Boulder Ridge Trail

A hike from Wildwood Recreation Area up Boulder Ridge Trail to Plaza Trail then on to Huckleberry Mt. View point. The trails go through mature recovering forest and a variety eco system of older growth forest. The route has two good view points of Mt. Hood. Trail was good condition that made for easy hiking. This trail is a walk in the woods with elevation.

By the numbers: 13.3 miles, 3400 Elevation gain and on the trail for about 8 hours.

A hike of a Section of ZigZag Mt. Trail East

I was off to hike a new trail today, section of the little used ZigZag Mt. Trail East. To get to it I first had hike all of Burnt Lake Trail. I love the first part of Burnt lake trail with the mix of the monster old burnt trunks and new recovering forest. There were very few folks on the trail this day. When I got to Burnt Lake there were no campers there. After several hours I got to the trail junction with ZigZag Mt. Trail and headed East to see what I could find. The overgrown trail climbs gradually through acres of Huckleberry fields and alpine tree space about. It reminded me of Indian Heaven. I wondered of these fields were once well tended native berry fields like those of Indian Heaven. There was absolute silence when ever I stopped. There was no wind and I think the smoke in the air had sent all of the birds and animal to ground. After pushing my way though brush and reaching the top of Dixon Butte the trail start to crash downward a steep slope. After dropping down a couple hundred feet I recheck my map and realized how much down and up I was going to have to do to get to Paradise Park Trail and decide I was not up for it. But as it turnout my stopping spot was at a point of an almost lost trail that climbed up the ridge to a view point where Hood could still be seen through the trees. The trail spoke to a time when this was a much busier trail and the trail had been well worn by boots treading to this view and hidden camp site. When my conditioning improves would like to come back and finish this trail someday

By the numbers: 14 Miles, 2785 ft, total elav. gain, 8 1/2 hrs on trail, Moving average about 2 mph.

Gnarl Ridge Hike

This was a hike up to Gnarl Ridge on Mt. Hood. I also went higher up to see a seasonal Tarn lake. It had been many years since I have been up there. I picked up a hiking buddy on trail who stayed with me until we parted company at the Timberline Trail, Gnarl Ridge trail junction. Only right at the end did she tell me she was a retired professor of geology from OSU. A missed opportunity.

The numbers: 12 miles, 3000 ft. total elevation gain, high point 7230 ft., time on trail 8 hrs. 45 min.

Barlow Butte Ridge Trail

I had not done this trail in a number of years and was interested to see what kind of shape it was in. I have done it a number of time and it had always been a little challenging but always a wonderful hike. As they say you can never go home again and so it was with this trail. I found the trail that ran the length of Barlow Butte Ridge is no more. I was able to still find parts of the trail about half way down the ridge but from there it would just be bushwhacking and I was not geared up for that. A said loss of a wonderful trail that I had enjoyed and taken friends to see.

The numbers – 6.8 miles, 2180 total elevation gain, 5 1/2 hours on the trail with a lot of that trying to find the trail, cutting limbs, climbing over log piles and a shot lunch break.