Crossing Oregon felt like a welcome postponement. We celebrate with my favorite hamburger near the camp with a hamburger with cheese, french fries and a shake.
Image source: «Cascade Locks Burger Joint», August 2025.
In our last morning in the city, we share breakfast with Wampire, our hiking partner from White Pass, near the bridge of the gods. We saw the backpackers cross their next state, the moment quickly giving way to bitter farewells. With heavier packages, complete bellies and lighter hearts, Neapolitan and I started our gradual journey outside the Cascade locks. Rested and ready, we left along the charming Eagle Creek Trail, eager to enter the exuberant green tunnel that is coming.
Image source: «Rock Staircase to Trail», August 2025.
Image source: «Eagle Creek Trail», August 2025.
The first camp
The path began along a paved road, crossing a concrete tunnel before climbing a rock mountain path that rolled next to rivers and waterfalls in waterfall. In spite of the 2017 fire scars, the landscape was vibrant and live with wild flowers, moss and imposing green.
Image source: «Paved Road to Falls», August 2025.
We camped next night next to the river, cooling in its icy current after the valley was baked in heat of 93 degrees all day. The sweat has in my hands and moistened my neck, legs and back while the sun went out. It was clear that we would need to start early in the next few days if we expected to overcome heat.
Image source: «Campisite by the River», August 2025.
Walking on the Falls
We planned to get up before dawn, but after a restless night of the heat, we were not on the road until 8 in the morning of that night, we had a minimum of 70 degrees, so our bodies felt that they were boiling before we even left the camp. The valley was calm, the path was rolled on the slope of the mountain, and my thoughts injured with him. Despite being surrounded by water, it was already overheated.
Image source: «Twisting Falls», August 2025.
Image source: «Falls up the River», August 2025.
At 9 in the morning, hikers gathered in the iconic waterfall for photos, but their beauty was still surprised. The moss and vegetation raised the walls of the canyon, and the dew of the falls cooled my skin when we passed through the cave behind it. We will continue, we continue, knowing that the climb steep by the cannon still expected.
Image source: «Tunnel Falls», August 2025.
At 10 in the morning, sweat soaked my clothes. We hid in our store among burned trees, watching up the thermometer. Napolitan said he reached 103 degrees at one point. He had manipulated the rain for the shadow, but the heat was relentless. That night, under a nebulous sky and with the aroma of a forest fire in the air, we reviewed the prognosis: another week of extreme temperatures. I met my body. Walking through that heat would mean risking heat exhaustion or other urinary infection. Then, we did a plan: Timberline Lodge night hiking.
Image source: «Campsite Burn Burn», August 2025.
Climb to Timberline Lodge
The last section of Timberline was painted with strawberry red and views of Mount Hood. It was a festive weekend, so the path was full of hikers and backpackers. We start early, seeing the first spill of light on the horizon, stopping to enjoy Ramona Falls before starting the steep and implacable rise by the slope, the change after the change.
Image source: «Ramona Falls», August 2025.
Image source: «Sunrise Through the trees», August 2025.
Image source: «ABOVE EAGLE Creek Trail», August 2025.
While we ascend, I asked me: if many of us are here looking for the same beauty, what does it mean for these wild places while shrinking? How do we balance the desire to share them with the need to protect them? The questions remained with each step.
Image source: «Twisting The Forest Trail», August 2025.
At the end of the afternoon, we stopped for a fast nap, then we advanced, camping only 5.5 miles from the shelter. Napolitan had made an 8 am reservation for the famous Buffet Breakfast of Timberline, an incentive too good to get lost. Despite the rise and smoked mist of a fire in the east of Oregon, Mount Hood received us with a clear and sunny day. We arrive at Timberline with thirty minutes left over, stunned when thinking about real food and a full position.
Image source: «Morning Hike to the Lodge», August 2025.
Image source: «Timberline Lodge», August 2025.
Image source: «Mt. Hood», August 2025.
Learnings / inspiring appointments
Joy is not to reach the destination, but in the experience of getting there.
Image source: «Electrical lines and trails», August 2025.
Statistics in the desert:
Temperature range: 57 ° -103 °
Ascent: 12,445.8 feet (248.9/mile)
Descent: 6,727 feet (134.54/mile)
General location: cascade locks, or Timberline Lodge, or
Who am I on Earth? Learn why it is important to respect the land in which we travel.
This website contains affiliate links, which means that the walk can receive a percentage of any product or service that you buy using the links in the items or ads. The buyer pays the same price that would do it differently, and his purchase helps to support the continuous objective of the walk to address his quality backpack advice and information. Thanks for your support!
For more information, visit the page about this site.
