Hi all,

My boyfriend and I are going to the PNW for the first time and will be spending 4 nights in Portland, from 8/31 - 9/4. We're very excited! We've been doing our initial research and have decided we want to do spend a day or two in the great outdoors. However, we are having trouble deciding between going to Mt Hood or Crater Lake. Considering the amount of time it would take to drive and potentially do a hike, we are thinking of only doing a day trip to one or the other. We have a couple questions for anyone kind enough to give us their feedback:

1. If you had to choose, would you choose Mt Hood or Crater Lake? I understand that both differ in drive times but I don't think we would have any issues with the fact that Crater Lake is a longer drive from Portland if it is indeed a more spectacular sight.
2. Is it, in fact, doable to do 1 day trip to either Mt Hood or Crater Lake? Or indeed, 2 day trips to both? Again, driving time is not a big issue for us.

These are the only questions we have so far as we do our initial research- we will likely be posting again with other questions as we do more research.

Thank you very much in advance for any and all help you could give us!!!

Welcome to Fodor's!

For me it's an easy choice. Mount Hood has the distinct advantage of being in an incredibly diverse area. Traveling to the mountain from Portland allows you to experience the Columbia River Gorge with its waterfalls and vista points, the gorgeous Hood River Valley with its orchards, vineyards and "fruit loop" drive, the funky Maryhill Museum and Stonehenge replica a little farther east up the Columbia, Trout Lake and the Mount Adams wilderness on the Washington side of the river, views from the likes of Lost Lake, ski lifts up to the permanent ice fields on the side of Mount Hood, hikes, fishing and exploring throughout the Hood National Forest, Herman the Sturgeon at the Bonneville hatchery, craft breweries and wineries in Hood River, and the list goes on... Plus it's an hour from Portland instead of four or five hours of mainly hot driving.

Spending a night in Hood River would be ideal, however given that's Labor Day weekend you'll probably have a hard time finding accommodations. Doing a day trip to Crater Lake would be extremely difficult, hot, and the odds of finding any accommodation near the national park at this point would be approximately zero.

Crater Lake is just not doable for a day trip. It is at least 5 hours each way from Portland. So with that I would opt for Mt Hood. Otherwise if you had more time I think CL is way more impressive than Mt Hood.

I agree with Gardyloo. Pair Mount Hood with the Fruit Loop and the Columbia Gorge. I love Crater Lake, but I love the Gorge as much or more, so I don't see any trade-off.

One thing--you could still book a night in the Gorge. It's very limited in Hood River itself, but on Booking.com, there is A room at the Hood River Western and a few at the Holiday Inn Express.

However, there are rooms at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson (WA), which is very nice. There are also rooms at Cascade Locks, in Lyle, and quite a few in The Dalles.

http://www.nps.gov/crla/learn/photos...ia/webcams.htm

We have been having large forest fires all over in Oregon this summer and at times the air quality has been bad. This will likely continue through the next month.
As much as I love Crater Lake, I think Hood River and Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood is a safer bet. I would not spend 4 nights in Portland. Rent the car and head east on I-84 to Hood River.
You might also want to head over to the coast to see Haystack Rock (Cannon Beach) and maybe the Astoria Column. Drive across the big bridge from Astoria into Washington.
If Crater Lake is a must see, drive to Bend and spend the night and then go to Crater lake as a day trip from Bend. There is a lot to see in the Bend area including the High Desert Museum.