Travel about 3 miles further up the road to a gravel forest road, 1168, on your right. It is labeled, but with a small sign. About 4 miles up is the trailhead, on a spur road, on your left. There’s a small parking area, and a kiosk warning of potential fires. The trail starts at the kiosk. (If you go straight on Road 1168, you'll head towards the trailhead for the Bachelor Mountain Trail.)The trail was a single track, and through ton’s of wildflowers.
All up the trail was view upon view of every cascade mountain, all the way down to Diamond Peak, by Crater Lake.
Mt. Jefferson:
3 Fingered Jack:
Mt. Washington, and Broken Top:
Diamond Peak:
The trail was a moderate one, with a few steep spots, but very simple to follow. At about ¾ of a mile up, I hit a good amount of snow, and a pack of people trying to negotiate up, on, through, and around it. From here I was able to see my first vision of a lookout tower, and the ranger spying on us with binoculars. I bet they were laughing at us.
I left the pack of people and headed out west bound, looking to see where the snow ended. I was not giving up since I came this far. Sure enough, the snow pack ended and I was able to get around it. Minus the last little bit of walking on it. I yelled down to the others that I got around, but they apparently didn’t hear me, and they never made it up. Once out of the snow, it was about 1/8 of a mile to the tower, and the summit. Once at the top, you could see all the way to Mt. Rainier, and even a bit if Helens too.
Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams:
There was a helicopter landing pad at the summit, for those emergency situations.
The Sisters:
Mt. Jefferson was so incredibly close that you could see dirt on the glaciers. Almost like you could throw rocks and hit it. The lookout staff were very nice and answered all my lame questions about the area, what they do, etc. They quizzed me on my cascade mountains too. You could see for miles up there. There was a bit of smoke from the local fires, but not to bad. Detroit lake was visible too.
This was by far the coolest hike I have been on. A moderate trail, awesome views of the cascades, and cool lookout staff. I highly recommend this hike to anyone, even my parents, who are not fond of hiking. On the way down I took a million more pictures, all of which I had taken on the way up, but you can never have enough pictures of the gorgeous views that I had. -Jen
Now that I have weekends off for a while, my weekends are for hiking. So, let's hit those cabins!!
