2010-P Oregon Mount Hood National Park Quarter GEM BU America the Beautiful

The Oregon state area now known as Mount Hood National Forest was first protected as the Cascade Range Forest Preserve in 1893.  It was divided into several National Forests in 1908, when the northern portion was merged with the Bull Run Reserve (city watershed) and named Oregon National Forest.  The name was changed again to Mount Hood National Forest in 1924.  Located twenty miles east of the city of Portland and the northern Willamette River valley, the Mount Hood National Forest extends south from the Columbia River Gorge across more than sixty miles of forested mountains, lakes and streams to Olallie Scenic Area, a high lake basin under the slopes of Mt. Jefferson.  Mount Hood National Forest covers 1,067,043 acres.

The most popular attraction in the Mount Hood National Forest is of course Mount Hood itself. It is a stratovolcano. (A tall, conical volcano with many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, and volcanic ash.) It is located in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon.  The exact height assigned to Mount Hood has varied over its history.  Modern sources point to three different heights: 11,249 feet based on the 1991 USGS Survey, 11,240 feet based on a 1993 USGS Survey, and 11,239 feet from a slightly older survey.  The peak is home to twelve glaciers.  It is the highest mountain in Oregon and the fourth-highest in the Cascade Range.  USGS characterizes it as "potentially active" with a 3-7% chance of erupting in the next 30 years, but the mountain is informally considered dormant.

The Mount Hood National Forest is one of the most-visited National Forests in the United States, with over four million visitors annually.  Common recreational activities in the Mount Hood National Forest include fishing, boating, hiking, hunting, rafting, horseback riding, skiing, mountain biking, berry-picking, and mushroom collecting.  A portion of the Pacific Crest Trail passes through the Mount Hood National Forest on the flanks of the mountain. Mount Hood is a popular destination for mountain climbers, making it the second most climbed mountain in the world.

From 2010 through 2021 the US Mint is issuing commemorative quarters with special reverse designs celebrating National Parks and other National Sites. A park or site is being honored in each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the five US Territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. Each National Park or National Site was selected for its natural or historical significance. The National Park Quarters are being minted and issued at the rate of 5 designs a year, in approximately ten week intervals. The National Park Quarters are being released in the order that the locations were first designated as National Sites. The Obverse side of the coins feature a smaller restoration of the original Washington Quarter portrait, modeled from designer John Flanagan's 1932 plaster. The Reverse of each coin will feature a representation of the unique character and environment of each State, District, or Territory's National Park or Historic Site.

Circulation strikes will be made at the Philadelphia (P) and Denver (D) mints. The San Francisco (S) mint will strike the proofs in clad composition and silver. Clad composition strikes contain an outer layer of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to an inner core of pure copper with a 24.33 mm diameter, 5.67 grams weight, and a reeded edge. The silver strikes will contain 90% silver and 10% copper with a 24.33 mm diameter, 6.25 grams weight, and a reeded edge.