My plan for this hike was to summit and return in one day, but in case of weather or I wasn't able to summit on my first attempt these are the free locations I used to spend the night. In the summer of 2021, I worked in Hood River, OR which is just 30 minutes north of Mt. Hood for 6 weeks. It was a safe area to car camp. I normally stayed on Second St by the Waterfront Park. There was also free dispersed camping with vehicle spots at Trillium Lake which is 10 minutes outside of Government Camp. Government Camp is the closest town to Mt. Hood. There are also pull out parking near Mt. Hood that don't have overnight signs. 

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At first I was against renting equipment because I thought it was expensivee and the locations would be out of the way. For Mt. Hood I would recommend using                                       . They have very affordable 2 day rentals and are based in Portland (an hour away). If you are coming from Eugene, OR or Seattle this is a nice stop along the way!