October 1, 2023
On this gorgeous fall day we headed up to Chinidere and Tomlike Mountains in the Mt. Hood Wilderness.
Although we intended to get an early start, we did not. There were four cars when we arrived at the trailhead at 9:55 and it was 46 degrees.
We descended the stairs down to Wahtum Lake:
We could see Chinidere Mountain above the lake:
Mushroom:
We turned left and headed north on the PCT:
We left the PCT and crossed the lakes outlet on a raft of logs:
Then we switchbacked up the hill on the Chinidere Cutoff Trail. There’s an old pipe along the trail here:
Gentian:
We were now briefly back on the PCT, then we turned right to head up to Chinidere. This very old sign is being swallowed by a tree:
Approaching the summit:
Made it! There’s a mighty fine view of Mt. Hood up here:
Other volcanoes are also visible. Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams:
Mt. St. Helens:
Mt. Rainier:
Mt. Adams:
Mt. Defiance:
Indian Mountain to the south:
Well this is depressing. This is the view to the west looking over the huge area burned in the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire:
Burned area to the north:
Wahtum Lake:
There used to be a fire lookout up here and there are still old wire cable remnants:
We had a nice picnic up here:
There was a cheeky golden-mantled ground squirrel hanging around begging for food. He was persistent so I was able to get a lot of photos:
After our break on Chinidere we headed down and started making our way over to Tomlike Mountain. There was some blowdown to deal with:
Looking down on Mud Lake, the headwaters of East Fork Herman Crek:
There is no official trail up to Tomlike Mountain, but there is a well-defined user trail, which was easy to follow:
It is a bit overgrown in spots, but we never lost the trail. We could often see Tomlike Mountain ahead of us:
There was one tricky part where we had to scramble up a pile of boulders:
Almost there:
Made it! Looking back the way we came with Mt. Hood beyond:
Looking north along the ridge of the mountain:
Looking west at Waucoma Ridge:
We took another break, stopping to enjoy the views:
The user trail continues north along the ridge for a short distance, so I followed it to where it ended:
Looking north:
Northeast, with Mt. Adams now enveloped in clouds:
Northwest:
Southwest:
West:
Looking south back to the summit:
After our break we started heading down:
Going back down the boulder hill:
Fall color already starting:
I knew the old long-abandoned West Fork Herman Creek Trail was around here and we spotted the trail tread heading downhill to the west:
Looping back to the trailhead we crossed Road 660, which is closed and gated:
Hiking the Anthill Trail back to the car:
There’s a nice viewpoint of Mt. Hood along the way, although clouds were quickly covering it up:
Looking down on Wahtum Lake:
More fall color:
Blowdown:
Nice hike on a beautiful day!
Gaia stats: 7.5 miles, 1,700′ elevation gain