25 miles of hiking • 5500' elevation gain •
The day started out with a simple plan. Try the Cinnamon Ridge loop trail, as described in the Portland Hikers field guide (see link), starting at Kalama Horse Camp. But we found ourselves at the Red Rock trailhead, roughly the halfway point, at 10:30am. So... In a major "WTH?!" moment, we decided continue up past Butte Camp Dome, to the Loowit Trail for a bit higher vantage point to enjoy lunch with. Finishing that, we went clockwise around Loowit, until we found a good spot to bomb down an old lahar on the far side of the Dome. The bushwhack was relatively easy, but a bit denser than we'd guessed in places. We got back to Red Rock about 3:45, leaving just a couple hours until dark to climb and traverse Cinnamon Ridge. This was okay; not sure we missed much. The ridge was a bit underwhelming, being almost entirely forested with just a couple of viewpoint opportunities. We traveled the last 3+ miles under headlamp.
