On our second full day in Mount Hood, we chose to do a little bit longer of a hike which would afford us spectacular views of Mount Hood and four of the mightly neighboring peaks. The hike which is called “Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain via Mirror Lake” is a nine-mile out and back trail that starts off at the achingly stunning Mirror Lake and ends with a breathtaking vista of Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson in Oregon and Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, and Mount St. Helens in Washington State. It is the perfect hike to do in fall when the light is ephemeral with the changing colors of the leaves reflecting upon perfectly named Mirror Lake.

We set off for the trailhead around ten o’clock so we could time the hike with a picnic lunch on top. The weather was not nearly as perfect as it was on our hike to Bald Mountain from Lolo Pass the day before with its serendipitous deep blue skies and golden sunshine, yet it was still lovely in its own right despite the overcast skies.

As we entered the forest, it felt like out of a fairytale it was so magical. The tall trees gracefully pillared high above our heads, occasionally letting rays of light caste a mystical haze over the dirt path below our feet. Since it was a Monday there were not many fellow hikers on the trail and it was rather serene.

After a short hike through the forest, you reach the first vista of the absolutely breathtaking Mirror Lake. At first glance, it is no wonder why they chose the name for the lake as the reflection of Mount Hood even on a cloudy, overcast day, was sublime and the fall foliage had just began to do its magic.

After hiking around the lake, the path takes you up the Tom, Dick and Harry Trail to the summit. It took us about two hours from the start of the trailhead to reach the summit for lunch. We only passed a few people along the way and the views on top were exceptional.

While we ate our lunch, I tried to capture some of the neighboring summits in a video. I can only imagine what this view must look like when the trees are covered in snow.

It took us a little under two hours to make it back down to the parking lot. All in all, the nine-mile hike took roughly four hours with a lunch break and lots of stops to take photos.

We arrived back at our cabin for a relaxing night before heading off to Crater Lake National Park the next day. Little did I know, we were in for an amazing surprise!

If you go:

We found a ton of amazing day hikes on AllTrails.com. With only two full days, we felt we picked two of the very best medium length hikes, Hike to Bald Mountain via Lolo Pass and this one. Visiting the historic Timberline Lodge to either hike above it, dine there for a meal or simply just check it out is a must. The architecture is pretty amazing and I wish we would have gone back to eat in its dining room.

At Mount Hood, we picked the tiny town of Rhododendron to base our stay and found a truly magical  place on Airbnb called the “Little House on the Mountain”, a beautiful custom built, one-of-kind cabin. It was magnificent! For eating, we unfortunately did not have a lot of luck since it was in-between seasons. Therefore we chose to enjoy eating in our little cabin nestled against the woods. Finally, when researching this blog post I did a few google searches to narrow down what hikes to do and found this blog post to be one of the best resources. Thank you Oregon is for Adventure for the help!

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