15 min
Overview
Around 1780, Mount Hood, having been asleep for about 1,000 years, began an eruptive period that lasted about a decade. Crater Rock is the remnant of the lava dome created during this explosive time. Pyroclastic flows and lahars buried the White River and Sandy River valleys, and then stream action began to carve channels again. When Lewis and Clark passed the mouth of the Sandy River in November 1805 and again six months later, they remarked on the vast fan of deposits that spewed out into the Columbia, naming the watercourse the Quicksand River. On the slopes of the mountain, the effects of the Old Maid Eruptions were, of course, much more pronounced. The little nature trail at the Lost Creek Campground details this period in Mount Hood's geologic history. The trail was created by volunteers in 1972 and shaded benches are strategically placed. Interpretive signs inform about the Old Maid events, and you can still see the remains of trees buried by the lahars and then exposed again. Walk past a sign for Fishing Access and the Beaver Pond Viewing Area. Pass an interpretive panel that welcomes you to the woods. The paved trail keeps on the bluff above Lost Creek, which runs along the foot of Zigzag Mountain under a canopy of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western red-cedar. Pass a trail leading left to the campground loop road. After you cross a footbridge over a wide gully, you'll reach a junction to begin the loop. Go right and pass the first of several spurs leading to the creek. Notice the nesting boxes pegged to conifers. A spur leads right to a viewing deck. Look upstream and you’ll see an Old Maid Snag, the remains of a tree that was once snapped off and buried by pyroclastic flows from the Old Maid Eruptions in 1781-1782 and has now been exposed by stream action. Back at the junction, another trail, marked “Fishing,” leads right along a boardwalk through a thicket of salmonberries in a red alder bottom. You’ll reach a viewing platform near the confluence with a tributary creek. A sign here informs
Trail Stats
1.0 km
3 m
718 m
0 m
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Photos
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