White River Crossing
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes including this location:
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 45.3202, -121.6864
- Elevation: 4900 feet
Description
The White River is the largest, most difficult to cross stream around Mount Hood. Occasionally the White River floods highway 35 below, such as November 2006.
The Timberline Trail crosses the White River. There is no permanent trail on the canyon bottom because it gets washed away each winter. The trail goes down to the canyon on the East side, downstream from on the West side. The pictures show where the route is.
The trail across the canyon is marked with rock cairns and colored flagging.
The stream crossing is over rocks. There is no bridge. Each year they determine a new crossing point. You have to explore around a bit to find the best place. Look for the largest amount of foot tracks, but that can be misleading because there are tracks going everywhere.
One possible crossing is about even with where the trail enters the canyon bottom on the West side. There is a major side stream that joins the main stream from the East. You cross the side stream, and the main stream above where the side stream joins. See the topozone link for the exact location.
There are many places to camp, but there's no drinking water. White River is too silty. The closest water is at Timberline Lodge and at the Timberline-Umbrella Falls Trail Junction.