The trail is in two equal segments, the lower segment forming the western boundary of The Dalles Watershed, with No Trespassing signs popping up now and then. It doesn’t enter Cooks Meadow, which is a little east of the trail but not much of a meadow any more. The only trail users I saw on this day were three bikers coming down this lower segment, which winds up through a mixed conifer forest, occasionally passing through open glades and clearcuts that have reverted to meadows. Wildflowers were at their prime and insects (no mosquitoes) were busy everywhere, either pollinating or consuming pollinators. There had been a ladybird irruption, and these colorful little beetles were delightedly snagging small invertebrates that came to the blooms. (The ladybirds, I was disappointed to note, were all seven-spots, a non-native species imported to deal with aphid infestations.) A flower spider camouflaging on a silvercrown was sucking the life juices out of a flower fly.
The trail passes the summit of Point 5388, an open rocky prominence with a view to Lookout Mountain and, through the trees, to Mt. Hood. The summit area was a carpet of sunflowers, penstemon, and goldenrod just budding out.
After the trail crosses FR 4410, it hugs the western rim of the ridge and dips below the rim to pass through a series of colorful wildflower meadows offering great views to the east side of Hood and along the ridge to Gunsight Butte. Then there’s a long section winding up through montane forest with more glades and a couple of rocky viewpoints looking west. The trail ends at FR 3550 near the junction with FR 4410.
I walked over to the High Prairie Trailhead, checked that my bike was still there, and commenced the loop up to Lookout Mountain, doing it anticlockwise. There were great views from the summit ridge – Mt. Rainier to the Three Sisters. The east side of the loop goes down the old lookout road, which actually hasn’t been logged out although the blowdown was easily passable. There were a few big snow patches lingering here. The Dog River begins as a trickle in High Prairie, and the shooting stars and cinquefoil decorated the meadows.
I picked up my bike and started down FR 4410. The washboards I hadn’t really noticed driving here in the Subaru were amplified by a factor of 10 on the bike, so it was a shuddering, skiddy ride on loose gravel. It was only a mile or so back to the car once I reached paved FR 44.
