The Friends of Timberline (FOT) kick off their annual auction on Saturday, Oct.
3 following a virtual visit to the lodge and featuring presentations from guests
including United States Senator Ron Wyden, as well as current news from the
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Timberline’s operator, R.L.K. and Company.
The auction will be held online this year from Oct. 3-12 with a portion of the
proceeds benefiting the final stages of the Naturalistic Pools Restoration
Project at the lodge.

The auction will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday to coincide with the virtual lodge
visit and will be a multiday event ending at 1 p.m. on Oct. 12.

“The idea for this year’s auction is to offer up some unusual things,” said FOT
president Brent Dahl. “We’ve never done an online auction before.”

Advanced preview of the auction items is available after completing
registration to bid. New items will continue to be added daily until Oct. 2.
The Naturalistic Pools Restoration Project is slated for completion by Oct. 31.
The pools restoration has been an ongoing project of the FOT since 2016 and

will open to the public in 2021. The project is currently “a little short on
funds,” according to Dahl.

“The project will restore the pools back to how they were in the 1930s” Dahl
said. The pools were an original landscape feature on the initial blueprints for
the lodge. The three stacked pools cascade into each other with the aid of a
water pump returning the water uphill, and the largest pool offers a clear
reflection of Mount Hood on its surface.

An update on the project and a video tour of the pools will be a part of the
virtual lodge visit on Oct. 3. The visit will be held on Zoom from 5-6 p.m.
Wyden is a featured guest for the event.

“He’s a personal fan of the lodge,” Dahl said.

Other guest speakers include Jeff Kohnstamm from R.L.K. and Company, Todd
Davidson from Travel Oregon and an update from the USFS about current
conditions in Mount Hood National Forest.

The lodge visit will be followed by a historic FOT photography slide show at 6
p.m. on Saturday.

The virtual visit is open for attendance by the public on Oct. 3 via Zoom at
http://bit.ly/VirtualLodgeVisitOct3.

The Zoom meeting ID for the lodge visit is 745 946 8799 and the passcode is
PivotPlan.

Interested community members are invited to register for the auction at
http://bit.ly/FOTauctionsignup or http://bit.ly/mobileFOTauctionsignup to sign
up by mobile phone.

The FOT will also be holding their annual meeting online via Zoom on Oct. 1
from 6-6:30 p.m. The meeting will feature updates on the activities of the
nonprofit and a vote to elect new board members.

The meeting can be joined at http://bit.ly/FOT2020annualmeeting. The Zoom
meeting ID is 745 946 8799 and the passcode is PivotPlan.

“The main thing is for FOT to maintain community in this most unusual of
years,” Dahl said about shifting the 45-year-old nonprofit’s upcoming events
to an online format.

The Friends of Timberline Lodge can be reached by email at
info@friendsoftimberline.org or by phone at 503-295-0827.