Mount Hood National Forest

The Mount Hood National Forest is located 62 miles east of the city of Portland, Oregon, and the northern Willamette River valley. The Forest extends south from the Columbia River Gorge across more than 60 miles of forested mountains, lakes and streams to the Olallie Scenic Area, a high lake basin under the slopes of Mount Jefferson. The Forest encompasses some 1,067,043 acres.


Mount Hood National Forest was first established as the Bull Run Forest Reserve in 1892. It was merged with part of Cascade National Forest on July 1, 1908 and named Oregon National Forest. The name was changed again to Mount Hood National Forest in 1924. In 2010, Mount Hood National Forest was honored with its own quarter under the America the Beautiful Quarters program.

The Mount Hood National Forest is one of the most-visited National Forests in the United States, with over four million visitors annually. Less than five percent of the visitors camp in the forest. The forest contains 170 developed recreation sites, including Timberline Lodge, Trillium Lake, Mirror Lake.

Trillium Lake is a lake situated 7.5 miles southwest of Mount Hood in Oregon. It is formed by a dam at the headwaters of Mud Creek, tributary to the Salmon River. It was created by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1960. It's a great place to fish, camp and kayak and offers a 2 mile easy hike that loops the lake.


Located just an hour from Portland, the Mirror Lake area is one of the premier recreation areas in the Mount Hood region, offers stunning views of Mount Hood with dazzling lake reflections of Mount Hood's peak rising above the lake. Surrounding Mirror Lake are dramatic ridges and peaks, including Tom, Dick, and Harry Peak, which allows views of the peaks from Mount Rainier to Three Sisters on clear days. The area is one of the largest remaining unprotected forests surrounding Mount Hood.

Timberline Lodge is built in the late 1930s, the National Historic Landmark sits at an elevation of 5,960 feet, within the Mount Hood National Forest and is accessible through the Mount Hood Scenic Byway located in Oregon. The lodge was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. Workers used large timbers and local stone, and placed intricately carved decorative elements throughout the building. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Lodge on September 28, 1937.

Timberline Lodge Facts:
- Visited by more than 1.9 million visitors a year, second only to Multnomah Falls as a true tourism attraction.
- The Lodge and its 71 rooms are located midway on a chairlift system that ranges from 5,000 to 8,500 feet in elevation.
- The trail system totals 32 trails with its longest winter run reaching nearly 3 miles.