The Mount Hood Highway No. 26 (see

Oregon highways and routes The state highway system of the U.S. state of Oregon is a network of highways that are owned and maintained by the Highway Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Highways and routes The state highway system consists of abo ...

) is the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...

's designation for a highway from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

east around the south side of

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...

and north via Bennett Pass to Hood River. It is marked as

U.S. Route 26 U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is an east–west United States highway that runs from Seaside, Oregon to Ogallala, Nebraska. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and ...

from Portland to near Mount Hood and

Oregon Route 35 Oregon Route 35 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon, running between Government Camp on the slopes of Mount Hood and the city of Hood River. OR 35 traverses part of the Mt. Hood Highway No. 26 (Mount Hood Scenic Byway) and ...

the rest of the way to Hood River. Much of the highway is part of the Mount Hood Scenic Byway, a

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

which connects Troutdale with Hood River via the southern flank of Mount Hood. The Byway's route includes parts of present-day U.S. Route 26 and Oregon Route 35 and the historic Barlow Road through the

Mount Hood Corridor The Mount Hood Corridor is a part of Oregon between Sandy and Government Camp, in Clackamas County. It is named after Mount Hood and has served travelers going in both directions since the days of Native Americans and Oregon Trail migrants. Th ...

. It also forms a loop with the

Historic Columbia River Highway The Historic Columbia River Highway is an approximately scenic highway in the U.S. state of Oregon between Troutdale and The Dalles, built through the Columbia River Gorge between 1913 and 1922. As the first planned scenic roadway in the United ...

, an

All-American Road A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

. The portion from Sandy to Barlow Pass on the south flank of Mount Hood is aligned to the land portion of the historic

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...

. It was developed in the 1840s as the Barlow Road.

Route description

The highway begins in Portland at the west end of the

Ross Island Bridge The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 (Mount Hood Highway) across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. The bridge opened in 1926 and was d ...

, with access to the

Oswego Highway Oswego may refer to: Places United States *Oswego, Illinois, a village in Kendall County *Oswego, Indiana, an unincorporated place in Kosciusko County *Oswego, Kansas, a city in Labette County * Oswego, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * ...

(

Oregon Route 43 Oregon Route 43 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the cities of Oregon City and Portland, mostly along the western flank of the Willamette River. While it is technically known by the Oregon Department of Transportation as the Osweg ...

), Pacific Highway ( Interstate 5) and

Pacific Highway West Oregon Route 99W is a state-numbered route in Oregon, United States, that runs from OR 99 and OR 99E in Junction City north to I-5 in southwestern Portland. Some signage continues it north to US 26 near downtown, but most signage agrees wit ...

(

Oregon Route 10 Oregon Route 10 is an Oregon state highway which serves Portland and some of its western suburbs. Route description OR 10 begins as Naito Parkway in Downtown Portland starting where Naito Parkway interchanges with U.S. Route 26. It heads south ...

). US 26 itself heads west on Arthur Street, which is not a state-maintained Highway, to reach the

Stadium Freeway Stadium Freeway may refer to: *Stadium Freeway (Oregon), Interstate 405 in Portland, Oregon *Stadium Freeway (Wisconsin), part of Wisconsin Highway 175 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin {{Disambiguation, road ...

( Interstate 405). After crossing the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

on the Ross Island Bridge, the Highway is locally known as Powell Boulevard through Portland and Gresham. State maintenance ends at the Portland/Gresham border, beginning again where the Highway turns southeast at Burnside Street east of downtown Gresham. Soon after that turn, Highway 26 uses the completed part of the

Mount Hood Freeway The Mount Hood Freeway is a partially constructed but never to be completed freeway alignment of U.S. Route 26 and Interstate 80N (now Interstate 84), which would have run through southeast Portland, Oregon. Related projects would have continu ...

(built only to surface

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

standards) to

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

, where it runs through downtown on a one-way couplet. The section of Powell Boulevard from Interstate 205 east into downtown Gresham carries only two lanes. When I-205 was built, the ramps at Powell Boulevard were configured to only allow traffic towards the west, with US 26 east pointed along the four-lane Division Street, about to the north. (Right turns were even banned to and from the I-205 north ramps at first.) Division Street runs east into Gresham, where it meets Burnside Road, at which a right turn to the southeast leads into the Mount Hood Highway and US 26. Despite this signage pointing US 26 east on Division Street, traffic already on US 26 is pointed straight along Powell Boulevard (the Mount Hood Highway), in agreement with ODOT's route description. East of Sandy, the highway is a (mostly) four-lane undivided highway approaching the slopes of Mount Hood; as the highway climbs up towards

Government Camp Government Camp is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, on the base of Mount Hood and north of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. It is the only town within of Mount Hood and therefo ...

it reduces to two and three lanes. It is four lanes again through Government Camp. East of Government Camp is an interchange with

, where US 26 heads southeast on the Warm Springs Highway towards

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and the Mount Hood Highway heads north with Route 35. Route 35 winds over Bennett Pass and around the eastern side of Mount Hood, and descends into the Hood River Valley. The Mount Hood Highway designation ends at the intersection with the

, which carries U.S. Route 30 to the west. To the north, the road continues as a spur of the

Columbia River Highway No. 2 Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

( Interstate 84), bringing US 30 back onto that

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. Officially Route 35 heads west from there on US 30 through Hood River to end at I-84 west of that town, but all signage ends at the end of the Mount Hood Highway. The general public uses the name ''Mount Hood Highway'' to refer to much the same route, excluding the portions inside Portland and western Gresham (which are referred to by the street name of Powell Boulevard). Between 1955 and 1978, the segment of the route through southeast Portland was proposed to be moved from Powell Boulevard to a new similar alignment known as the

. Due to intense local opposition, this proposed

was cancelled.

