RAMONA FALLS

WHERE:     From Portland take highway 26 east to Zig Zag where you will take a left onto Lolo Pass Road right next to the Zig Zag general store.  Follow to Forest Road 1825 where you take a right then make sure to stay on the left when it splits with Lost Creek road:  The signs for Ramona Falls where pretty distinguishing so there should not be much problem finding it.

THE TRAIL:     The trail can be a four mile loop to Ramona Falls and back or you can make an eleven mile loop going over Bald Mountain via part of the Pacific Crest Trail.  The eastern portion of the longer loop has many downed trees which has caused the forest service to discontinue maintenance of the trail but it is passable.  The trails are marked well at every intersection however.  I did this hike in late April of 2003 so there is snow to deal with at a certain elevation like everywhere else in the Cascades.  Here that elevation was around 3200 feet where the forest floor is well spotted.  At 3600 feet the snow is everywhere.  The trailhead is at about 2500 feet and Ramona Falls is at 3500 feet.  I decided not to bring snowshoes and I didn't really need them getting to the falls whereas they wouldn't have done any good where the snow got deep and the very steep.

The first two miles go through relatively stunted forest without too many large trees on the southern half of the loop.  You have to make one river crossing across a couple logs about 200 feet down from a sign pointing you to "human bridge" before entering Mount Hood Wilderness Area.  Ramona Falls itself was worth the hike.  The falls flow over a wide backdrop of rocks almost like a large steps leading up to a cathedral.  From Ramona Falls I climbed to about 4000 feet where the trail began to cut into a crossable area of the Sandy River which consists largely of runoff from the Sandy glacier on the west side of Mount Hood.  There are some nice views of Mt. Baldy and the Sandy River Valley along the southside of the Sandy Valley.  Due to the steep mountain side on the south, the snow level is very high and and there is a bit of a snow slide or mini-avalanche danger.  You also need to be careful of the many creeks that run underneath the snow.  It got a little scary crossing over narrow ravines on top of five feet of snow when the snow went up to my knee crossing these creeks. You have to make sure to angle your feet with each step.  Every time I started to slide on snow that was 10 feet above the rocks beneath, which can be followed by a slide to the valley 800 feet below, my heart skipped a beat so I soon turned back.  If you continue on past this point during the summer you will reach an often hazardous creek crossing at Muddy Fork of the Sandy River.