Tag: Burnt Lake

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Zigzag Mtn. Trail East Hike

For this hike I had to hike up Burnt Lake Trail to where it meets ZigZag Mtn. Trail and go East on it to where it meets Paradise Park Trail. I had to pass through a lot of brushed over trail that was very wet from a morning dew and I got soaked. Most of this trail goes through huckleberry fields that look like they were once tended by the indigenes population but now are being over grown by new trees.

By the numbers: 17 Miles, 3700 ft. total elevation gain and on the trail for 11 hours. Most of this hike was done at an elevation between 4000 ft. to 5000 ft.

Notes: Breaking through overgrown trails slows you down a lot. It is also less safe as you do not know where you are stepping and you hit rocks or sticks that will trip you. This is the first time when hiking that I did a full face plant as a stick on the trail tripped me and thick brush kept me from getting poles forward to catch me.

There are many clues that in the past this trail got a lot more use then now. The trail tread is very compacted with steep sides. I have found several camp sites and warn view point that have not been used in many years.

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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.