Oregon
Hiking Mt. Hood and Cascade Mountain Lakes
Program No. 4895RJ
With experts, hike the scenic trails of Mt. Hood and the Cascade Mountains at your pace, discovering hidden waterfalls and lakes and the National Historic Landmark Timberline Lodge.
Participant Reviews
Based on 17 Reviews
SHOWING
Hiking Mt. Hood was everything I expected and more! It was a wonderful opportunity to explore a part of the country I had never visited before. Todd and his team and the staff at the Albert L. Collins Retreat Center went out of their way to ensure we had a good experience. As always with Road Scholar trips, the participants were an interesting group of people that I enjoyed spending time with.
— Review left October 13, 2025
This was a wonderful week of challenging hikes in a variety of natural areas, grounded with a relaxing stay in a retreat center and enhanced with engaging presentations.
— Review left September 27, 2025
Mt. Hood is a pretty area with beautiful hikes. I enjoyed all the hikes. The rooms have a musty. smell. The food is outstanding and they try their hardest to meet everyone needs at the retreat.
— Review left July 5, 2024
Beautiful scenery and great hikes. A very good experience, but be prepared for some strenuous hikes. We averaged over seven miles a day, with many elevation changes, over our five days.
— Review left July 4, 2024
The scenery on this hiking trip is fantastic!
— Review left June 30, 2024
Excellent hiking experience with variety of terrain, beautiful scenery, fabulous meals, knowledgeable guides.
— Review left October 1, 2023
A nice variety of gorgeous hiking trails, great food and lodging. Guides and lodging staff all go above and beyond. We got lucky and had sunny, warm days without a drop of rain. My recent hiking trips with Road Scholar used the listening devices which I really like. This hiking trip did not. Other than that it was 5 stars all the way!
— Review left August 12, 2023
Would highly recommend! Memorable experience! Todd was the best hiking guide ever! Great diversity of hikes, along rivers, along creeks, around lakes with fantastic views of Mt Hood, plus a visit to Timberline Lodge as well as to the local "ski" town, Government Camp.
— Review left October 6, 2022
Delightful, well-managed hiking experience on beautiful and sometimes demanding terrain. Participants encouraged to pace themselves according to their respective interests and levels of fitness.
— Review left July 4, 2022
As my first hiking adventure with Road Scholar, this experience was fabulous and challenging!
The hikes included views of old growth forests and mountain ridge lines, reflective lakes and rushing rivers and falls.A delight for one’s eyes and spirit! Top-notched team leaders shared their wealth of information about the region with witty stories and vivid, memorable descriptions of flora, fauna, geology, and history. They reached beyond the standard European-American narrative to give better insight into indigenous cultures and the impact of human development upon the region. Their experienced hiker tips were priceless!
I appreciated the Choose Your Pace option. It served as a good introduction to Pacific Northwest terrain/weather and encouragement to try hikes I might not have done solo. Loved the small group experience! And the delicious meals! When packing for this trip, good to follow the “Additional suggestions specific to this program” for items essential to outdoor adventures in the Pacific NW. I'm ready for more Road Scholar adventures!
— Review left October 10, 2021
It is a good experience, but this program is a hike. It is not a walk in the park.
— Review left October 9, 2021
Overall, a well organized and challenging program. The 3 guides planned our activities each day in response to weather, etc. Meals were extraordinary. Each day had a short, medium and long hiking option. Pick your poison. Lodge was pretty basic and remote but roomy and comfortable. Our 5 days of hiking visited 5 different topographical zones - river side, easy forest, waterfalls, uphill climb. We also visited a historical site on the Oregon trail as well as Timberline Lodge. Transportation was comfortable - 3 vans for 20 participants.
— Review left October 5, 2021
If you like hiking in a huge group all bunched up this might be the trip for you. Unfortunately, I like to enjoy hiking with a room between myself and others. Some days we spread out but most days the hikes were managed so we were on top of each other. This trip was promoted as small group hikes but if you chose to do the longer hikes we usually had 15 plus people. There was also no mention in the trip description that we would spend so much time travelling to trail heads – a couple of days it was a 3 hours round trip which was disappointing. Most trips with this much driving disclose it so you know what to expect. The food at Collins conference center was outstanding and the kitchen staff was awesome. The views from Tom, Dick and Harry were amazing…probably the best views of any hike I’ve ever taken…and that is saying a lot. Views of 5 snow covered peaks surrounded us. Oregon is a beautiful and I look forward to coming back to the state. Ken, the trip leader was knowledgeable but could be condescending which got old. The other staff members (Nancy and Barb) were a delight.
— Review left October 7, 2019
This program has it all: amazing location, great food which exceeded my expectations in many ways, lovely location of the retreat center (you can actually hike around the retreat center), interesting and challenging hikes with different scenery every day, helpful guides, and overall wonderful educational experience. The last Trillium Lake hike was a real treat.
— Review left July 4, 2019
Excellent program. What really helped was 3 guides instead of the usual two. The head guide Ken just needs to remember that not all of us are camels and need more water than he does but it wasn't a big problem. Excellent food! The variety of hikes and the different pace for slower hikers was a good idea. The guides were really diligent and caring especially during a freak hail storm when one inconsiderate hiker took off on her own and they needed to look for her. They were ready to call out search and rescue. Beautiful scenery in the rain forests and all the water falls and lakes. A real Northwest adventure!
— Review left July 1, 2019
Good balance of hikes for all levels. Stunningly beautiful scenery. My favorite was the old growth forest walk.
— Review left June 30, 2019
Our first Road Scholar trip exceeded all expectations!
— Review left June 29, 2019