Scenic Byway

From Troutdale, the Mount Hood Scenic Byway starts at the end of the Historic Columbia River Highway where the Troutdale Bridge crosses the

Sandy River Sandy River may refer to: Rivers in the United States * Sandy River (Chandler Bay), Jonesport, Maine * Sandy River (Kennebec River) in Maine * Sandy River (Mississippi River), a tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota * Sandy River (Red Lak ...

. For the first of the route, it follows a southwestern path along city streets: west on Glenn Otto Park Road into downtown Troutdale, connecting with Halsey Street, south along 238th Street (which veers to become 242nd Street), Burnside Street, Orient Drive, Dodge Park Boulevard, Lusted Road, and Ten Eyck Road. The Byway continues into

on US 26, heads west briefly on a spur to Jonsrud Viewpoint on Bluff Road, then backtracks to US 26. It continues along

for about thirty miles, then leaves the highway proper in favor of the

business loop A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...

through

. The Byway follows a spur just east of Government Camp to Timberline Lodge. After returning to US 26, it continues to the junction with

where it exits US 26 and goes north on OR 35 for about . At the eastern outskirts of Hood River, OR 35 intersects with U.S. Route 30 and the

Points of interest

From west to east: *

: the mouth close to Troutdale is where William Robert Broughton spotted and named

* Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint, also known as Chanticleer Point: views of the

Columbia Gorge The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the state ...

, Crown Point and Rooster Rock State Park * Jonsrud Viewpoint: view of

basin and Devil's Backbone, route of the

and Barlow Road *

Wildwood Recreation Site The Wildwood Recreation Site is a natural recreation area surrounded by the Mount Hood National Forest in northern Oregon, United States. It encompasses of old growth forest and five miles (8 km) of interpretive trail along the Salmon Riv ...

- Cascade Streamwatch, Oregon: underwater stream and fish habitat viewing, of interpretive trails along the Salmon River, access to the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness via the Salmon River National Recreation Trail * Lost Creek Campground: Nature Trail & Old Maid Flats * Philip Foster Farm National Historic Site * West Barlow Tollgate: operated from 1874 to 1919 * Laurel Hill Chute: This effectively made the Barlow Road one way by its 60% grade, easily the most harrowing portion of the Oregon Trail. * Mount Hood Cultural Center and Museum: historic photos by

Ray Atkeson Ray Atkeson (February 13, 1907 – May 25, 1990) was a U.S. photographer best known for his landscape images, particularly of the American West. His best known photographs are black and white prints, many still popular in galleries, stores, books ...

in downtown Government Camp, Oregon * Timberline Lodge and Ski Area *

Trillium Lake Trillium Lake is a lake situated south-southwest of Mount Hood in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is formed by a dam at the headwaters of Mud Creek, tributary to the Salmon River. It was created by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in 196 ...

/Summit Meadow: a Barlow Road tollgate from 1866 through 1870 * White River Canyon: views of lahar and mud flows and evidence of frequent floods * Barlow Pass/Pioneer Woman's Grave Barlow Pass/Pioneer Woman's Grave
/ref> * Sahalie Falls: a horsetail waterfall high and wide, fed by Newton Clark Glacier and a tributary of Hood River * Tamanawas Falls: a gentle trail along Cold Springs Creek to high falls * Toll Bridge County Park * Panorama Point County Park and Viewpoint * Jesse and Winifred Hutson Museum: a National Historic Site in

Parkdale, Oregon Parkdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 311, up from 266 at the 2000 census. History Parkdale was founded by David Eccles ...

* Mount Hood Railroad * Historic Downtown Hood River

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
ORoads - Mount Hood FreewayDescription of Mount Hood Scenic Byway
from a

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

website
Description
from the

Hood River County Hood River County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,977. The county seat is Hood River. The county was established in 1908 and is named for the Hood River, a tributary of th ...

Chamber Of Commerce website
Mount Hood Scenic Byway gets federal designation
a September 2005 article from '' Portland Business Journal''
Oregon Transportation Commission approves Byway proposal
a March 2005 press release from the official Oregon website
Mount Hood Scenic Byway
(with map), from the

Oregon Tourism Commission The Oregon Tourism Commission, which does business as Travel Oregon, is a semi-independent agency of the government of Oregon based in the state capital of Salem. The agency is run by a nine-member board appointed by the governor, and governs severa ...

website Named state highways in Oregon Transportation in Portland, Oregon Mount Hood U.S. Route 26