Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

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SeanMMM
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Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

Post by SeanMMM » July 1st, 2013, 7:48 am

This has been on my to do list for a couple years, so I made my way to the north Burnt Lake Trailhead on a very muggy Saturday. The access road gets a bit rough past Lost Creek Camp, with lots of very big potholes full of water, but nothing to get too worked up about. I have a Subaru, but I noticed lots of two wheel drive sedans at the trailhead. Though, if this is the trailhead with the better access road, I wonder how bad the road to the south trailhead is. I only had my iphone's camera with me, so most of photos didn't turn out very well.
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I love these massive burnt out cedars.
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From inside one of the trunks.
Lost Creek Falls in the bright sunlight was too much for my iphone's camera, but I was impressed with the volume of water. I suppose all that melting snow from Paradise Park is filling Lost Creek right now.

Burnt Lake was really nice. I had heard it gets pretty crowded up there, but it wasn't too bad when I was there. Everybody who was there was pretty quite and respectful. Except for me. I wandered the campsites and picked fights with everybody. I didn't post any pix, the couple I took didn't really compare with pdxgene's trip report photos from the day before I was there. Lots of mayflies flying around and fish jumping. No mosquitoes! I took a quick dip in the lake and scared a few trout from the bank. Cold!

Then after a quick lunch it was on up to Zigzag's ridge. Mt Hood was amazing from up on top, even if the upper reaches were swathed in clouds.
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Looking up to East Zigzag's highpoint.
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Looking west from East Zigzag at the continuation of the ridge.
Looking north, I believe I could make out Mt. Defiance way off in the distance. Just a little nubbin. It was nice to see this beast brought down to size. He has caused me much misery.
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Bald Mountain is the clearing on the right, and I'm not sure what the clearing on the ridge right in the center is, but I believe that's Defiance just to the left and above it.
Looking south, I could see just a small segment of 26, and what looked like the glinting of parked cars on the shoulder. I wondered what that was about, when I realized I was looking at the base of Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain. I'm assuming I was seeing the cars at Mirror Lake's trailhead. Unless I was hallucinating from those wild mushrooms I had just ingested. Not sure what species they were. On to Cast Lake. As I approached the junction with Cast Creek Trail, the mosquitoes struck. They were pretty bad but were a bit better by the lake. Cast Lake was wonderful! I didn't take the time to take a dip, but I had the lake to myself for the brief time I was there.
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I checked out Cast Creek as it flowed from the lake. It looked like the ground fell somewhat precipitously as it flowed from the lake. Not a huge volume of water, but I wondered if there might be a nice little waterfall or cascade further down the stream. The stream channel was full of alder shrubs and salmonberries, and I was getting tired of feeding the mosquitoes, so I didn't investigate very far. I did check out the little island on the lake, there's a muddy causeway that I imagine is submerged at times. Not a whole lot to see on the island.
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Lake from the causeway
Back to Mosquito Alley. I was hoping by this time my BO would keep them at bay (did I mention how hot and muggy it was?), but I think it attracted them even more! I really wanted to check out the southern side of Zigzag's ridge, so I took Devil's Tie Trail down to it's junction with the southern portion of Burnt Lake Trail. No mosquitoes down this way. Originally, upon striking the southern Burnt Lake Trail, I was going to head toward the southern trail head to check out Devil's Meadow before heading back up to the ridge, but I had heard (probably on this very forum!) the mosquitoes can get really bad there. So I nixed that part of the plan and headed back up to the ridge on Burnt Lake Trail. I regretted coming down this way as I took the switchbacks up, but I did get to cross a nice forested stream (Devil's Canyon Creek, or a tributary of it), and there were a few nice little meadows on the way up. I noticed a theme on the place names here on the southern side of the ridge. I'm not sure, but I think the pioneers who named these places may have been Satan worshipers. They may have even listened to heavy metal music. So I paid my respects to The Malevolent One and made it back up to the ridge, where the clouds had burnt off the top of Mt Hood.
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Beautiful!
Then on down the north side of the ridge, past Burnt Lake and back to the trailhead. I'm not exactly sure how long a hike this was, I don't carry a gps, maybe about 13 miles or so. I'm no loony hiker, but 13 is normally very manageable for me, but this hike had me pretty tired out. I'll blame it on the loss of blood to the mosquitoes. A wonderful day in the woods and meadows!

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Peder
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Re: Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

Post by Peder » July 1st, 2013, 9:28 am

Great TR with swims, mosquitoes (thanks for the warning!) and mushrooms....
I believe I could make out Mt. Defiance way off in the distance
Yes, that is Mt. Defience with Mt Adams behind it to the right!
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

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kepPNW
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Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

Post by kepPNW » July 1st, 2013, 10:06 am

Great report. Great hike! I'll be back there soon, I imagine. :)

I think that clearing you wondered about is on Bald Ridge, above the Muddy Fork. I saw it from Yocum Ridge on Saturday, and it was positively covered in beargrass blooms.

Were the wildflowers popping yet up on Zigzag? I remember coming off that back side, towards Cast Lake, and the entire hillside being carpeted in color.
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

payslee

Re: Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

Post by payslee » July 1st, 2013, 10:27 am

Thanks for the fun TR from an awesome little part of Mt. Hood.
SeanMMM wrote:Though, if this is the trailhead with the better access road, I wonder how bad the road to the south trailhead is.
It's true, the other road is so, so much worse.
Cast Lake was wonderful! I didn't take the time to take a dip, but I had the lake to myself for the brief time I was there.

I checked out Cast Creek as it flowed from the lake. It looked like the ground fell somewhat precipitously as it flowed from the lake. Not a huge volume of water, but I wondered if there might be a nice little waterfall or cascade further down the stream. southern side of the ridge.
Love Cast Lake! And your guess is correct. Apparition Falls is on Cast Creek, made famous by Portland Hikers' own Splintercat. http://www.splintercat.org/ApparitionFa ... onMap.html

-payslee

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SeanMMM
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Re: Burnt Lake, East Zigzag, Cast Lake 6/29

Post by SeanMMM » July 1st, 2013, 9:57 pm

Hey, thanks for the confirmations on the physical features, guys. I love figuring out what it is I'm looking at from afar.

The flowers up on Zigzag are just starting. Not sure what the timing will be, but they sure aren't peaking yet.

Payslee, thanks for that website. Unknown (to most) waterfalls along Cast Creek, that's really cool. I remember being on Splintercat's website a couple years ago when I was reading up on the Salmon River previous to my first hike up its canyon. I love learning stuff like this.

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