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4.5 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •

I was not feeling great yesterday, and the sun was draining. Long (but beautiful) drive out on forest roads. I previously avoided this hike because I didn't think a Prius would make it, but the long gravel road was smooth sailing the whole way. I really want to get out on some of these Gifford backroads and bring my mountain bike. The boulders reported blocking the road are gone.

Trail was surprisingly busy - I thought with the long drive we would have solitude. Not overly crowded, but I'm thinking there must have been a social media post that boosted interest. One large group surprised me when they gave up right before the knoll, because there was one patch of snow to cross. Snow was soft and though the runout was steep, it was easy to follow steps across. Plenty of flowers out. Had some great views to Adams and to Hood, and a cool perspective of the gorge I hadn't seen before. I had originally planned to hike to Big Huckleberry Mountain, but I decided not to push myself and just let the day end as an easy hike. I was concerned with being a meadow stomper, but followed a faint trail towards Hood and saw some neat looking landscape below. It looked like you could keep walking and explore it, but I turned around. There were some optional side views with some scrambly rocks that were nice stops on the way up and down. Think I'll head back to this one later in the summer for more flower views, and bring my bike so I can explore some of the overgrown looking side roads I encountered on the way out.

Comments

nuizontann and Woodswalker heart this trip.

Woodswalker
May 17, 2021

The road has been terrible in the past, but I heard they fixed it. Glad you got up there.

Woodswalker
May 17, 2021

The road has been terrible in the past, but I heard they fixed it. Glad you got up there.