How to Hike to Silcox Hut on Mt Hood

2.7 miles

1000 ft gain

Hard

Pass seasonally

The paved road that leads up Mt Hood to Timberline Lodge is a rare opportunity to reach high elevations without navigating rough and confusing forest service roads (fellow compact car owners rejoice!). Starting from the lodge, the hike to Silcox Hut will bring you higher up the mountain, reaching panoramic views from 7,000 feet of elevation. On the way, you’ll leave behind the alpine forest and enter a wild and rugged world where wildflowers grow on steep slopes of volcanic debris. Here is everything you need to know about hiking to Silcox Hut.

Palmer chairlift Mt Hood — *Palmer chairlift on Mt Hood*

Know before you go

It is free to park at Timberline Lodge from May 1st - October 31st. You don’t need a pass or permit. The parking lot closest to the lodge is for hotel guests. Use either of the two lower parking lots for day use. The parking lots fill up quickly on summer weekends. Consider arriving early.
If you visit during winter (November 1st - April 30th), you will need a Sno-Park Pass to park in the lot. You can purchase a pass on-site from Timberline Guest Services or at the Wy’East Day Lodge.
Leashed dogs are allowed on the trails. Only service animals are allowed inside Timberline Lodge.
There are indoor restrooms at Timberline Lodge.
Make sure to stay on the trails to protect the wildflowers that grow on the mountain. They are more delicate than people sometimes realize.
There is almost no shade on this hike.
Visit from around July - October to avoid snow on the trail.
You can’t go inside Silcox Hut since Timberline rents it to private parties, but the views are worth the trek.

Wildflowers Timberline Lodge — *Sulfur buckwheat blooms along the Pacific Crest Trail*

On the trail to Silcox Hut

Distance: 2.7-mile loop

Elevation gain: 1,000 feet

Difficulty: Hard

Pass required: None May 1st - October 31st. Sno-Park Pass required November 1st - April 30th.

Dog friendly: Yes, leashed dogs are welcome on the trails.

ADA access: No, not beyond Timberline Lodge.

Basic directions:

From Timberline Lodge, take one of the trails heading up the mountain and away from the lodge until you run into the Pacific Crest Trail (about 0.1 miles).
Take a right on the Pacific Crest Trail and follow it until you reach the junction with the Mountaineer Trail.
Take a left on the Mountaineer Trail and continue until you reach Silcox Hut.
Head past the chairlifts and take the Mountaineer Trail back down the mountain.
Take a left onto the Pacific Crest Trail and follow it back to Timberline Lodge.

Detailed directions:

There is a confusing network of trails around Timberline Lodge. So confusing that I redid the beginning of this hike to make sure I gave you the right directions after making an unplanned detour. I know I’m not the only one who gets turned around since people ask me for directions whenever I’m near the lodge (more fools they, my sense of direction is so bad that scientists should take note). Anyway, if I made it, you can, and while it’s easy to get slightly lost at the beginning, you can’t get very lost since you can see both your starting point and your destination for most of the hike.

From Timberline Lodge, you’ll need to find the Pacific Crest Trail. There is a paved road on the east side of the lodge or several unpaved trails starting from behind it. All head uphill and intersect with the Pacific Crest Trail. When you reach the Pacific Crest Trail, take a right.

*A sign marks where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the paved road near Timberline Lodge*

Follow the Pacific Crest Trail east. You’ll cross a small gully and head toward a grove of pines. Look for wildflowers along the trail like lupines, asters, and sulfur buckwheat. Once you get away from the lodge, the crowd thins out. When I visited on a beautiful Saturday, it was hard to get a parking spot and there were tons of people around the lodge. Once I started the hike, I had long stretches of solitude.

*Follow the Pacific Crest Trail east of Timberline Lodge*

Keep going on the Pacific Crest Trail until you reach the trail junction with the Mountaineer Trail, which will be marked with a wooden sign. An arrow on the sign points the way to Silcox Hut. You’ll see multiple unofficial trails before you reach the junction. Go ahead and ignore these. The main trail is the most straightforward and will limit the impact on the wildflowers.

*Trail junction for the Pacific Crest Trail and the Mountaineer Trail*

Once you reach the sign at the trail junction, consider making a short detour to see the headwaters of the Salmon River before heading up to the hut. To get to the river, just continue 0.2 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, then return to the trail junction after admiring its views.

*If you continue on the Pacific Crest Trail, you’ll reach the headwaters of the Salmon River*

Back at the trail junction, follow the sign pointing you to Silcox Hut, which will take you up the Mountaineer Trail. From here, the hike becomes a lot more straightforward.

*An old water tower on the way to Silcox Hut*

You’ll pass an old water tower and then the trail will meet up with a wide, unpaved access road that leads to Silcox Hut. You’ll also leave behind the last of the trees and it is a sunny, dusty march up the hill.

*Lupines bloom next to the access road leading to Silcox Hut*

Looking back downhill from the access road, you’ll see pine-covered Cascade foothills, Mt Jefferson, and the Three Sisters on a clear day. On the hazy day I was hiking, only the foothills were visible, and just barely. Look for Timberline Lodge looking tiny in the distance and Trillium Lake to the south of it.

As you walk up the access road, you’ll be able to see Silcox Hut, the Magic Mile and Palmer chairlifts, and the summit of Mt Hood. It will seem like you are almost to the hut and yet somehow not getting any closer. This hike is a good one to take your time on, both to admire the views and to catch your breath. The elevation makes the air feel thin if, like me, you live near sea level. The terrain varies only by the degree of steepness.

