Mt. Hood's Cloud Cap Inn was built in 1889 at 6,000 feet on Mt. Hood's northeast shoulder. It was accessed via railroad to Hood River, then guests experienced a speedy, somewhat harrowing stagecoach ride high into the mountains, which deposited them several hours later on the Inn's massive wooden doorsteps. Many famous guests* from around America visited during the Inn's 35-year long heyday. Mountain Guide services departed from the Inn to climb Hood's very steep and glaciated NE, N, and NW routes. Hood's seven main glaciers were much bigger back then. Since that time, due to global warming, they have shrunk between 19% and 61% over the last 100 years, with the Sandy and White River glaciers being hardest hit......

A tramway to the 11,245 foot summit was seriously pursued, got government approval, but was finally dropped about 1930. Discussion abounds about whether the log and stone structure of Cloud Cap Inn represents a truly American type of mountain architecture, versus whether its styling is more European-derived, eg. from sources like the Mountain Huts of Austria or Swiss alpine chalets.

Below is one of the beautiful mountain-weathering details that abound on the exterior of this National Historic mountain Inn.

Please click the doorhandle picture, or the link below, to sample a QuickTime movie of 16 further images of historic Cloud Cap Inn and it's mountainous setting high on the NE shoulder of Oregon's Mt. Hood.