Day 20 of Lupe’s 3rd Summer of 2021 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast!
Mid-morning, Hwy 35, 40+ miles S of Hood River –
There’s a campground sign, SPHP!
Sherwood! Good eye, Loop! Should be a L turn coming up pretty soon.
The turn onto USFS Road No. 44 came 1.5 miles S of the campground. No. 44 was a good road, paved even, as it climbed steeply NNE. The road snaked around some before the rate of ascent began to abate. After 3.5 miles, No. 44 topped out on a broad ridge. The RAV4 was heading SE when a side road appeared on the R.
No. 4410, that’s what we want, Looper!
USFS Road No. 4410 was decent, too. Not paved, but good, firm gravel. Climbing all the way, but not as steeply as No. 44 had, No. 4410 headed S. A few potholes and some washboardy sections, but any vehicle could do this. Most of the route was forested, but after 4.5 miles, No. 4410 came to a line of boulders in front of a field.
Hmm. This might be it, Loop. Maybe we ought to look for a trail?
Unmarked, a lesser road ran E/W in front of the boulders. Turning E (L), SPHP drove 200 feet to the edge of the trees, discovering a small parking area big enough for 2 or 3 vehicles on the L. SPHP parked the RAV4, and Lupe returned to the field.
No signs. No trail heading across the field.
Huh. Lookout Mountain (6,525 ft.) is less than a mile SE, Loopster. Easy terrain! Guess we can try just heading SE into the forest, if we want to, but let’s walk farther E along the road first. I think there’s supposed to be an actual High Prairie trailhead somewhere around here.
600 feet E of the RAV4, there was a trailhead! Vacant at the moment, but parking for a good dozen vehicles. Posted information included a trail map. There was even an outhouse.
10:02 AM, High Prairie trailhead – On the S side of the road (USFS Road No. 4420), directly across from the trailhead, High Prairie Trail No. 493 took off bound for Lookout Mountain as a wide, smooth, apparently well-traveled path.
Lupe had barely gotten started, when the trail divided. The wide path went straight ahead, crossing a meadow. A less-frequented single track trail angled off toward the forest to the SW. Sticking with the wide path, Lupe followed it S a little way before it began trending SE.
The E half of the Trail No. 493 loop sometimes went through forest, but Lupe enjoyed long stretches of meadow, too. Even SPHP was making great progress, since the trail gained elevation quite slowly.
After the last meadow, the rate of ascent increased as High Prairie Trail No. 493 turned SW, re-entering the forest. Lupe eventually emerged at a clearing of sparsely-vegetated red dirt. No. 493 curved sharply E here. SPHP noticed a path continuing SW from this turn, likely connecting to the less-traveled W half of the loop.
Beyond the red dirt curve, Loopster traveled through a long stretch of forest. She got all the way to the E end of the mountain, where a smoky view of a huge expanse of much lower territory was on display in that direction.
High Prairie Trail No. 493 reversed direction again. Still in the forest, Lupe was climbing faster now as she followed the trail SW. She didn’t have all that far to go this time, though, before the trail exited the forest at a saddle where a small hill was immediately to the W. Two weathered wooden signs were attached to a post.
The gist of it all was that Lupe had reached a junction with Trail No. 458, which went either E or W from here.
By now, Lupe was already very close to the top of Lookout Mountain, which was just E of the saddle. Taking Trail No. 458 E, the Carolina Dog ventured out onto an open slope dotted with gnarled, windswept trees, many of which were dead. The first part of this short climb was the only steepish part of the entire ascent.
Curling up Lookout Mountain’s upper S slope, Trail No. 458 ultimately reached the summit from the E.
10:49 AM, 65ºF, Lookout Mountain (6,525 ft.) – Crumbling remnants of an old lookout’s foundation greeted Lupe as she arrived up on a barren plateau. The E end of Lookout Mountain’s summit region was higher and larger than the W end, which narrowed as it slanted down a bit.
Would have been a clear day, if not for the smoke of distant wildfires permeating the air in all directions. Panoramic views to the S and E were badly marred by the haze, but maybe that didn’t matter so much, since all the territory off that way was much lower.
Not as smoky to the N or W, but a line of trees obscured the views to the N. Somewhat smokier to the SW, but not too bad. The views were more interesting in that direction, too, because the mountains were higher. Not as high as Lookout Mountain, but higher than the lowlands S and E.
From some rock formations along the S edge of the summit region, Lupe could see Badger Lake tucked down between Badger Butte (5,981 ft.), Gunsight Butte (5,916 ft.), and a few other nearby peaks, but the little lake wasn’t too impressive. Looked like a pond from here.
