Seattleites traveling to Mount Hood — Oregon’s tallest mountain and a year-round outdoors destination — might be tempted to make a beeline to the ski areas, hiking trails and historical 85-year-old Timberline Lodge. The drive, after all, takes a minimum of 31⁄2 hours, and that’s if you take the shortest route directly through Portland. But with some extra time to spare, there’s plenty of worthy pit stops to make along the way — biking through historical tunnels, sipping local cider while salsa dancing on an outdoor patio or dining on sushi and sake inside a vintage school bus.
No matter which direction you go, you can plan a route to include interesting stops like these, depending on your interests. My husband and I decided on a slower pace for our first post-pandemic trip south. By bookending our trip with stops between Hood River on one end and the small-town villages of Welches and Sandy on the other, our two-day journey to and from the snow-covered mountain became part of the adventure.
From hikes to cideries and coffee shops, here’s where to stop on your trek southward to Oregon. Heading south from Seattle on Interstate 5 toward Portland, we first detoured east for a bike ride above the Columbia River near the town of Mosier, then drove to explore orchards, cideries and farm stands in Hood River Valley’s lush fruit-growing areas. From there, it was a 40-mile drive to Timberline Lodge , a destination worth several days, but also easily enjoyed in just a .