7/15/2023
Section: Milepost 2104.7 to 2090.7
Total Trail Miles: 848.6
Distance: 14.91 Miles
Moving Time: 06:39 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,105 ft
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Ok, so - we got vortexed today. I have been so excited since starting out from Cascade Locks because I knew that, somewhere down the road, we were going to get the Timberline Lodge Buffet Breakfast. Little context here - some hikers believe that the buffet breakfast offered at the Timberline lodge is one of the best along the trail - and it’s endless. In all my years living in Oregon, I’d never had a meal here, much less been inside. I was stoked to give it a try with my hiker hunger. So this morning, when I woke at 5 am, I had a little extra pep in my step as we headed out.
Today’s stage wound south around the bottom of Hood, staying pretty high on its flanks. Timberline lodge is at around 6000 feet, so little elevation can be afforded. The path leads into and out of several moraines as is common with hikes around the PNW volcanoes, but eventually leads under some of the higher lifts and down to the lodge. From the lodge, the path drops way down, over 2000 feet to the more normal cascade elevation while heading south. Eventually it crosses highway 35, and then it continues south towards Bird Butte and Twin lakes, where the day draws to a close.
We were on our way by 6 today. I had made a reservation for 9 am at Timberline lodge and didn’t want to miss it, so we were motivated. The trail dropped from our camping spot a bit before climbing up to the lower flanks of the mountain. An hour of hiking brought us into the open, and soon we could see the lifts heading up to the glacier, with an occasional passenger riding along. This gave us hope and we quickened our pace. About half a mile from the lodge we dropped into a small moraine and out the other side, passed under the lifts and soon after the wonderful site of the lodge came into view.
Timberline lodge is beautiful, looking out on Mt. Jefferson to the south and supporting incredible views of the south side of Mt. Hood. I can’t believe I had never spent any appreciable time here, growing up in Oregon. As the lodge came into view, we gave an excited sigh and practically skipped down the access trail to the backside of the lodge. We dropped our bags with the other hikers’ bags and went into the dining room and up to the front to be seated. The host sat us close to Roadrunner and her friends. Amanda got some tea and the specialty French toast, and I ordered a light beer and decaf coffee. On the first round I got salmon, biscuits and gravy, sausage and some Honeydew Mellon. When that was over, I went back for a waffle and ordered a second beer. Finally, on the third run, I got more biscuits and gravy and some chocolate bread with whip cream. It was all so incredibly delicious - and we loved every second of it. We sat for several hours just reveling in the wonderful food, but eventually had to give up our table.
We made our way out into the common area of the lodge. The staff there is incredibly hiker friendly and there are plenty of outlets, Wi-Fi and comfy chairs. Amanda and I agreed we should give our tummy’s some time to rest, so I caught up on my blogging with a 3rd beer while Amanda did some social media-ing. It was around noon by the time we were finally ready to leave, and I had had my fill of people watching.
At 1 pm, we restarted and lethargically made our way out. Fortunately, the rest of the stage was downhill, so we could practically role. There was a good amount of blowdown that I got to watch Amanda navigate, but other than that, we made good time. We reached highway 35 and played a high stakes game of frogger with the cars going way too fast and continued on the other side. Another 2 hours brought us to the junction of Twin Lakes. I had caught Roadrunner saying it was supposed to be an excellent place to camp, so we turned off here and hiked through crowds of weekend warriors returning from a swim Saturday on our way down.
Another 30 minutes brought us down and Roadrunner waved us over. We set up near her, and Amanda and I went over to swim in the lake and clean up. We came out and Roadrunner’s friends Yeti and Raccoon from Hudson Bay showed up. Soon after, Clutch arrived. We ate by the water and Clutch shared some drama about Yogi who runs TCO in Kennedy Meadows and Jay-Go who is a trail angel in that area. Amanda had one of the first unsatisfying Good-To-Go meals which was surprising and afterward I cleaned up while Amanda went to use the pedal toilet that was available by the lake. We turned in around 8:30 pm, agreeing to be up around 5 for a much less exciting breakfast.