Yes, yes! But none of that matters, SPHP! What about the real reason for coming to Lookout Mountain?
I was getting to that, Loopster.
Taking your sweet time about it, SPHP!
Sometimes it’s good to save the best for last, Loop.
Well, there’s some real icing on this cake, SPHP! Time for dessert. If this view of Mount Hood (11,239 ft.) isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is!
Ahh, yes! Off to the WNW, only slightly marred by smoke, was a grand view of Oregon’s state high point, the mighty volcano, Mount Hood!
SPHP congratulated the Carolina Dog on her successful ascent, shaking her paw, and splitting a chocolate coconut bar with her. A chipmunk provided entertainment as it scrambled on rock formations along the S rim of the summit. Lupe scrambled up to a neat vantage point, too.
Lupe hadn’t seen anyone on the way to Lookout Mountain, and no one had been here when she arrived at the summit. However, company soon appeared. After that, a steady stream of people and dogs came and went. Nothing major, but Loop never had the summit to herself again.
40 minutes after arriving, with half a dozen people up here, and a long way to go today, SPHP called it good. Lupe left Lookout Mountain, but this wasn’t quite the last she’d see of that dazzling view of Mount Hood.
Might as well do the W end of the High Prairie Trail No. 493 loop! Much of it ran along the W side of Lookout Mountain where SPHP expected Lupe might have a fabulous view of Mount Hood most of the way back.
At the saddle trail junction near the little hill just W of the summit, Lupe stuck with Trail No. 458, continuing W. This gave her the opportunity to climb the little hill, where she could gaze back at Lookout Mountain.
Traveling along a fairly flat ridge, Trail No. 458 got Lupe out to the W edge of Lookout Mountain. No sign of the expected junction with the W half of the High Prairie Trail No. 493 loop. A path that looked promising as it started N completely faded away, and couldn’t have been it.
No matter, it had been worth coming this way! A small rock formation along the W edge provided a terrific view of Mount Hood.
From here, Trail No. 458 curved S and started steeply downhill, which didn’t seem promising at all given the lay of the land. If SPHP had only checked the topo map, that actually was the way to go. Lupe wasn’t far from the junction with No. 493.
But SPHP didn’t look at the map. After admiring the exquisite view of Mount Hood, the American Dingo retreated back E along Trail No. 458 to the junction with the E half of the High Prairie Trail No. 493 loop, then started down the way she’d come up.
At the red dirt bend, Loopster made another attempt to find the W half of the Trail No. 493 loop. The side trail going SW that SPHP had spotted earlier on led almost immediately right to it.
As expected, the W half of the High Prairie Trail No. 493 loop followed the W edge of the mountain. However, anticipated glorious views of Mount Hood along this route did not materialize. For what seemed like a long way, Lupe trotted NW through dense forest.
The trail went NW so far, and lost so much elevation, that SPHP began to worry that a turn had been missed. However, a sign close to where the trail finally turned NE confirmed that Lupe was still on track. Going NE, the trail was nearly level, and soon left the forest.
Lupe never did make it back to the official High Prairie trailhead. While crossing a sunny clearing, SPHP spotted the RAV4. Abandoning the trail, the Carolina Dog went N right to it. (12:33 PM, 67ºF)
Although the fantastic view of Mount Hood had without a doubt been the highlight of Lupe’s visit to Lookout Mountain, it hadn’t really been the only view of importance. All the smoke visible to the S had been a real concern, since the plan was to head that way, climbing more peaks along the spine of the Cascades.
As SPHP drove S, precisely as Lupe had seen from Lookout Mountain, Oregon was full of smoke. By evening, Loopster was W of Bend, way up where she should have had a great view of Mount Bachelor (9,065 ft.). No sign of it. The smoke was terrible!
However, for the first time in days, the wind shifted from out of the SW to NW. Before sunset, a hazy outline of Mount Bachelor did appear.
I don’t know, Loopster. Going to have to get a lot better than this to make climbing any mountains around here worthwhile. We’ll just have to see how things look in the morning.
If the smoke is still this bad, what will we do, SPHP?
Guess, we’ll just have to continue this Dingo Vacation’s never-ending quest for blue skies. Might have to head for the coast!
A stroll along the famous Oregon coast? That actually sounds wonderful, SPHP!
Yes, it does, Loop. But we’ll get to the coast eventually in any case, and it would be a real shame to miss out on this next mountain.
Maybe so, but despite the smoke, Lupe hadn’t missed out today. Not when she’d gotten to enjoy that splendid view of Mount Hood from Lookout Mountain!
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