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.
The history of Zigzag Oregon is not the story of a town that failed to grow, although it never did. It is the story of a place that has always been defined by movement – by rivers, trails, roads, and the people who passed through them. Long before there was a town of Zigzag, settlers, businesses or the highway that travels past, this area was already an important place on the south side of Mount Hood.
Christmas Flood of 1964 Rhododendron Oregon – In late December 1964, as the Mountain was preparing for Christmas, the weather in the upper Sandy River valley began to shift quickly. A warm Chinook wind swept into the region, accompanied by days of heavy rain, melting a deep early-winter snowpack while frozen ground prevented the water from soaking in.
For many years, the Cock-a-Doodle-Do Inn existed in obscurity and long-lost memories. One day an old photo was found in the Mt Hood Cultural Center and Museum’ in Government Camp’s archives labeled simply as being on the Mount Hood Loop Road. It was a cute cabin style log building with a profile of a rooster on the peak of its roof and a sign that read, “1/2 Chicken and Hot Biscuit” There was no other context or explanation to where it sat in its day.
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.
