Cooper Spur "Attempt"

Sometimes plans don't go the way you expect.  The best-laid plans of mice and men sometimes go for naught.   But that's how life in general works doesn't it?  It was no different for our planned run up to Cooper Spur this morning.  Initially I was worried we wouldn't make the climb from 6000' at the trailhead to 8500' at the Cooper Spur summit due to snow.  July is a sketchy time of year to make this climb snow-free.  Not to mention the night before there was potential snow moving through at a level of 8000'.  Was it going to be snow covered and freezing Saturday morning?

Stefanie and I left my house at 8AM and planned for the worst.  We had multiple layers of clothing.  I had my trusty Moeben zebra arm sleeves.  Stephanie even had gloves and I had a head wrap just in case.  On our way to Mount Hood it was chilly and cloudy even up to 2000'.  How cold was it going to be at 6000'.  Or 8500'?  Somewhere around Government Camp (4000'?) we broke above the clouds and found ourselves under gorgeous clear blue skies.  So much for our extra layers.  We wouldn't be needing those.

We did manage to get lost on our way to the trailhead and took a 10 mile or so detour.  We finally found the correct road and before long were met with a "road closed" gate.  Seriously!  That road led up to Cloud Camp at 6000' and the start of our run. We talked to some hikers who had the same plans and had to make alternate arrangements. Fortunately we found ourselves in a parking lot at a different trailhead.  From this location we could make our way up to the Cooper Spur trail at least.  From here it was about 4.5 miles up to the Cooper Spur/Timberline Trial/Tilly Jane junction.  A run all the way to Cooper Spur summit would have been around 13 or 14 miles and we weren't prepared for that.  Our alternate course would provide a bit less altitude training than I planned but it wasn't long into our run when we started sucking wind.  Our altitude at the start was roughly 4500' and our newly planned high point would put us around 6600'.

The run up was definitely a hike in many planes.  Some sections were quite steep after about .75 miles.  I was trying out my new Saucony Shoes with Virbram outsoles and they were doing their job quite well.  About 2 miles in we saw the area burned by the Gnarl Ridge Fire of 2008 (it ultimately burned a over 3000 acres and was caused by lightning).  We passed some sets of hikers and kept climbing.

Our climbing had a brief break at around 3.3 miles when we passed through the Tilly Jane Camp area and past several cabins that were all spared from the 2008 fire.  This section of trail would bring us up above the tree line and to the Cooper Spur trail junction.  We passed a few very small snow piles and the sun was heating us up.  It was amazing to still see sections of snow when we were baking in the late morning sun.  The biggest snow section we crossed was some 100-200 meters long and wide, as well as several feet deep in places.  It was packed well and easy to cross.  On the other side we quickly found ourselves on a dusty and hot dirt trail again.

We ran into a woman who was hiking down here.  She said she went up early to take a nap and decompress from the week.  With those views it sure is a great place to decompress!  Around the time we encountered her we also broke above the tree line and to try and describe the panoramic views we saw could only fall short.  We could literally see for at least 100 miles as evidenced by Mt. Rainier off in the distance.  Yes, Mt. Rainier is near Seattle!  We also had great views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Saint Helens and the vast wild landscape blanketing the East side of Mt. Hood.

4.6ish miles later we landed at the Cooper Spur shelter.  This would be our turn around point and our lungs would thank us.  We spent a little time here taking pictures and having a snack before bombing back down the side of the mountain.  Our 2500' or so drop from the Cooper Spur Shelter back to the car only took us about 48 minutes.  We were flying - especially considering the many trees we had to jump and snow to cross. 

Finishing felt great and it was a truly amazing day on Mt. Hood.  When it was all over it had all the elements of an epic trail run and the type of runs I love best - mountains with amazing views, challenging up and downhills, warm sunshine, and gorgeous single track - as well as a river, historic shelters and close up views of Mt. Hood glaciers that few every see.  What more could I ask for?  Invigorating indeed.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

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Comments

[Stuart]

Nice job, looks like you're in really good shape for Tahoe!

[Amy]

that looks fantastic! I'll definitely be checking that out later this summer. You're such an inspiration!

[Dave Tragethon]

Hi Jessica. Would you mind if we linked your journey to our web site - cooperspur.com?
We'd like to share it with those interested in coming to the area.
Thanks!
Dave Tragethon
Cooper Spur Mt. Resort

[David Parker]

Hi Jessica, great story and pictures. The area is gorgeous. Keep up the good work.

[runningtwig]

Those are some amazing pictures!

[Juls]

Love the pictures. It looks amazing.