Mount Hood as seen from Timberline
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Mount Hood Volcano
-- Geographic Setting, Geologic and Eruptive History
Snow-clad Mount Hood dominates the Cascade
skyline from the Portland metropolitan area
to the wheat fields of Wasco and Sherman Counties. The
mountain contributes valuable water, scenic, and
recreational resources that help sustain the
agricultural and tourist segments of the economies of
surrounding cities and counties. Mount Hood is also
one of the major volcanoes of the Cascade Range,
having erupted repeatedly for hundreds of thousands of
years, most recently during two episodes in the past
1,500 years. The last episode ended shortly before the
arrival of Lewis and Clark in 1805.
-- Excerpt from:
Scott, et.al., 1997
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Geologic History of Mount Hood Volcano, Oregon -- A Field-Trip Guidebook
Native American legends abound with descriptions of the brothers Wy'east (Hood)
and Pahto (Adams) battling for the fair La-wa-la-clough (st. Helens). Behaviors
attributed to Wy'east (as paraphrased from Harris' (1988) summary of Native
American lore) include hurtling of hot rocks from gaping holes, sending forth
streams of liquid fire, loss of formerly high summits, and choking of valleys
with rocks. These are fair descriptions of Mount Hood's reconstructed activity
over the past two millennia.
-- Scott, et.al., 1997
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Crater Rock Lava Dome
Nestled in the crater of Oregon's majestic Mount Hood volcano is Crater Rock,
a prominent feature known to thousands of skiers, climbers, and tourists who
journey each year to the famous Timberline Lodge located high on the volcano's south
flank. Crater Rock stands about 100 meters above the sloping crater floor and
warm fumaroles along its base emit sulfur gases and a faint steam plume that is
sometimes visible from the lodge. What most visitors do not know, however, is that
Crater Rock is a volcanic lava dome only 200 years old.
-- Excerpt from: Brantley and Scott, 1993
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Glaciers
Twelve glaciers and named snowfields cover approximately 80 percent of the
cone above the 2,100-meter level (6,800 feet) and
contain about 350 million cubic meters (450 million cubic yards) of ice.
Most of the glaciers have remained roughly
constant in size over the last few decades, after retreating from a
neo-glacial maximum early in the 18th century.
-- Excerpt from: Swanson, et.al., 1989
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Panorama Point County Park
Panorama Point overlook of Cascade Range, Mount Hood, and Hood River Valley.
-- Excerpt from: Scott, et.al., 1997
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Portland, Oregon
For the general public, Mount Hood is perhaps the most accessible and preeminent of
Oregon's volcanoes, located only 75 kilometers (45 miles)
east-southeast of Portland, Oregon.
-- Excerpt from: David R. Sherrod, 1990
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River Drainages
Much of the south slope of Mount Hood is a broad, relatively
smooth fan that slopes down to the area around Government Camp
and is bounded on the east by the White and Salmon River valleys.
The White River flows southward and southeastward through
a virtually uninhabited region for many tens of kilometers and
joins the Deschutes River, a tributary of the Columbia. The
Salmon River takes a long circuitous course southwesterly,
then northwesterly, through uninhabited country and finally joins the
Sandy River. The west side of the fan is bounded by the Zigzag River,
which, with its tributaries, drains the southwest slope of
Mount Hood. The Zigzag River flows westward to join the
Sandy River near the community of Zigzag. The Sandy heads on
the west side of the volcano and flows westerly and northwesterly
to its confluence with the Columbia River at Troutdale. The
north and east sides of the volcano are drained by
tributaries of the Hood River, which joins the Columbia at the city of Hood
River. The largest concentration of population near Mount Hood
is situated along the floors of the Zigzag and Sandy river valleys.
These valley floors will be endangered by future eruptions
that produce floods and mudflows on the west and south slopes of
Mount Hood.
-- Excerpt from: Crandell, 1980
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Thermal Areas and Activity
Present thermal activity at Mount Hood is in fumarole fields near Crater Rock,
at the apex of a semi-circular zone of fumaroles and hydrothermally-altered,
heated ground.
-- Excerpt from: Swanson, et.al., 1989
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For the general public, Mount Hood is perhaps the most accessible and
preeminent of Oregon's volcanoes, located only 75 kilometers east-southeast of
Portland, Oregon. It is the highest peak in the state
(3,426 meters [11,239 feet]) and one of
the most often climbed peaks in the Pacific Northwest. In summer, Mount Hood's
timberline wilderness is a pastoral garden for backpackers. In winter and
spring the volcano's slopes host several downhill ski runs and cross-country
tracks.
U. S. Highway 26 crosses the south flank of Mount Hood, and Oregon Highway 35
meets it along the east side. Numerous paved or graded roads provide further
access. A hiking trail encircles the volcano, much of which is protected within
the Mount Hood Wilderness, part of the Mount Hood National Forest.
-- Excerpt from:
Sherrod, 1990, IN:
Wood and Kienle, 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada:
Cambridge University Press, 354p.
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[Map,20K,InlineGIF]
Major West Coast Volcanoes - Washington, Oregon, and California
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[Map,22K,InlineGIF]
Mount Hood and Vicinity, Portland, Oregon,
and Vancouver, Washington
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[Map,25K,InlineGIF]
Mount Hood and Vicinity
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Mount Hood National Forest
-- Link courtesy U. S. Forest Service
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Climbing Mount Hood
-- Link courtesy U. S. Forest Service
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