This hike was originally called Ice Caves in Mt Hood, but I had to change the name of it since we did not get to the intended destination. Still, it was a great, long and very strenuous hike. Probably the longest I’ve done so far. We started at the Top Spur Trail up in Mt Hood climbing steadily to McNeil Point. As we climbed up the views behind us started opening but we could not see the mountain in front of us. After a short stop at McNeil, we continued our ascend to a point were we veered of the trail and started crossing sideways towards the snow fields. This part of the hike was both beautiful and difficult since we were bushwhacking all the time. We passed a meadow before climbing to the next ridge that opens the views to the upper side of the mountain and the snow fields. From that point on, we had some hard sections with loose rocks and gravel and also ice fields that we had to cross. While we were doing this portion of the hike, the weather started acting strange with fast moving clouds. We went thru periods of sun and heat and clouds and cold. We then continued thru a second ridge and a second snow field before getting close to the ice caves. Unluckily there was a third snow field and ice on the other side separating us from the cave. Since we did not have proper gear to cross and it was already getting late, we decided to turn and head back. Trying to avoid the hardest part of the bushwhack we did on our ascend; we took a different route straight to the trail crossing two ridges. From there it was just following the trail back to McNeil and then back to our cars. We did take a little detour at the end though. We did a small loop that gave us wonderful views of the mountain and the valley in front of us. All in all, this hike was excellent. Is not everyday that you get the chance to see mountains, falls, flowers, snow, ice, clouds, blue ski and meadows all at the same time!
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