Then I turned up the Bluegrass Ridge Trail and took the spur to the Elk Mountain Lookout site. Views south were somewhat obscured by fire smoke, and I pottered about the outcrop looking for lookout relics. The lookout’s single bed frame is rapidly becoming part of the shrubbery.
The spur trail and the section of the Bluegrass Ridge Trail heading north, which I next took, have been logged out. Good views to Mt. Hood and across the East Fork valley to Lookout Mountain opened up as I went north on the ridge through the 2006 burn. I sat and had lunch near the junction with the tie trail, which leaves the ridge trail on the west side of the crest just as you begin to rise towards the high point on the ridge. There’s a cairn where the tie trail departs down the slope.
TKO logged out the tie trail earlier this month, so it’s back to being the rough little way trail it was before the fire. The trail is a little steep in short sections, and there are a few small stepover logs, but the route is obvious. In the burn, everlasting, lupine, goldenrod, and fireweed were blooming.
At the meadows, I hiked the perimeter, first stopping at the shelter. Hiking out, I encountered several groups with small children walking in for a weekend backpack.