats, a Hood River–based climbing and rescue organization, took it over, and they maintain it to this day. Although officially the public isn’t allowed in, if you’re nice to the folks there, they might let you pop in for a bit. The Forest Service also offers public tours on occasion.

In 2008 a forest fire swept through this area, and dramatic measures were taken to save the buildings, including wrapping them in a protective material. As you start the hike, you’ll get to see how the forest is recovering and appreciate the folks who saved the area’s historic legacy.

More history later—now for the hike. The trail starts at the far end of the campground. Take Timberline Trail #600 up and to the left, and enter a rare snow-zone, old-growth forest, where mountain hemlock and Pacific silver firs get bigger than you’d think possible in an area that usually has 10 feet of snow by the end of December. Walk 1.2 miles to reach a junction after winding through the rocks and sand; following a sign for Cooper Spur Trail #600B, turn right and uphill—and get used to the climbing.

Just a hundred yards up, back among the twisted whitebark pines on your right, sits the Cooper Spur Shelter, at the end of a small side trail. This thing has been standing for some 70 years; imagine what weather it’s been through. You can pitch a tent here or even sleep in the shelter, but you should follow a trail a minute or two beyond it to an amazing view of the Eliot Glacier. Then have a snack and keep climbing. The trail will switchback through the sand and rocks, and the glacier will gradually come into view to the right. You’ll hear it pop and rumble as it carves the side of the mountain, and if you’re lucky, especially on late-summer afternoons, you’ll see big boulders tumbling down its face.

After 2 miles of tough climbing, gaining 1,900 feet, you’ll come to the top of the ridge, where you should look for a rock with some impressive carvings. JULY 17, 1910 is engraved in the stone here, commemorating a Japanese climbing party’s ascent. Since you’ve climbed all the altitude at this point, you might as well go another 0.2 mile along the ridgetop—just be aware that this ridge is thin, rocky, and usually windswept. If it’s also snow-covered, stop here.

Just before the (permanent) snow line, you’ll come to a plaque attached to the side of what’s known as Tie-in Rock, so named because it’s here that climbers tie themselves to one another to venture out onto the glacier. Heed my warning, though: Do not, under any circumstances—short of having ropes, crampons, and relevant experience—go out onto the glacier. Be satisfied with having reached the top of your local hiking world, and relax among the sheltering rocks to take in the view.

From left to right, with Mount Hood behind you, you can see Eliot Glacier on your left; Newton Clark Glacier on your right; Gnarl Ridge at your feet; and, way off in the distance, the bare face of Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams. Lookout Mountain is on a ridge to the east. There’s a building below you and to your right, which is the top of a ski lift at Mount Hood Meadows Ski Area.

Now look up at Mount Hood. The Cooper Spur climbing route begins on the snowfield right in front of you and proceeds up through the rocks, tending slightly to your left. (As climbers like to say, it’s not as steep as it looks.) Look for a prominent rock called The Chimney, just below the summit, and Pulpit Rock more to your right. The Crag Rats say that whenever somebody falls on the Cooper Spur climbing route, they generally wind up within about 200 feet of the same falling spot at the top of Eliot Glacier.

When you’ve descended to the junction where you originally turned right, continue straight, leaving Timberline Trail #600 for Tilly Jane Trail #600A. Hike 0.6 mile and you’ll come to an overlook of a large, bare bowl on your right. That’s what was left behind by the Polallie Slide, a massive debris flow and flood in December 1980 that wiped out parts of OR 35.

A short distance on, you’ll find yourself at some old buildings. This is part of the 1,400-acre Tilly Jane Historic Area, which is immensely popular with cross-country skiers and snowshoers, who come up a 2.7-mile trail from near Cooper Spur Ski Area and spend the night here. (In fact, during winter you can rent the Tilly Jane A-Frame, which is managed by the Oregon Nordic Club, at reserveamerica.com.) And if you’re wondering about that name, Tilly Jane was the nickname of the matriarch of the Ladd family, one of the builders of Cloud Cap Inn and the former owners of what’s now the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood in Portland.

In this area you’ll also find a campground, an amphitheater that’s been there since at least the 1950s, and a 1938 guard station, managed by the Oregon Nordic Club and available for rent in the winter. A sign at the parking lot tells more about the local history.

To get back to your car, just put Mount Hood on your left and follow Tilly Jane Trail #600A for 0.5 mile back to the trailhead. You’ll find the trail over by the amphitheater, heading across the creek.

NEARBY ACTIVITIES

When you get back to OR 35, go north (left) and indulge yourself at some of the berry and fruit stands in the Hood River Valley. Some let you pick your own. See hoodriverfruitloop.com for details.

GPS TRAILHEAD COORDINATES N45° 24.141' W121° 39.297'

DIRECTIONS Take US 26 from Portland, driving 51 miles east of I-205; turn left (north) on OR 35, following signs for Hood River. Continue 17 miles on OR 35, then turn left at a sign for Cooper Spur Ski Area. (You can also take I-84 east and OR 35 south via Hood River to this spot; it’s about the same amount of time.) Drive 2.4 miles; at Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, turn left onto Cloud Cap Road, and follow another sign for Cooper Spur Ski Area. In 1.4 miles, continue straight, leaving the pavement. Go 8.3 winding miles on Cloud Cap Road (FR 3512) to a T junction, and turn right. The trailhead is 0.5 mile ahead on the right, in Cloud Cap Saddle Campground.