Mount Hood Nationwide Forest has issued evacuation notices and intensive path closures because of the encroaching wildfire
Dramatic view of storm clouds over snow capped mountain peak close to Portland, Oregon. Mt Hood Nationwide Forest. (Photograph: Marina_Poushkina by way of Getty Photographs)
Up to date August 7, 2026 12:01PM
Because the Grasshopper Hearth burns towards Mount Hood, the U.S. Forest Service is shutting down path and forest street entry. Efficient August 4 by means of December 31, 54 trails and 24 forest roads in Mount Hood Nationwide Forest (MHNF) are closed.
The closures symbolize a “good portion of the Barlow Ranger District,” Heather Ibsen, the Public Affairs Officer for the MHNF, instructed Backpacker.
The hearth began on July 23 and has unfold to 48,280 acres as of this writing. It’s at present simply 23% contained and encroaching on the Mount Hood Freeway. Whereas it has closed components of the Timberline Path, which shares a portion of its route with the Pacific Crest Path (PCT), the USFS closure notification web page notes that “the [PCT] stays open to the general public.”
The Meadows space of Mount Hood was put underneath a degree 3 “go now” evacuation discover on August 4. As Exterior reported, the hearth now “jeopardizes the guts of Pacific Northwest out of doors tradition.”
54 trails are closed.
A lot of the affected trails are on the western facet of Mount Hood, closest to the hearth. Among the closed trails embrace Zig Zag Mountain Path, Lookout Mountain, Elk Meadows, Umbrella Falls, Surveyor’s Ridge, and lots of others. The 41-mile Timberline Path, which circumnavigates the bottom of Mount Hood, is likely one of the most notable closures on the listing.
You’ll find the entire listing of closed trails and forest service roads on the USDA’s webpage. There are additionally up-to-date maps of the hearth closure areas.
In line with the forest service, closures will stay in impact by means of the top of 2026, until rescinded or up to date by the USFS. Ibsen mentioned it actually is dependent upon the extent of injury to sources and infrastructure.
“The forest will open up areas as rapidly as doable, so we could scale back the closure measurement first earlier than it’s totally rescinded,” she mentioned. “Developed areas comparable to campgrounds, picnic areas, or highly-used roads could stay closed till hazards could be mitigated.”
PCT and different trails stay open—for now.
The PCT portion of the Timberline Path, which passes on the jap facet of Mount Hood, at present stays open. And the climate is cooperating, a minimum of for now.
“The winds are shifting round again to the west as we speak [Thursday, August 6]. So that ought to assist scale back the dangers to the PCT,” Ibsen mentioned. “As of as we speak, the hearth remains to be 4 miles from the hearth’s perimeter at its closest level.”
PCT hikers ought to keep conscious of the scenario and repeatedly examine native situations and wildfire impacts. The Pacific Crest Path Affiliation tracks PCT closures and alerts on its web site.
Ibsen famous that the present path closure represents lower than half of the entire climbing trails in MHNF. Simply be cautious of climbing in wildfire smoke for those who select to go to. Different notable trails that stay open within the Mount Hood space as of this writing embrace Mirror Lake, Ramona Falls, Tamanawas Falls, Trillium Lake Loop, McNeil Level, and others on the jap facet of Mount Hood.
