Hiking time: 291 minutes and 9.19 seconds, or 4 hours and 51 minutes. I idiotically forgot my hat and so I had to cut this hike short to avoid roasting my head in the sun. But I got on the trail about 7:55 so I had a couple hours of grace time before the sun would start incinerating me. It was warm right from the start and so I wore a short sleeve shirt from the beginning. At 10:30 I applied sun screen, including on the back half of my head, and insect repellent in the same areas and this time I wasn't eaten alive by black flies even though they were out looking for blood. They couldn't find mine, thank God. They did on my Paradise Park hike and caused a lot of suffering. The sun screen and insect repellent apparently wicked forward in my hair and drained down in my sweat into my eyes, because my eyes were periodically burning as the sweat drained into my eyes, but I survived because I kept wiping my eyes dry with my hand and that provided periodic relief. When I got home, I found my forehead and the top of my head sunburned, but the back of my head was not. And the black flies didn't find a single target on my body.

This hike initially descends 1,000 feet, from 5,900 to 4,900 feet elevation, with about 200 feet of uphill, for a total descent and climb of 1,200 feet. Round trip distance was a measly 3.4 miles. But the almost 5 hours hiking time in this short distance is an indication of the incredible scenery of the SSE side of Mt. Hood along the way. Took 135 photos of which an amazing 97 made the cut.

The trail climbs from the first parking lot to an overlook at the Salmon River headwaters, then descends on the Timberline/Pacific Crest Trail to a crossing in a steep canyon looking up at Mt. Hood. It then climbs out of the canyon to a ridge overlooking the awesome White River Canyon and descends that ridge to an elevation of about 5,500 feet where the Timberline Trail splits off to the left from the Pacific Crest Trail. The Timberline Trail then descends to 4,900 feet to one of several rushing tributaries of the White River which about 15 years ago was a single river with a strong wooden bridge crossing it. Then a massive flood burst out of the White River Glacier and tore away the bridge never to see the light of day again, making the crossing of the White River a major problem of negotiation and blocking (for me) one of the most spectacular hikes I ever went on. It is up a long, flat ridge, and did it several times, including once with my youngest son, David, when he was in his late teens. Now it looks as if in late summer I might be able to cross the first tributary and get back up on that ridge. I'll be trying at the end of August or early September. Today, the first tributary encountered basically blocked the way and was my turnaround point.