A short hike up the 903 through towering forests (which were pumping out pine scent as though it was June rather than February!),
brought us to an unassuming junction with the Boundary National Recreation Trail, which runs roughly 35 miles from the PCT to Grayback Mountain along the spine of the Siskiyous (and is yet another hike on the to do list).
From there it was a short hike up the Boundary Trail and Trail 1206,
to the summit of the higher of the two Mt. Elijahs.
Up where we were, it was the requisite bluebird day but still foggy in the Illinois River valley to the W.
Preston Peak in the Siskiyou Wilderness was visible to the SW,
Shasta and the Red Buttes could be seen to the SE,
and Kerby Peak stood out to the NW (Kerby hike).
We left the summit of Mt. Elijah (6,390') and headed down past the summit of Mount Elijah (6,281') - yes, both are on the USGS map,
traversed in view of Preston,
then swung back E on a well-abandoned old road,
to the junction with the trail that would take us back up past the lakes.
Although it doesn't look like it, it's still February, so the lakes were bug-free and thus a great place for our lunch break.
After lunch, it was up the big meadows on the NE side of the lake basin,
to Trail 1214, which gave us a good view of the lakes as it took us up to the pass to reconnect with Trail 1206 for the journey back to the TH.
A short (9 mi RT, 1800' EG) but sunny hike in a beautiful area that's now part of the National Monument. Since Elijah and the lakes can be reached via a short hike from the monument side, that's something to consider adding to a visit to see the caves.
In their defense, sometimes important features fall at TOPO boundaries -- which is how we ended up with two Mount Hoods, of course!