This trail starts in the sno-park off of Highway 35, near Mt Hood Meadows. A sno-park permit is required in the winter months. This is a very popular trail for snowshoeing and cross country skiing. It is an old abandoned road that has a mild elevation trail on it. The first part is protected by tall trees but can get very icy. You may want to bring microspikes. You can go quite a ways on the trail and connect up with other trails farther on.

Activity Notes

Distance  8-10 miles with 1,500 to 2,000 feet of climbing.

For those tired skiing the out-and-back on Bennett pass, this is a challenging variant which turns it into a loop tour. We start out with an exciting and often difficult drop down to Pocket Creek on the  Pocket Creek Tie trail. After surviving that we have a couple miles of pleasant road touring on a flat road at the base of Bennett ridge. Eventually though we run out of room and take the totally inappropriately named “Fat Lady Trail” up 1,000 feet of climbing until we hit Bennett ridge trail . Then it gets exciting as we cross the famed “Terrible Traverse”, S-curves, slog uphill and finally  a gentle  downhill finish to the sno-park.   

This tour has a mix of road and trail skiing. Good fitness is required and  intermediate level turning for trail sections  and S-curves. Please do not sign up for this tour if you do not meet these requirements.

 

Other Information
Driving Distance from Portland 115 miles
Distance - Round Trip 5 miles
Expected Duration Car to car in one day
Awards Qualified Mt. Hood Award, Wild Ones
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