Zigzag Trail

Drove a crazy 4-wheel drive dirt road to get to this weekend's hike, which took about 20-30min of boulder and ditch dodging and ended at the Zigzag East Lookout trailhead. The trail was double-track for about a mile, then was less than single-track for a ways while I made my way between overgrown wildflowers, bushes, and ferns. Then the trail opened up again as the main lookout point approached. At the lookout there was no jaw-dropping view of Hood since it was ensconced in a cloud. But, as if by magic, the cloud stopped just at the trail, so there were some awesome views of the tree-filled valleys surrounding Hood. Did see Burnt Lake down below the trail, and Cast Lake, which I hiked down to, but first took a slight detour because I thought I knew better which way to go than what the trail signs said! Oops. Cast Lake was very cool and the dogs were in the water before you could say crawdad. (Who knew crawdads could live at 5000' elevation in a freezing cold mountain lake?)

9.8 miles
2250' ascent
4 hrs 15 min