Yocum Ridge Hike

Overview

What's nice about Yocum Ridge is that it's so remote. There aren't any other alpine areas on Mount Hood as far away from a trailhead. The early sections of this hike are among the busiest around the mountain, but after four miles, you'll start on the Yocum Ridge Trail, and you'll enjoy some of the best solitude the region can offer! Start the hike early, and you can get Ramona Falls to yourself. Also, the early brisk air helps you up those switchbacks to Yocum Ridge. Here you'll enjoy an alpine panorama unmatched on the mountain. A couple of benches off the north side of the ridge offer campsites. Take the wide, sandy trail leading up from the southeast corner of the parking area. You will be hiking among stunted mountain hemlock, Douglas-fir, and lodgepole pine on a carpet of moss, pinemat manzanita, and reindeer lichen. Beginning in about 1780, pyroclastic flows from Mount Hood buried the Sandy River, which continues to change its course as it carves through the soft strata. Pass the first of at least three glacial river crossing signs warning about safe passage when waters are high. (There has been more than one drowning death in the area.) Come to the Sandy River-Ramona Falls Trailhead Trail Junction, and proceed past a large boulder to a stop sign, where you’ll need to fill out a free wilderness permit. Hike onward through the trees. The trail has been moved back away from the river after sections that were too close to the riverbank washed away. At 1.1 miles reach the bank of the river, and then descend to the Sandy River Crossing. A bridge is no longer provided here, so you’ll need to pick one of the logs strewn across the water or attempt a ford (see Tips for Crossing Streams). This crossing can be dangerous and is easiest from mid-summer to early fall. The trail picks up on the opposite bank and winds through an alder-colonized debris fan. Drop in and out of a gully, and head up parallel to the river in shady woods. Come to the Pacific Crest-Sandy River Trail Junction, and go left. The trail soon re

Trail Stats

Photos

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