Rooster Rock - Table Rock Wilderness

Looking east with Mt. Jefferson shrouded in clouds. 

Rock Spire 

Looking South

Rooster rock is in the Table Rock Wilderness adjacent to the Molalla River Corridor. The wilderness is administered by the BLM and comprises of a large rock formation with trails to Table Rock and Rooster Rock. Rooster Rock is a rock formation which has multiple rock spires. It looks like there are some good places to climb if one can place proper protection. Rooter Rock boasts views of Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, Three Finger Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters on a clear day. 

Bagby Hot Springs

Hot Springs Fork, Collawash 

New tub open air area in bathhouse

Anyone who has explored the natural bounty of Western Oregon has heard of or visited Bagby Hot Springs. Located just to the north of the Bull of the Woods Wilderness and 40 miles out of Estacada, Bagby is a good day trip from Portland. From the parking lot it is a well maintained 1.5 miles to the hot springs. The hot springs has a bathhouse with some semi-private tubs and a lower deck with 4 open air tubs which were rebuilt last winter. There is also a tub a little further downstream on its own. It is a great place to go and enjoy the waters. 

Open air area with new tubs 

Private area in bathhouse with old tub

Hamilton Mountain

Hardy Falls from trail 

Rodney Falls

Hamilton Mt. from trail

Ok, so Hamilton Mountain is on the Washington side of the Gorge but it is a good hike anyway. The mountain sits just to the north Beacon Rock near the Bonneville Dam. Beacon Rock is a 848 ft monolith which has a trail to the top. Hamilton Mount is 2450 ft at the summit and there are two paths to the top. The trails are labelled "difficult" and "more difficult." There are also a couple of waterfalls on the lower half of the hike. The more difficult route is shorter but much steeper and the whole hike gains about 2100 ft in elevation. 

View from summit looking east.

View near summit looking west.

Maxwell Butte

Mt. View Trail

Three Finger Jack 

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

 The Maxwell Butte Sno-Park is on the Western side of Santiam Pass in the Willamette National Forest. It has extensive trails for snowshoeing and x-country skiing. From the Sno-Park you can travel to Mt. View Shelter which on a clear day has views of the tip of Mt. Jefferson, Three Finger Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters. 

Mt. View Shelter

Angel's Rest

Angel's Rest 

Looking South on Rock Spine 

View to the north of Angel's Rest

I haven't posted for a while because I haven't been playing outside.  Here are some photos of Angel's Rest which I took some time ago. For those who are not familiar with Angel's Rest, it is a rock outcropping west of Multnomah Falls in the Gorge. It is a relatively short hike about 2.5 miles each way a gives a panoramic view of the western end of the Gorge.

Cooper Spur

Eliot Glacier Ice Fall

Cooper Spur is on the northeast side of Mt. Hood. For a long time it was the standard route to the summit. You can climb from the Cloud Cap Inn directly to the summit. It is the most direct route but more dangerous and difficult than the south side route. I climbed it in early October before any snow fall. I went up past tie-in rock to about 8600'. You can see the crevasses in the Eliot Glacier.

Mt. Hood from Cooper Spur Trail

Looking back at Cooper Spur from above, Tie-in Rock is directly in front of the spur.

Crevasses in Eliot Glacier

Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

Marion Lake

Temple Lake

Last weekend I went camping at Temple Lake in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. Temple Lake is southwest of Mt. Jefferson and near Marion Lake. The weather was excellent, just the right temperature and clear. The area has experienced two large wildfires in the last decade, the B & B fire in 2003 and the Puzzle fire in 2006. We climbed to the top of Marion Mountain and had a beautiful panoramic view from Mt. Jefferson to Three Fingered Jack.  The gray areas of trees are the burned areas.

Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson