Hiking time: 436 minutes and 27.35 seconds, or 7 hours and 16 minutes. Trailhead was on U.S. 35 on the east side of Mt. Hood at 2,750 feet, and the destination at 5,000 feet was at the end of the Lamberson Butte Spur Trail. Access to the spur trail was along the Elk Meadows Trail at 2 miles from the trailhead. The spur trail itself according to the sign was 3 miles long. Out and back thus would have been 10 miles.

But I took an originally unplanned side trip to famous Tamanowas Falls. The extra two miles came from that side trip. Upon return, uphills added 200 feet, for a total elevation gain of 2,450 feet. Total hiking distance: about 12 miles. If I hadn't taken this side-trip and only went to the end of the Lamberson Butte Spur Trail and returned by the same route, the trip would have been 10 miles and only 2,250 feet of elevation gain.

However, I missed a cutoff back to where I parked the car about one mile from the car and went off in the opposite direction, and was shocked by how much climbing I had to do. I was even more shocked when the creek I was hiking along (East Fork Hood River) crossed over to U.S. 35 on a bridge I did not cross at the beginning of the hike! The parking lot looked similar but my car wasn't there! I talked to someone who had just arrived and he pointed out that I was two miles from where my car was parked, and he offered to drive me back. This was embarrassing, but I took him up on it. Otherwise I would have had to hike along U.S. 35 which would have been very hazardous and added two more miles to the hike. Aside from this debacle, it would have been the easiest 10 mile hike I'd taken this year. The extra two miles, through amazing boulder fields and negotiating steep, rocky steps, provided me with aching feet, actually just my left foot for some reason.

It turns out Tamanowas Falls itself wasn't that impressive, but the boulder fields leading up to it were amazing and I photographed them extensively. The view at the end of the spur trail provided a glimpse of the spectacular crevasses and ice falls on Eliot Glacier, the largest glacier in Oregon, and I was able to capture them it with my 75-300mm lens. Decades ago, I'd visited Tamanowas Falls, and I did not at all remember the trip through the boulder fields.

Took 213 photos of which 111 made the cut.