2010 America the Beautiful Quarters®
Coin Overview
The Mount Hood National Forest quarter is the fifth of 2010 and the fifth overall in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program. This reverse image depicts a view of Mount Hood with Lost Lake in the foreground. Inscriptions are MOUNT HOOD, OREGON, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM. Design candidates were developed in consultation with representatives of Mount Hood National Forest.
MOUNT HOOD PARK OVERVIEW
Just twenty miles east of the city of Portland, Oregon, lie the 189,200 acres of designated wilderness known as the Mount Hood National Forest.
This wooded oasis encompasses more than 60 miles of mountains, lakes and streams that attract visitors during every season. They come to enjoy fishing, camping, boating and hiking in the summer; hunting in the fall; and skiing and other snow sports in the winter.
From the strikingly beautiful Columbia River Gorge to the high lake basin of the Olallie scenic area, numerous lodges and campgrounds dot the wilderness, some more remote than others. Those who stay at more primitive camp sites are more likely to see the more elusive creatures that share the forests, including elk, black bears, mountain lions, wolverines, coyotes and foxes.
Towering above the wilderness is the national forest’s striking namesake, the once-active volcano known as Mount Hood. Thousands of climbers from around the world come every year to challenge their skills and conquer this iconic, 11,239-foot mountain.
Fast Facts
Fast Fact #1
The Oxbow Salmon Festival draws 10,000 visitors annually. Musicians and sto¬rytellers, arts and crafts, a salmon barbeque and food court, and guided salmon viewing walks along the river’s edge highlight the event.
Fast Fact #2
Columbia River Gorge is an 80-mile-long channel carved by millennia of glaciers, floods and the rushing river. The walls rise up to 4,000 feet in places.
Fast Fact #3
When Lewis and Clark arrived at Mount Hood in 1805, they called it Falls Mountain, not knowing that it had been named by a British expedition several years earlier.
Fast Fact #4
The last major eruption of Mount Hood occurred in the 1790s. Minor explosive activity was also reported in the mid-1800s.
Fast Fact #5
The Timberline Lodge was built in just 15 months during the Great Depression by the Works Progress Administration. It was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937.
Fast Fact #6
Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon. It has 11 glaciers. Over the past century, they have receded 61%.
Fast Fact #7
In 1792, Lt. William Broughton, under the command of Capt. George Vancouver, identified and named the peak after Lord Samuel Hood, a respected admiral of the British Royal Navy.
Fast Fact #8
Mount Hood and the surrounding forests have been seen in a number of Hollywood films, including Kevin Costner’s “The Postman” in 1997. Possibly the most famous was the Timberline Lodge, which was renamed The Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 thriller “The Shining”, starring Jack Nicholson.
®2010 United States Mint