Backpacking near Portland OR?

June 9, 2008 6:28 PM

What are some great backpacking trips (2-4 days, up to say 30 miles) with a 5-hour drive of Portland, OR? Loops preferred, but out-and-back is OK.
posted by gottabefunky to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

The Silver Lake/Twin Lakes trail (out-and-back) is beautiful. Brief description here (you can get more with a free trial to Trails.com)
posted by googly at 6:57 PM on June 9, 2008

I did a free trial to trails.com and liked it so much I signed up for the pay site. A lot of it is reprinted stuff from books, but in a better format, searchable, and what you want when you want it. I would have easily spent much more than the trails.com fee if I had bought all the books containing the hikes I've gone on that I found on the site. Also you can download a lot of the data to your GPS, which is another advantage over books. Sorry that this doesn't exactly answer your question, but I really like trails.com, and would be surprised if you couldn't find a lot there.
posted by tractorfeed at 7:54 PM on June 9, 2008

It's a pity you're limiting yourself to a 5 hour drive, because there are a gazillion gorgeous hikes like you want in the Three Sisters Wilderness and Jefferson Wilderness.

The local hard-core hiker/climber club in this area is the Mazamas. (They take their name from Mt. Mazama, which blew up ten thousand years ago and became Crater Lake.) This page has a lot of free maps in PDF format.
posted by Class Goat at 9:13 PM on June 9, 2008

There's a loop around Mount Hood that you can pick up at Timberline Lodge. Part of it on on the PCT. It's about 45 miles around and a beautiful trip. If you want, you can do half of the loop and get out at Cloud Cap Campground half way around the mountain on the east side.

Or, you could drive down to Rouge River for a 40 mile hike, but it's a very easy 40 miles; following the river, it's all downhill. Of course, it isn't a loop, but it's a great hike. Start here with the rafters near Galice Oregon, and you meet up with your ride here at Foster Bar. The trail should be on any Forest Service map. There are a few lodges on the way, lots of campsites, and a nice river to refresh in after every day of hiking.
posted by pwb503 at 9:14 PM on June 9, 2008

The thing about that loop on Mt. Hood is that it's at 6,000 feet altitude. Hiking at that altitude can be quite a trial, especially if you're not used to it.
posted by Class Goat at 10:43 PM on June 9, 2008

I should also mention that it's a lot of up and down and up and down as you have to deal with all the creeks and ravines along the way. It's beautiful though, worth the trouble.
posted by pwb503 at 11:08 PM on June 9, 2008

Gifford Pinchot and Mt. St. Helens (pdf) have more trails than you can cover, and Lost Lake on the other side (er, east side, forgive my portland-centric-ness) of Mt. Hood is beautiful, albeit with campgrounds around part of the lake, so maybe not as secluded.

here are a few sites that list trails around Mt. Hood, too. If you want a quick forest walk within the city proper, check out Forest Park or Tryon Creek State Park, which have numerous easy trails and are big enough to temporarily forget you're still in the city.
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 9:48 AM on June 10, 2008