Cast Lake via Burnt Lake trail south and Zig Zag Mountain west.

[mdcpdx]

This adventure begins when one turns off US26 just east of Rhododendron onto National Forest Development Road 2627 aka Road 27. A short distance of narrow asphalt ends at a switch back and becomes National Forest Development Road 2627-207. From there to the Trail Head is five miles of very bad road. If you have not been up Road 27 in a long time it has changed, not for the better. The South Burnt Lake TH is now within 100 yards of the West Zig Zag Mountain TH, which makes parking for a loop easy. We headed up Burnt Lake south to devils cut off.

A large piece log along the way gives testament to the earlier use of the road.

A still functioning wood culvert speaks to the age of the old road.

Taking the short side trip to Devil's meadow. The trail is mostly on an old road to Devils Meadow, named for the mosquito. The old road trail is much better than the road you drive on. Up the cut off trail, right to Zig Zag Mountain trail, left to Cast lake, looped around Cast lake.

A refreshing cooling dip in the lake is impossible for a retreiver to resist.

At the junction with Zig Zag Mountain trail we changed plans. We were planning to hike the devil’s triangle, decided due to higher than expected temperatures, amount of water I was carrying, the many dried up year round streams, and smoke to head directly to West Zig Zag mountain and the old look out site. Backtracked a little to the West Zig Zag trail and down to the car. Along the way a Yellow Jacket buzzed my face. I connected my waving hand and sent it to the brush. It came right back at me, stung me on the back of my neck and got away before I could smack it again. This one had attitude. There are more yellow jackets than I have ever seen before, they seem more aggressive earlier than before as well. We returned to the car with about a ½ liter of water left over. Taking out the 2.5 miles of the devils triangle was a good choice. Zig Zag mountain trial is a really good choice in the early fall before the rains. There are many great vistas that the clear smoke free air of fall would make impressive. Also Road 27 becomes impassable for all but high clearance vehicles after significant rain.

[teachpdx]

My friend and I tried to do this exact hike a few weeks ago, but while still down on the pavement on 27 we were stopped by a couple that told us that pickup trucks were getting stuck on the road up to the trailhead.
I took it as hyperbole, but since we were only driving an SUV we decided not to chance it. We started out from the north side and hit up East Zigzag, but bailed on Cast Lake (which is one of my fave camping spots).
Could you maybe give a little more info on the road to the TH? Is it really only passable by tank, or could we manage it in an SUV?

[retired jerry]

I did it in regular car, a Camry, but that was a few years ago. I think a regular car would be doable if you go slowly.

When I got back to my car after my trip, the car next to me was broken into. An SUV. It had stuff visible through the windows. They left my car alone. There was nothing but a little trash visible. Maybe I was just lucky.

I haven't bothered going back because the road was bad and maybe there are more break-ins.

I agree, Cast Lake is a nice place to camp.

[justpeachy]

That's a beautiful area, but I've only ever approached from the Burnt Lake North Trailhead. I've heard horrible things about that road to the south trailhead. I believe in his 100 Hikes book William Sullivan calls it a "rough rocky terror."