AdventuresNW
In Timberline’s Embrace
By Jean L. Waight, Resource Publications, Eugene, Oregon, 2025
If we are fortunate, many of us have a special mountain place that is our spiritual home, a place we return to over and over, where we become our true selves. Bellingham author Jean L. Waight experiences this at the Timberline Lodge at Mt Hood, which members of her family have visited since it opened in 1937. Her first visit was in February of 1993. Since then, she and her husband and their friends have returned every winter.
“In Timberline’s Embrace” traces the history of the grand old hotel, built in the 30s as part of Roosevelt’s WPA program. Similar to many national park hotels built during this era, the lodge has National Historic Landmark status. The author lovingly describes the building, with its large timbered beams, huge fireplaces, beautiful murals, and tiny guest rooms, typical of these WPA hotels. Over the years, she and her husband befriended the staff and learned about the hotel’s history and restoration projects.
During the course of the 30 years she’s visited the lodge, the author accumulated many stories of adventures and misadventures, from encounters with a pine marten entering her room at night trying to steal a bag of chips, to mishaps with room registration and snowplows, and a harrowing snowshoe accident. She ponders the changes in the hotel, both in the building itself and its visitors. And in the end, she recognizes some details about the old hotel are timeless, as represented in the murals painted back in the 30s that illustrate scenes still relevant today.
Cathy Grinstead, born and raised in Northern California, spent her summers backpacking in the Sierra. In 2018, she retired from veterinary practice and moved to Bellingham to explore a different part of the world. She enjoys hiking, outrigger paddling, and snow sports, and loves all that Bellingham has to offer!
