Snow Hiking at Mt. Hood

Growing up with sunshine all the time and never seeing snow until I was 18, let's just say I don't really know much about snow activities. But I know how to hike and research before to figure it out.

Snowshoeing is such a blast! Here's a little secret tho, we did even use snowshoes.

Hiking at Trillium Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest

It's so much fun playing in the snow. It got even better when we walked out onto a frozen lake and saw clear views of Mt. Hood across the way.

We built a snowman, made snow angels, and threw snowballs. We went clockwise around the trail and accessed the lake by the boat ramp. It's about a 2-mile hike, but you can choose to do the entire loop or an out and back.

The View

Driving in, it was totally cloudy, and Mt. Hood was hidden. Even at the start of our hike, we couldn't see the mountain. We didn't even know that it could be seen clearly from the parking lot. As we were hiking, it was behind us, and then when we got to the lake, BAM, it was so clear. It was just a breathtaking surprise.

The Details

First, I did a general web search for different hiking options around Mt. Hood. Once I found a few trails I liked, I used AllTrails to look at the hike reviews. The reviews of the trail were really helpful. Those reviews give me an idea of the conditions of the trail and what to expect. For example, the reviews said that snowshoe/spikes were not needed at Trillium Lake, and the snow on the trail was hard and packed down enough for regular hiking shoes.

We checked the roads before we drove out there and made sure it didn't snow the day before. Personally, I am not comfortable with driving in the snow, so we wouldn't go if there was so.

We needed a snow-park pass for the day, and it was $4 for the day. We had to get it at a local store before arriving, and there was a ranger checking for passes. We got there around 10am, and the parking lot was half full, but by the time we were finished, it was completely full, around 1:30pm.