Mount Hood, Oregon has a special place in my heart. An extremely pretty place to ski (or hike up if you’re into that), it’s a treat every summer to come back to this place, spend my training time lounging in the sun and learning new tricks in a slushy halfpipe. We always find both relaxing and fun activities to do, and after working up an appetite, we’ve cultivated the food go-to’s.
First things first, one of the quintessential après ski stop is the Huckleberry Inn in Government Camp. These worldwide-famous huckleberry shakes are the absolute best. In one of the few places huckleberries grow, this is a must-do in Oregon.
Our classic day-off activity when in Hood area is float the Sandy river. We started at Dabney State Recreation Area and floated to the Sandy River Bridge. We bought floaties nearby, connected the group together, brought drinks and a speaker, and dunked in the refreshing water all while soaking the sun and views of Mount Hood for a couple hours.
After the hard work of laying in a floaty all day, we were starved. So on the way back to Hood, we stopped at one of our favorite spots in Sandy, Thai Home. This is a quaint, local spot that we are obsessed with. All the curries are perfectly flavored and seasoned. The drunken noodles are my go-to, with thick, chewy, sweet noodles and perfectly cooked shrimp. Can’t forget the mango sticky rice at the end. On this day particularly, we ended up getting it to-go, and found a power line (near the intersection of E Aschoff Rd and E Lolo Pass Rd off of ZigZag ) to climb up and have a picnic (and film a mukbang on Tiktok of course). And no I wasn’t nervous to climb up, you were.
On our next day off, I decided to try to better live up to the action-sport athlete identity. Cliff jumping! This is a little secret spot in Estacada, on the road to Cazadero. We walked along a trail for a couple towers, then there is a little trail off to the right, which leads to a little swimming area and multiple cliff jumping spots, including a ~30 foot one. Don’t bruise my ego by saying this cliff is any less than 50 feet tall. The river is cold and refreshing, a nice bite after falling 100 feet.
Speaking of a nice bite, what is better in the summer than a refreshing wrap. Wraptitude in the Mount Hood Village has an eclectic assortment of wraps, from Greek to Burger, all great choices. But the true star of the show is their fries. The perfect size, the perfect ratio of potato to batter, crisped to perfection, I could go on about these fries all day. And I love fries. But these are simply the best.
Lastly, I have 2 honorable food mentions from the trip. One is the most incredible crab rangoons I have ever had from the Pinto Thai Kitchen food truck in Sandy. Who doesn’t like a crab rangoon, but this one was next level. Rolled layers with creamy crab filling provided the softest, almost-doughy inside texture, while the outside provided the crunch of a traditional crab rangoon in a more delicate manner. I would say I could never go back to regular crab rangoons, but that would be a complete lie because crab rangoons are amazing. But the point still stands, these are insane.
The next one is Koya Kitchen in Mount Hood Village. Everybody knows this spot, but worth a mention. Cute outside area, but be prepared to be eaten alive by bugs. The sushi is good but not outstanding. The Yaki Soba is my favorite (unclear how it’s soba, it has ramen noodles), with creamy mayo and clear soy flavor.
Zoe's World 