12.6 miles of hiking • 750' elevation gain •
We've been to this Wilderness before and love its solitude and beauty! The parking area was full (about 8 vehicles) and we saw most of the people in the first hour on the way out.
We started out going north on the Ancient Juniper trail and then turned left and continued on the Flatiron Trail. At about 3 miles out from the TH there is a raised bed of lava. There is a trail, on your left, that climbs up into this area and will take you to a fantastic viewpoint where the Central Cascades are visible! Very much worth seeing! After spending a bit of time taking pictures, we continued north on the Flatiron Trail.
We continued on until we reached the end of the park. The only thing to see there was a barbed wire fence with a sign indicating Private Land. However, what amused us were the dozen Bison all looking at us on the other side of the barbed wire! It was hysterical as they watched us looking for a way onto the road away from the private land, but none existed!
On our way back we bumped into three women that were looking for the Flatiron viewpoint. We told them they had hiked about 2+ miles past the viewpoint. They stopped and rested but we needed to hurry back before sunset. On our way back we put an arrow in the gravelly soil and my wife sketched the word ladies next to it. It turns out they took the short way back and we both arrived at the TH at the same time! They thanked us profusely for the sand sign and showed us a picture they took of it!
Another great place to hike with plenty of trails, but make sure to go there when it's cool!
