McNeil Point and Cairn Basin

McNeil Point & Cairn Basin - 11 Miles

Summary
Distance: 11 miles
Elevation Gain: 2200
Location: Mt Hood National Forest
Attendance: Boy Scout Hike - Josh A, Sage M, Ethan V, Dylan V, and Me
Start time: hit trail at 9:45am arrived back at vehicle by 5:45pm

Directions: 
From Gresham, take Hwy 26 towards Mt Hood.
Turn Left on Lolo Pass Road...
Follow up about 4.2 miles, fork right on to Road 1825 (sorry no sign posted)
go past the bridge, the road turns to 1828 (again, no sign) follow up about 5.6 miles
fork right  onto Rd 118, road becomes unimproved and does have pot holes, for about 1.5 miles
to Top Spur Trailhead. Parking will be on the left.

Note:
If you do this hike, you will want to get there early, as parking fills up fast!! You will need a NW Parking pass to park here.

What an amazing hike! The weather was beautiful! The company was great, and the scenery was truly awe inspiring. I didnt realize how much you could see from up there. As Ethan said "Can we just live up here?" It is so amazing to see what these kids can do, and how much they appreciate this. I just hope that all of this instills great values and the love for hiking in each of them.

Our first view point

We started at the Top Spur Trail, hiked the half mile up to the intersection of the PCT and the Timberline Trail. Hiked the Timberline #600 trail up to Cairn Basin, had lunch in the beautiful meadow, then hiked up to McNeil Point. We had a great time chatting with people up the trail, at the various stop points, and when we arrived at the top of McNeil Point. It was so great!

A deer decided to stop and say Hi on the way up. We saw him to the right of the trail, stopped and watched as he got on the trail, walked up towards us, then crossed to the left and went down. wow. he was so curious.

There was this beautiful meadow on the way up, that was stunning. A campsite was tucked away behind a rock, and view was fabulous.

The view from the meadow

One of the hikers along the way was hiking barefoot. We chatted for a bit, and he explained that he was strengthening his feet. He went on to say that walking barefoot is natural, its the way we were born to walk. Josh responded with "well, we were born naked, but we dont walk around that way" Lol. He never said it mean. Just gentle conversation. I wanted to bust up laughing. Out of the mouth of babes. Lol. This same hiker expressed how we should see the Cairn basin, and have lunch in the meadow there instead of McNeil point (our original plan), and we decided to do it. Ohhhh was he right! Sooo beautiful. I couldnt take enough pics. It was gorgeous. There was a shelter up there, sooo cool, to see those.

Cairn Basin, where we had lunch, in the meadow. What a great view!

Went through an old forest fire on our way down to Cairn Basin.

It was a pretty good size forest fire. Look at the amazing green space in the middle of it.

The shelter at Cairn Basin

The fire pit in the shelter

The boys having lunch in the meadow

 The boys had stopped to play in the snow numerous times on our hike as well. It was so awesome to see them playing in the snow at the end of July. :o) They loved it.

On our way up to McNeil point, the boys had their second snow adventure

Look I'm skiing, or is it surfing? on the way to Cairn Basin.

sledding at McNeil Point.

Crossed quite a few streams, some better than others. Tried out my new water filter, on the way down. Hmm....its interesting to use. I still havent decided if I like it. I bought the Sawyer bags and filter, and tried to refill my camelback with it. That wasnt an easy task.

This was on the Cairn Basin trail, one of the bigger ones we crossed.

 McNeil Point was worth the extra miles to get up there. Another shelter, and an amazing view. Wow! The kids of course played in the snow again. Lol. They sure loved this hike.

Our view from McNeil Point

The way back was fast, as usual. The boys literally sprinted down, they said they were bored, and just wanted to be done. Kids crack me up. I think if we let them, they would've just stayed up there. This is for sure going to be added to the back packing list. Let them play. Let them stay in a shelter, though we will do tents. I think it would be a great experience.

One of the two ponds on the trail. This is the only one that really had any water in it.

I was shocked how many little kids were on this trail! Oh my gosh! I dont think my kids would've done that at the age of 5! I talked to a few of the kids, and they had all been back packing! Amazing, what parents are doing with their kids these days. I dont think I would've been that brave, though I would've had to do it by myself, I guess thats the difference.

This was in the first half mile of the trail. thought it was important to share.

The McNeil point trail starts here.

Heading on up to McNeil Point. We crossed the rocks and snow to the right.

Some views.

View from inside McNeil Shelter

Trying to capture to Mt's along this trail. You can see Mt St Helens, Adams and Rainer. Amazing. Wish I would've brought my real camera, but my cell phone will have to do the trip. Camera is coming next time.

Do you remember those ponds we crossed earlier? See them down below?

Do you remember the hike we did a couple weeks ago? Ramona Falls. You can see part of the trail we took below.

It was amazing how you can see the trail we did a couple of weeks ago from here. When we found our first amazing view point on the Trail to Ramona Falls, was on Bald Mountain. You can see that bare spot on the Mt to the right..Thats where we came out of the tree line. Then we descended down that mountain, crossed the Muddy Fork, then up & around the ridge on the left. Yokum Ridge, around the end of that ridge, and then descend down to Ramona Falls. Pretty cool, huh?