a trip to Mount Hood was a full-day expedition. The road, built upon the bones of the old Barlow Trail, was steep, narrow, and often rutted beyond recognition. Depending on the season, it was either ankle-deep in dust or swallowed in mud.
Bill Lenz spent his life in the forests of Oregon, working with his hands and leaving behind buildings that still stand today. From the Zig Zag Inn to the Barlow Trail Inn, Bill helped shape the Mount Hood area at a time when everything was built the hard way — by hand, with simple tools, and a lot of determination.
Multorpor Mountain lies just south of Government Camp, across Highway 26. Today it forms the eastern half of Mt. Hood Skibowl — known as Skibowl East.
Timberline Lodge has a way of feeling alive. Not just because of the fireplace, the hand-hewn logs and stonework, or the view of Mount Hood on one direction and a view of Mount Jefferson in the other—but because for decades, animals were part of the lodge experience. They weren’t props. They were residents, greeters, troublemakers, and sometimes even the reason someone smiled after a long day in the snow.
Most people who’ve spent time around Mount Hood recognize names like Sam Barlow, Lige Coalman or Billy Welch—figures etched into the landscape through place names, summit stories, and historical accounts. Coalman alone is remembered for climbing Oregon’s highest peak 586 times and building the fire lookout cabin on the summit. Ranger and Laddie on Mount Hood are just as fondly remembered.