*Lupines and buckwheat blooms along the trail*

The scenery above the tree line is an odd and somewhat uncomfortable mix of forbidding austerity and delicate beauty. Tiny wildflowers of many colors bloom on the gray rubble of pyroclastic flow material. Honeybees visit the lupines, sulfur buckwheat, yarrow, and asters that surround boulders of rough andesite. In the distance, you’ll see glaciers and the domes formed by volcanic eruptions of the not-so-distant past. On the most pleasant summer day, the unshaded dusty trail bakes in the sun while the high-elevation wind blows cold.

Despite having plenty of food, water, sunscreen, and free time on a short hike where it is impossible to seriously lost, part of me couldn’t wait to get back down. Instinct, I suppose, for lack of a better word. It was telling perhaps that despite the trouble I had finding a parking spot in Timerbline’s several large lots, I saw no one else walking up that hill. I did meet a climber on his way back from the summit. He told me his brother almost died from a falling rock and that he would never return. I reassured myself that my destination was much less ambitious.

*The contours of the Cascade foothills were indistinct on a hazy day*

Keep trekking up the hill for close to a mile and you will reach the hut. For me, it happened about the same moment I gave up on ever getting there. You can’t go inside the hut since Timberline rents it out for private parties, but you see its rustic lodge-style exterior and can take in views from its vantage point near 7,000 feet of elevation. Constructed in 1939, Silcox Hut used to be a warming hut for skiers and mountain climbers as well as the terminus of the Magic Mile. The chairlift has since been rebuilt in a slightly different location, but the hut remains. After falling into disrepair, efforts by the Friends of Silcox Hut restored it and brought it new life in the 1980s and 1990s.

After admiring Silcox Hut, head toward the chairlifts. Here you’ll see many refreshed-looking people being deposited. One tries not to compare. Like at Timberline, most people stayed close to the chairlifts and the crowds disappeared as soon as I started back down the mountain.

*The Palmer chairlift brings skiers and snowboarders up the mountain*

Take the trail from Silcox Hut past the chairlift buildings. In late July there was still a small patch of snow to walk through on the way. The first building you’ll pass is the top of the Magic Mile, which is as far as you can go on a lift as a hiker. The second building is the entrance to the Palmer chairlift, which brings skiers and snowboarders higher up the mountain during summer. Watch for the end of a ski run near the chairlifts.

You’ll see a wide gravel road heading down the mountain under the Magic Mile Lift. You can return this way, although I suggest continuing a little farther to reach the narrower and more picturesque Mountaineer Trail to head back down. If you reach a canyon of snow, don’t cross it, you’ve gone too far. Look for the trail a little before the canyon.

*Look for this trail to head back down the mountain*

Expect a steep descent coming down the Mountaineer Trail similar to the way up. The trail is narrow and there are some rocks to negotiate but nothing too intense. You’ll be looking out onto the Cascades to the south, including Mt Jefferson and the Three Sisters. The first few tortured trunks of whitebark pines appear about halfway down the trail. Wildflowers become taller and more plentiful as you go.

On my way down, I noticed a curious cloud formation above the mountain that I suspect is related to its volcanic activity. Mt Hood has some vents near its summit called fumaroles that release steam and volcanic gases. I’ve heard climbers say that they smelled sulfur from these vents when they were near the top of the mountain. Fumaroles don’t suggest an eruption, only the presence of a heat source. Although Mt Hood is Oregon’s most recently active volcano, geologists consider it dormant today. I have also seen it called, less comfortingly, “potentially active.”

Once you are back to the tree line, you are almost done with the descent. After a little under a mile down the Mountaineer Trail, you’ll reach a trail junction. Take a left to return to the Pacific Crest Trail, which will bring you back toward Timberline Lodge. A sign at the junction will point you in the right direction.

*West trail junction for the Mountaineer Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail*

The rest of the hike feels like an easy stroll with the major elevation changes behind you. You’ll even get a little shade now that you’re back in the alpine forest.

You’ll pass under the chairlift on your way back. Once you can see the lodge again, take any one of the short trails down to its patio. Admiring the mountain while sitting on an Adirondack chair feels wonderful after the hike. You might also want to stop inside one of Timberline’s restaurants for food and drink, which are pretty good, if pricey.

Timberline Lodge patio — *Patio at Timberline Lodge*

Alternate start

There is a simpler way to start this hike if you park in the overflow lot (let’s face it, the odds are good) and don’t want to stop at Timberline Lodge first. It’s not necessarily better, it’s just a faster way to get started with less navigating required. On the side of the overflow lot closest to the lodge, look for the start of a dirt road that looks like this:

This road is the same access road that takes you to Silcox Hut, you’ll just be starting from the bottom rather than meeting up with it from another trail. You’ll still have a chance to see Timberline Lodge on the way back.

*This road leads from the overflow parking lot to Silcox Hut. The old water tower is on the left.*

The Magic Mile Chairlift

If you’d like to see Silcox Hut and the views from 7000 feet but aren’t feeling the hike, you can try out the Magic Mile Sky Ride that will take you up the mountain on a chairlift. It costs $20 for people over 6 years old. Kids 6 and under are free. You can buy tickets at the office at the base of the chairlift. Operating hours can vary, but late morning through early afternoon is generally a safe bet. You can find operating hours here. Once you’re at the top, you can get off the lift and explore, but make sure you are back in time for the return trip unless you are planning to hike down.

Getting there

To reach Timberline Lodge from Portland, take Highway 26 East just past Government Camp. Turn left onto Timberline Highway and follow it up the mountain for about 5 miles until you reach the large parking area near the lodge. The drive from Portland takes about 1.5 hours.

Use chains or traction tires when driving to the lodge during winter. Lighted signs on Highway 26 will indicate when they are required.

Getting to Timberline Lodge and its trails is also possible without a car. Find details here. Plan for 2-3 hours of travel time from Portland.

Enjoy your hike to Silcox Hut!

With love,

Emma