Mount Hood is the fourth highest of the Cascade volcanoes at 11,240 feet (Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta and Mount Adams being higher). After our aborted Winter attempt, we decided to climb in the Fall and stay overnight on the summit. We were careful to discretely tell a few friends of our plans and not advertise it widely because there is a well-known story around the Cascades of a group who made a big deal of camping overnight on the summit of Hood, only to awaken the next morning to find a bottle of milk and that morning's newspaper outside their tent door.

Mount Hood is not a particularly difficult mountain to climb, but has a relatively high fatality rate because its easy access attracts unqualified hikers and climbers. The route we chose was Cooper Spur (marked in red), which is of median difficulty for the mountain and definitely not a “tourist route.” The steep slopes near the summit and rockfall are two major threats.