Lookout Mountain, 6/24/2025
It was a perfect day for hiking on Lookout Mountain: the temperature was about 70 degrees, it was party sunny/partly cloudy, and little to no wind. The road up has a hard last 5 miles on a gravel and dirt road with lots of potholes and washboards.
The road was filled with Jacob’s Ladders, some just about ready to bloom, and others in full bloom. There were also blue stickseeds, a few red columbines, and lots of starry Solomon’s seal. When I arrived at the trailhead, the meadows on both sides of the road and parking area were filled with cinquefoils and shooting stars.
Lookout Mountain trail can head either straight forward from the sign, or head right to follow trail #493 which is High Prairie trail, which will eventually join up with the Lookout Mountain trail. This goes out and around and then up to meet the main trail and continue to the top at a little over 6500 feet, rising 800 feet from the trailhead.
This plant had a shooting star in full bloom and one just about the pop open.
I came across this yellow and mysterious growth on the root of a tree. This is the only specimen I saw, and if anyone knows what this is, please email.
There were patches of snow at about 6400 feet that I had to climb over to continue on. I didn’t have my hiking poles with me, but was able to traverse the snowbanks with little trouble. As I continued on, there were views of Mt Hood, but the clouds were obscuring it part of the time and I wasn’t able to get a really good shot of the mountain. Once I got to the top, the haze kept the views to a minimum; I could see Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson pretty clearly; Mt Washington was south of Jeff and if I squinted and made believe a bit, I could see the Three Sisters. Okay, not really see them, but I knew they were there. Looking north I saw Mt Adams, but nothing beyond that.
There were many wildflowers at the top of Lookout Mountain with a couple of new ones for me; above is shrubby penstemon and below is mountain sandwort.
Other wildflowers there at the top were rosy pussytoes, small-flowered penstemon and sulphur flower.
As I headed back down the mountain, I followed the connecting trail to make a lollypop loop instead of retracing my steps. I came across a meadow with cinquefoils and shooting stars, and back behind those was a patch of marsh marigolds.
I haven’t seen such a large gathering of these in any of my previous hikes, here or elsewhere, so this was kind of a treat for me. Also I found a few Brewer’s mitrewort to the side of the trail.
The delicacy of these flowers is quite unique and along with it’s green color, this becomes a special wildflower. And as I returned to the parking area, again, the meadows of bright yellow and pink left a strong memory for a great hike.
