Tick. Tock. Digital or analog, clocks always move slow when you’re hungry. But two minutes is almost up, meaning my ramen is nearly ready. Steam rises from the pot and brings with it the smell of cheap, starchy noodles—a delicacy in these parts. To my left I hear the toaster pop, and Andy Glader is quick to pick up the chocolate chip waffles that just launched their way out of the clunky cooking contraption. Andy turns and with a cheeky smile he says, “Snowboarders’ finest.”

Out here in Government Camp, OR we live the slow life until 10 a.m. when Timberline Lodge opens its summer terrain park to the public, and ride hard until 3 p.m. when they shut it down. Last week the Timberline crew served up a playful park with a two-jump line, a couple of hips and a handful of rails that rolled right back into the loading station of the Palmer chairlift.

On previous trips to Mt. Hood I focused my lens on High Cascade Snowboard Camp, but until this trip I didn’t realize that, despite the good times on offer at High Cascade, camp wasn’t necessary to enjoy riding the volcano. Even in July Timberline’s public terrain has a lot to offer, from the public park to sidehits, a halfpipe, fast groomers, rock jibs, snake runs and more. After spending some time with Andy and few of the other locals who ride here nearly every day—all summer long—it became readily-apparent that I’d failed to notice a great deal of what’s possible atop this summer snowboarding kingdom. It’s the other side of Timberline, a side that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Many thanks to the Timberline Lodge park crew for shaping up such a fun park, and to Rick Hower for lift access. The summer public park is firing on all fronts, go and get some of it before it’s too late.