12 miles of hiking • 3000' elevation gain •
Got a chance to free up Tuesday and went to Mt Hood, to beat the heat and try to reach Paradise Park from Twin Bridges campground.
The trail was in good shape up to about 4300', then blowdown and snow started so I went straight up. There was not much snow overall, 1-2 feet deep before 5000' elevation (ridges are already melting out), then about 3-5 feet above that, and just below the Park there were some impressive 10+ ft deep drifts that will last long time. Got to the first real views at 5800'; if I had extra hour would go to see Split Rock - but didn't want to deal with blowdown and snow bridges in the dark on the way back. About 7.5 hours up & down. That's a long and nondescript trail to get there, but the Park and close-up views of the mountain make it totally worth it. I wouldn't try heading over Zigzag Canyon anytime soon, a lot of snow there & Zigzag River was running really strong near trailhead.
