Hike - Burnt Lake, Mt Hood NF, Oregon

Hiked with friends and Buddy Boy (the dog) to Burnt Lake on the Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon. The hike began in second-growth Douglas-fir Forest with huge stumps and evidence of fire all around. Not too far up the trail however, we entered the Mt. Hood Wilderness where the forest turned into lush old-growth Douglas-fir forest.  

According to sources, Burnt Lake got its name from a fire that burned through the area in 1904. Since then there have been other fires including the “Clear Creek Fire” that burned through the area back in August 1906. While the forest has grown back there was still a lot of evidence of the fire such as large, burned out trees, snags and logs. 

 Except for having to climb over a few large logs and fording a few small streams, the first half of the hike was pretty easy. The second half however was a bit steeper with a few difficult rock scrambles and more stream crossings where my shoes got soaking wet. 

I think the streams were running higher than normal due to recent rains and snow melt. Burnt Lake was beautiful and included a spectacular view of Mt Hood from the southern side of the lake. 

We also saw a fair number of wildflowers on the hike including pacific trillium, stream violet, calypso orchid & skunk cabbage. I hoped to see some flowering pacific rhododendron, but apparently it was too early and the only flowering native rhododendrons we saw were at lower elevations near the trailhead.

Burnt Lake (360 degree photo)

Pacific trillium (Trillium ovatum)

Stream violet (Viola glabella)

Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa)

Skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus)

Pacific rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)

Hike - Catherine Creek, Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Trailhead

The Catherine Creek Arch loop trail is one of my all-time favorite springtime Columbia River Gorge hikes. It’s a relatively easy hike with beautiful views of the Columbia River Gorge and Mt Hood in the distance on clear days.

Buddy

On this day (May 7, 2024), it was partly cloudy and clouds hid Mt. Hood but the views were still spectacular. We saw lots of wildflowers including bitterroot, arrowleaf balsamroot, triteleia, lupine, lomatium and others.

Looking south

Things seemed a bit drier than the last time I hiked here (May 3, 2017), which may have limited the number of wildflowers this time. I also think there were more ticks last time. The trail was in good shape, and we had no problems crossing the creek on a make-shift plank. 

Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva)

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Catherine Creek Arch

Hike - Augsburger Mountain, Washington

Trailhead

According to multiple websites, the Augsburger Mountain trail is a difficult 12.5-mile hike with a 4,400-foot elevation gain. That being said, we opted for a shorter 3.7 mile hike that starts from the Augsburger Mountain trailhead and loops back on the Dog Mountain trail.

 Buddy Boy

The lower section of the trail was moderately steep hiking through Douglas-fir / White Oak forest with hardly any understory. The only wildflowers we saw were a few Nuttall's Toothwort (Cardamine nuttallii).

Nuttall's Toothwort

Not too far up the trail we came to a sign saying, “Old Loggers Trail” that we assumed was the trail that connected to the Dog Mountain trail. We followed the “Old Loggers Trail” to the east hoping it was the correct trail.

Old Loggers Trail

This section of the trail was fairly level and offered a few glimpses of the Columbia River Gorge to the south. Thankfully the trail did connect to the Dog Mountain trail where there was a sign showing two options to reach Dog Mountain, “Difficult” and “More Difficult”. 

Dog Mountain trail

Having hiked to Dog Mountain before, I knew the sign wasn’t kidding. All in all, it was an OK day hike but I don’t think it will make my top 10 list. 

Looking south towards Columbia River from Old Loggers Trail

Hike - Mirror Lake, Mt Hood NF, Oregon

Hiked with friends and Buddy Boy to Mirror Lake on the Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon. According to online sources, the Mirror Lake trail is one of the most popular 

hikes on the Mt. Hood National Forest, partly due to its accessibility and partly because it’s a relatively easy hike to a mountain lake with a beautiful view of Mt. Hood.

The 4.4-mile loop trail begins right off Highway 26 near Government Camp and is an easy hike to Mirror Lake.

The trail loops around the lake and crosses through some marshy areas where there was a makeshift boardwalk that took a little agility to navigate. The best views of the lake with Mt. Hood in the background were in the marshy areas on the southwest side of the lake. 

Mirror Lake with Mt. Hood in the distance

We only saw a few wildflowers along the trail including Indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.) and sickletop lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa). 

There were also lots of the infamous Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) along the trail and near the lake. 
Not surprisingly, there were lots of people around the lake but luckily, we were able to find a nice spot  along the somewhat muddy lakeshore for a little picnic and a mud-bath for Buddy Boy. 

Buddy Boy taking a mud bath

 Mirror Lake picnic spot

Hike - Catherine Creek, Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Looking south towards Columbia River Gorge and Mt Hood

It’s springtime and Carol and I decided we needed to find someplace where we could see wildflowers. So, after a little searching, we discovered the Catherine Creek Arch loop trail in the Columbia River Gorge. According to sources, Catherine Creek Recreation Area is one of the best places to see spring wildflowers in the Columbia River Gorge. On top of wildflowers, Catherine Creek is also known for its spectacular views of the Columbia River Gorge. The trailhead is about 90 minutes east of Vancouver, WA between Bingen and Lyle on old Highway 8. According to our guidebook, there is a paved trail below the road that is accessible to wheelchairs. There’s also a longer unpaved trail above the road. 

Abandoned cattle corrals 

We opted for the unpaved trail which paralleled Catherine Creek and passed the Catherine Creek Arch and some abandoned cattle corrals. The trail continued north and crossed Catherine Creek on a makeshift wooden plank. It then looped towards the east and up onto a lava plateau.

Columbia River Gorge & Mt Hood

The view of the gorge from the plateau was spectacular with Mt. Hood in the distance. The wildflowers were also spectacular and included bitterroot, balsamroot, large flowered triteleia, Nuttall’s larkspur, lupine, lomatium, chocolate lily and others. 

Catherine Creek Arch

On the negative side, there were a few ticks and poison oak but all-in-all, Catherine Creek is likely destined to be one of my favorite springtime wildflower hikes.

Chocolate lily (Fritillaria affinis)

Delphinium (Delphinium nuttallii)

Lomatium (Lomatium sp)

Large flowered triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora)