Mt Hood

Sept 9 Wednesday Today we set out on the Mt Hood Scenic Loop. We dropped out of Fairview after a brief stop at my favorite store, Lowes and headed east on Route 26. Mt Hood is always visible and beautiful with it's snow covered cap. I've always wanted to come ski at Mt Hood even if I never get to ski here, I have seen it and it is marvelous.

 We had to turn around and go back to see the "Largest Bear in the World" He is a metal skeleton that the owners are covering in ivy.

 Beside the Bear was a wood carver. Sasquatch!

 Our next stop was for gas at the base of the mountain in Government Camp. This town once housed the workers who built Timberline Lodge and the road to it. Now it is a tony little ski town. From Government Camp we caught the road up to Timberline Lodge. This historic structure was built during the depression and opened by Franklin Roosevelt at the dedication.

view down from the mountain

 Inside the lodge. The lodge was also the setting of the movie "The Shining."

 The workers who built the lodge received 90 cents a day and the man who hewed out the massive support columns about four feet round and thirty feet high to support the ceiling, received $25 a column.

View off the back deck.

Mt Jefferson to the South of Hood. Not sure what the other peak is.

View from the Meadows Ski Resort parking lot.

 Leaving the Meadows I turned onto Cloud Cap Road which leads to Cloud Cap Inn. The road was recently reopened after a wildfire back in 2012. The road was beautiful and interesting driving through the devastation of the forest fire and seeing how nature recovers.

Looking back on Mt. Adams to the right. I believe that is Rainier on the left.

 We had a flat tire going up the road and we were able to pull over and get it changed out.

My torque wrench and lug nut buster.

Hood

 Cloud Cap Inn was built in 1889 and has operated on and off as a hotel and jumping off point for adventures on Mt. Hood. Today it is home to a search and rescue service and closed. The road we drove up was built using Chinese labor and took several years to build.

Adams

Going back down the mountain.

We left Cloud Cap and made several stops at the road side fruit stands before zooming home on I-84.