Spectacular hike on south side of Mt. Hood, from Timberline Lodge to an overlook onto the White River Glacier. The the last quarter of the gallery contains lots of close-up views into the glacier, documenting the amazing and surprising formations of crevasses and seracs on the relatively small White River Glacier.

The White River Glacier Overlook is on a ridge between the Salmon River bordering its west side and the White River bordering its east side. Both rivers run from the north to the south, with the Salmon River being slight when it comes out of the glacier and the White River being crossed only with difficulty where it is accessible to hikers deep within the White River canyon.

The trail starts from Timberline Lodge on the Timberline Trail running east at 5,900 feet and then after about 1/5 of a mile comes to the beginning of an unnamed trail that runs up the ridge to the left. The "ridge" is actually a maze of intersecting "sub-ridges" that run up towards the summit of Mt. Hood and the trail weaves in and out of this maze, always below the ridge lines until about 7,300 feet when all the ridges come together for spectacular views down the east side to the heavily crevassed White River Glacier. I continued past this convergence, climbing a total of 2,300 feet (with all the ups and downs) from 5,800 feet elevation to 8,000 feet elevation in 6 hours, 30 minutes, and 56 seconds. The route is about 3.6 miles (7.2. miles round trip) on an unofficial trail that climbs very steeply in spots up a ridge which on its upper reaches provides views into the White River Glacier. The last time I hiked up this ridge was 2014 08 (Aug) 28, but I only hiked to about 7,750 feet, avoiding the steepest part of the climb, and that hike was 5 hours and 9 minutes.

Overlooking the glacier it was extremely windy and the wind carried stinging volcanic dust. I was periodically volcanic-sand blasted. I think that's the first time that ever happened to me. That's hard to believe, however, since I've hiked on Mt. Hood so many times in a strong wind. But you know what happens to an old person's memory.

The climb to my turnaround point took 4 hours 29 minutes, and 18 seconds. My return hike took 2 hours, 1 minute, and 37 seconds. I was practically running down the sandy, loose volcanic ash from ancient eruptions. By the time I got down to about 7,000 feet, I'd lost the trail! So I was forced to walk the ridge lines after all, but that was fun and presented an interesting challenge, working out the best route switching from one sub-ridge to another, until I ran into the trail again at 6,200 feet.

Saw and photographed a Yellow-Bellied Marmot. Beautiful animal. Near completing the hike, I was shocked to fall down on the trail TWICE. The first time I slipped on deep volcanic dust while hiking down the trail. Very surprising, because on the way back I was almost running down much steeper stuff through volcanic dust and didn't have any trouble. My balance was evidently quite unsteady after hiking almost 6 hours. The second time, I was simply standing next to the Salmon River, trying to take a picture, and just a few hundred feet from the car when I suddenly lost my balance and fell down AGAIN! Very embarrassing. Nothing damaged, even though I fell on my camera, both times. Soft, volcanic dust saved the day. But my bare legs got filthy.

I could never do hikes like this at my age (just two weeks short of 73 years) without my daily jog: 4 miles, six days in a row, followed by a day of rest.

Started hiking at 7:40 AM. Milestones:
1. 3:00:25 hiking time o'clock: Climbed to 7,200 feet elevation from Timberline Lodge which is at 5,800 feet. Rested, ate lunch, and applied sunscreen at 11:00 AM.
2. 3:35::47 o'clock (35 minutes and 21.94 seconds from previous milestone): resumed hiking up the ridge after rest.
3. 4:29:18 o'clock (53 minutes and 37.38 seconds from previous milestone): Reached my furthest point on the ridge, which was at an ele