Where to go in the NW - August 20 +/-

[jdavis]

I may have a chance to escape Portland around August 20th - and want to find some alpine scenery to hike in. Looking for a good campsite to establish base camp, with easy access to 5-8 mile hikes in and above treeline.

Will the wildflowers have already peaked?

Where should I go ? (within a 4 hour drive from Portland.)

- Jack

[Donald Qualls]

Four hours from Portland ought to get you to Mt. Rainier (two hours to Olympia, another two to the mountain), and it's hard to find better alpine conditions anywhere in the western USA. There are established campgrounds well up on the mountain, and hikes can run up to glaciers within the 5-8 miles you specify. I'm not familiar with the mountain in detail -- lived in sight of it for more than twenty years, and never got any closer than I-5 running through Tacoma and Olympia -- but there's lots of information on the web. Start a Mapquest from "Concrete, WA" and you'll pretty easily be able to find what you're after, location-wise, and then the Park Service should have web sites.

Something a little closer would be around Mt. Saint Helens (about two hours from downtown Portland), elevations a lot lower but lots of spectacular views (though the best views of the mountain are, I think, *still* restricted areas, especially since it's been rumbling and spitting again of late).

The other alternative (assuming Mt. Hood is passe, being within sight of your own fair city) would be the Bend area, near Seven Sisters, which has a lot of nice hiking and camping, but I doubt you could get there in 4 hours -- last time I drove from Bend to Portland it took me most of six.

[Frank Petronio]

Naw, I used to drive it all the time, only four hours Portland to Bend unless you stop to photograph. Who does that?

[Brian Ellis]

"The other alternative (assuming Mt. Hood is passe, being within sight of your own fair city) would be the Bend area, near Seven Sisters, which has a lot of nice hiking and camping, but I doubt you could get there in 4 hours -- last time I drove from Bend to Portland it took me most of six."

This would normally be very nice but there have been some recent forest fires in that general area. Most of the fires are contained now but there's still a lot of smoke and of course fire damage in some areas. While you've got almost two weeks before your trip, I'd still check with the forest service about local conditions before making the drive.

[Kirk Keyes]

near Seven Sisters,

Unless you saw something on the news that I missed recently, I think there are only Three Sisters, not seven... Still a really pretty place.

Look up Proxy Falls for near Three Sisters, or Ramona Falls on Mt. Hood.

[Christopher Perez]

... or how about Silver Falls State Park just outside of Salem?

[chris jordan]

The Goat Rocks Wilderness south of Mt. Rainier is an amazing place for flowers. It got the brunt of the Mt. St. Helens ash, which killed the whole place for awhile, but the ash is super fertile, and so when the flowers came back they went nuts. There is an area there called Snowgrass Flats that I have heard has the thickest population of wildflowers of anywhere on earth. There's a great loop hike, 2 nights, starting at a place called Berry Patch. You hike to snowgrass flats, then up the Pacific Crest Trail to an amazing viewpoint where you can sit in a high alpine saddle and see Rainier to the north and Adams to the south; then you head west to Goat Lake and a spectacular flower-covered hillside that has Mt Adams in the background. From there's it's an easy hike back to the car. I've done this hike several times and it's sublime.

[Saulius]

Everyone's given you some good suggestions. Another outstanding place if your willing to drive a little farther is the Eagle Cap Wilderness/Wallowa Mountains. I don't recall for certain but I think it was about a 6 hour drive from Portland. Double check the mileage. Check out these web links for more info. It is nicknamed little Switzerland for a reason. And depending how much time you have you could also do a side trip to the Snake River Canyon.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/w-w/recreation/wilderness/ecwild.shtml
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_wilderness_area/or_eagle.htm

[Saulius]

One more idea is the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. It's within you driving time frame and one particular hike you may still find wildflowers and outstanding scenery is called Jefferson Park.
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/or/ww_portland4.htm