July 23, 2005: Timberline Lodge feels like an amusement park, what with all the families, snowboarders, tourists, and massive parking lots, but it's the highest trailhead on Mt. Hood that you can drive to (about 6000 feet above sea level), so it's a nice place to go for a relatively easy lupine-filled alpine hike. Teresa and I hiked northwest from the lodge until we met up with the Timberline Trail, then clockwise (mostly west) to the rim of Zigzag Canyon. It was only about 4.5 miles round-trip, with not too much change in elevation.