I believe it was early August. I was signed up for the Advanced Backpacking unit at Camp Arrowhead, and it wasn't the very last session of the summer, but the mountain was pretty melted at the time - more so than it is right now.
This was actually just my second backpacking trip, despite the "Advanced." The previous trip was also through Camp Arrowhead; we did a two-nighter in the Herman Creek area.
The counselors had planned five nights on the trail (we were all ages 12-14), so less than 10 miles per day. We started from the Cloud Cap campground, where we spent the night and then took off early in the morning, counter-clockwise. No Eliot washout to worry about! I think we had a couple of creek crossings, but definitely no big deal. First trail night was at Cairn Basin, where we camped near the shelter. Plenty of water from a nearby stream, and a snow field close enough that we tried sledding on plastic bags.
Our second night was at Ramona Falls. We did see a few hikers here, but no one camping, and certainly not as many people as one sees nowadays. Really, we didn't run into that many people on the whole trip, except at Timberline Lodge, of course.
We took the wrong trail somewhere leaving Ramona Falls, and walked about a mile and a half the wrong way down the Sandy River. Oops! I do remember crossing the Sandy and/or the Muddy Fork, but it's a little hazy now. It seems to me there was one bridge and one rock hopping in that area. I know it's changed since then. Since I was a kid, the important part was when we stopped for M & Ms after the more difficult crossing.
We spent that night near the Paradise Park shelter, which I remember as being intact (we cooked dinner inside it). There was also a couple camping here who joined us for a campfire.
Made it to Timberline Lodge the next night, where we actually camped near the day lodge, next to some kind of outdoor fitness area. I don't think this is normally allowed, is it? I don't know whether the counselors got special permission for this, or we were just flying under the radar. We had time to wash our hair in the day lodge bathrooms and get some junk food and sodas, and revel in being around CIVILIZATION for the time being (12-14 year old girls, remember?).
The original plan was to spend the next night (our last trail night) somewhere near Lamberson Butte. But our counselors had talked it over, and then decided to ask us: did we want to just push through from Timberline Lodge to Cloud Cap in one day? Lamberson Butte was likely to be windy and have no water source, and it would be about 12 miles to Cloud Cap. We said OF COURSE we could do that! So we did. Crossed the White River, continued on to Mt. Hood Meadows, on through all the wooded areas. I suppose we must have crossed Newton Creek, but I don't remember that one as a difficulty? I think that might be another area that has changed since then.
The whole Gnarl Ridge to Cloud Cap distance, though, holy Hannah! Lots of sun, wind, steep snow fields, and navigating by cairn. And we were so tired, and the counselors even more so. But we made it, and spent that final night at Cloud Cap, since we weren't getting picked up until the next day (and no cell phones, of course).
Total mileage for the hike was supposed to be 40.7 (it was slightly longer then?) but our detour at Ramona Falls made it 43.7.
I'd love to do it again sometime. But I need to work on my fitness level, and I'm not sure about tackling the Eliot. If I were working at Girl Scout camp, we definitely wouldn't be able to take girls through the Eliot - we'd have to do a 3/4 loop or something.
Disclaimer: I was not quite 14. I haven't been back for more than a day hike since. There could be things I mis-remembered here.
