BSPclimber - Aug 29, 2008 12:28 am Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2008
Zig Zag true summit
Up to the summit only. 1:30 up, an hour down. Bit of a bushwhack this time of year. Rode scooter, was worried about the gravel road in my car. It was fine for the scooter, could avoid all the worst bumps. Next time will do the loop and forget the bushwhack.
This was my first time backpacking. My boyfriend and I did this trail this past weekend. We planned to do paradise park loop, but a ranger at Timberline (Grace, who was SO rad) told us there was still too much snow. We then decided to do Burnt Lake, on recommendation from my boyfriend's boss. Burnt Lake was filled with too many people and mosquitos, so we bailed and headed up to higher ground and hopefully a cooler spot to camp.
The trail up to East Zig Zag was an adventure. Much of it was covered in snow-which was crazy to climb up with with all the camping gear- but we followed footsteps and finally made it to the beautiful ridge that faced mt hood. It was GREAT! Then we started up the final steep hill to the look out point, encountering two guys who said there was a sweet campsite up top.
He was so right! I have never camped at a more beautiful place. We had the entire mountain top to ourselves, with a hillside full of wildflowers to chill in and watch the spectacular sunset while eating dinner and drinking wine.
I watched the sun rise over mt hood, with views to Mt. St. Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Jefferson, and another mountain that I'm not sure of..
It was the coolest trip ever. Totally worth the pain. During the final trudge up to the lookout, while I felt like my death was imminent, my boyfriend said "Kaede, you are one bad ass bitch."
I would highly recommend this hike to everyone. And if you can convince your girlfriend to backpack up with you, there are probably more rewards in store for you than just the breathtaking view.
:)
Brian Jenkins - Feb 27, 2007 9:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2006
Cool loop
6/24/06 Had tried this one a few weeks earlier but only made it to East Zig Zag. Went back again and skipped that peak and headed straight to the true summit in the snow. Lost the trail a few times but was able to refind it. Headed west along the ridge enjoying great views most of the day. Neat cliffs on West Zig Zag and an easy trail back down to the car from there. Highly recommended when you have views and early Summer flowers.
5/3/15 With Luna on a blue sky day. Burnt Lake Trail to East Zig Zag, then the ridge down to East Zig Zag to do the loop. Man, that road up to the TH is terrible.
4/3/16 with Jim and Luna up the West Zigzag Trail. Beautiful day, hit snow along the ridge to the West Lookout. Lost the trail below Point 4564 so went up to the top to scout it out. Came across some very large black bear tracks with the 5 toes. Headed down and refound the trail but then decided to head to the ridge and avoid postholing on the trail below the point between Pts 4564 and 4468. Ended up on top of that point and decided we didn't want to posthole the rest of the way to the lower lookout point. We did refind the trail on the ridge but was getting tired of setting tracks in knee-deep snow. Still a beautiful day and we got more elevation in than planned.
awilsondc - Jun 26, 2006 8:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2006
Route Climbed: Burnt Lake Trail looped with Devil's Tie Trail
I had been wanting to do this one for a while, but didn't want to take my Ford Taurus up what was supposed to be a pretty bad road. Finally I decided to give it a shot and found out... yeah the road IS pretty bad for a passenger car. Besides the vehicle access, this was an awesome trip! We hiked the burnt lake trail to East Zig Zag which has AMAZING views of Mt. Hood, and looped around to Cast Lake to set up camp. The highlight of the evening was watching several (at least a dozen) crawdads fight over food once the sun started to go down. Great trip... I think I'm going to have to go back assuming I can find someone to go with who has a more suitable vehicle.
Gregpdx - Dec 3, 2014 8:35 pm Date Climbed: Aug 25, 2014
Watched the sunsetHiked East Zig Zag trail from Burnt Lake.
BCJ - Sep 15, 2008 1:18 pm
Nice hikeGood views of the mountain.
BSPclimber - Aug 29, 2008 12:28 am Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2008
Zig Zag true summitUp to the summit only. 1:30 up, an hour down. Bit of a bushwhack this time of year. Rode scooter, was worried about the gravel road in my car. It was fine for the scooter, could avoid all the worst bumps. Next time will do the loop and forget the bushwhack.
Kaede - Jul 21, 2008 5:07 pm Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2008
AwesomeThis was my first time backpacking. My boyfriend and I did this trail this past weekend. We planned to do paradise park loop, but a ranger at Timberline (Grace, who was SO rad) told us there was still too much snow. We then decided to do Burnt Lake, on recommendation from my boyfriend's boss. Burnt Lake was filled with too many people and mosquitos, so we bailed and headed up to higher ground and hopefully a cooler spot to camp.
The trail up to East Zig Zag was an adventure. Much of it was covered in snow-which was crazy to climb up with with all the camping gear- but we followed footsteps and finally made it to the beautiful ridge that faced mt hood. It was GREAT! Then we started up the final steep hill to the look out point, encountering two guys who said there was a sweet campsite up top.
He was so right! I have never camped at a more beautiful place. We had the entire mountain top to ourselves, with a hillside full of wildflowers to chill in and watch the spectacular sunset while eating dinner and drinking wine.
I watched the sun rise over mt hood, with views to Mt. St. Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Jefferson, and another mountain that I'm not sure of..
It was the coolest trip ever. Totally worth the pain. During the final trudge up to the lookout, while I felt like my death was imminent, my boyfriend said "Kaede, you are one bad ass bitch."
I would highly recommend this hike to everyone. And if you can convince your girlfriend to backpack up with you, there are probably more rewards in store for you than just the breathtaking view.
:)
Brian Jenkins - Feb 27, 2007 9:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2006
Cool loop6/24/06 Had tried this one a few weeks earlier but only made it to East Zig Zag. Went back again and skipped that peak and headed straight to the true summit in the snow. Lost the trail a few times but was able to refind it. Headed west along the ridge enjoying great views most of the day. Neat cliffs on West Zig Zag and an easy trail back down to the car from there. Highly recommended when you have views and early Summer flowers.
5/3/15 With Luna on a blue sky day. Burnt Lake Trail to East Zig Zag, then the ridge down to East Zig Zag to do the loop. Man, that road up to the TH is terrible.
4/3/16 with Jim and Luna up the West Zigzag Trail. Beautiful day, hit snow along the ridge to the West Lookout. Lost the trail below Point 4564 so went up to the top to scout it out. Came across some very large black bear tracks with the 5 toes. Headed down and refound the trail but then decided to head to the ridge and avoid postholing on the trail below the point between Pts 4564 and 4468. Ended up on top of that point and decided we didn't want to posthole the rest of the way to the lower lookout point. We did refind the trail on the ridge but was getting tired of setting tracks in knee-deep snow. Still a beautiful day and we got more elevation in than planned.
awilsondc - Jun 26, 2006 8:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2006
Route Climbed: Burnt Lake Trail looped with Devil's Tie TrailI had been wanting to do this one for a while, but didn't want to take my Ford Taurus up what was supposed to be a pretty bad road. Finally I decided to give it a shot and found out... yeah the road IS pretty bad for a passenger car. Besides the vehicle access, this was an awesome trip! We hiked the burnt lake trail to East Zig Zag which has AMAZING views of Mt. Hood, and looped around to Cast Lake to set up camp. The highlight of the evening was watching several (at least a dozen) crawdads fight over food once the sun started to go down. Great trip... I think I'm going to have to go back assuming I can find someone to go with who has a more suitable vehicle.