Timberline Lodge - Oregon - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

TIMBERLINE LODGE, 64m (6,060 alt.) is a long low hotel and recreational center on the south slope of the mountain. The lines of the great irregular structure harmonize with those of the peak behind it. The lodge is unusual in that its design, construction, and ornamentation are the result of the skills and passionate devotion of many different kinds of people. Just as the building of a medieval cathedral became a labor of love in which each artist, mason, architect, glassblower, weaver, and patron endeavored to express his religious devotion by turning wood, stone, flax, wool, glass, and paint into a thing of supreme beauty, so the WPA workers, architects, administrators and sponsors endeavored to make Timberline Lodge express their love for their beautiful mountain.

The individual type of architecture, called Cascadian, is an excellent example of the adaptation of design to use. Against a background of rugged beauty the building rises in an epitome of the over-towering peak. The hexagonal central unit is dominated by a huge chimney with three fireplaces in the main floor lounge and three more in the ground floor ski lounge. From it extend two wings in which are dinning rooms, guest rooms, and dormitories.

The interior decoration and the furniture of the lodge are motivated by the Indian, the pioneer, and nature. Figures of mountain creatures are carved on the newel posts of the great stairway. On one crouches a badger, on another a bear while on others are a beaver, a squirrel, an eagle and wild fowl. The andirons in the room fireplaces are wrought in the form of beavers, squirrels and other forest animals. On the walls of the guest rooms are water-color sketches of wild flowers and plants indigenous to the Mount Hood region. Draperies and rugs are hand-woven and of primitive design.

Views from the lodge are superb. Immediately to the north looms the massive white crest of the mountain in jagged contours against the intense blue of the sky. Southward across a billowing forest of dull green lift the peaks of Mount Jefferson, the Three Sisters, and lesser crests. Eastward stretch the dun-colored uplands of the Inland Empire, while westward like a hazy cloud low on the horizon the Coast Range edges the shores of the Pacific.

pp 56-57

Although this excerpt makes it sound as if the author is exaggerating about Timberline Lodge, let me assure you that it is a magnificent place. I have visited many of the WPA lodges and the interior craftsmanship in this one is by far the best. The lodge exists much as it did when the WPA writers visited it. A fine dining restaurant and a brewpub have replaced the original cafeteria style dining and the dormitories have been changed to regular guest rooms but for the most part, little has changed.

If you love the outdoors, this is a great area to visit – complete with skiing, mountain biking, mountain climbing, hiking, fishing, swimming, and whitewater rafting – you will not lack for something to do.