Mount Hood from Trillium Lake reflection
— — the south face, doubled, on a still summer morning.
Not only on a wall.
“A small reservoir below the south face of Hood, ringed by mountain hemlock and noble fir, with one of the most-printed reflection views in the Cascades. The lake catches the mountain whole in the first hour after sunrise, when the air is still and the campground at the south end has not yet stirred. By midday the surface ripples and the photo is gone.
Mount Hood from Trillium Lake reflection, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Trillium Lake sits at about 2,600 feet on the south side of Mount Hood, roughly four miles south of Government Camp inside the Mount Hood National Forest. The 63-acre reservoir was created in 1960 by a low dam on Mud Creek. The summit of Hood — 11,249 feet — stands about seven miles to the north, framed across the water by a stand of mountain hemlock and noble fir. A loop trail of roughly 1.9 miles circles the shore. The campground at the south end has 57 sites and runs from late May through early October.
The classic view looks north from the dam or the south shore, where Hood doubles into the water under still air. The lake is shallow and sheltered, fed mostly by snowmelt and small inflows, so the surface settles fast once the wind drops. First light through about an hour after sunrise is the reliable window; a second window often opens at last light on still evenings. By mid-morning a thermal breeze off the mountain ripples the reflection and the mirror is gone until dusk.
The access road from US-26 is plowed open from late May or June through October, depending on snowpack; the lake itself stays frozen and snow-buried through winter. Wildflower bloom along the loop trail peaks in July. Late September brings the first new snow on the mountain and the first cold mornings that mirror cleanly. The campground at the south end fills weekends from July through Labor Day. Cross-country skiers and snowshoers reach the lake from a Sno-Park trailhead on US-26 in winter.