Monday, September 2, 2019
After our stay at the nearby Indian Ridge Lookout we decided to do the hike up to Lowder Mountain before driving home. We drove up Road 1993 to the trailhead where there was only one other car, and set off on our hike:
Much of this hike is in the forest and there isn’t a lot to see:
Pearly everlasting:
We passed a side trail to rocky cliff area, but the trees were tall and there were no views:
We reached a junction in a meadow. The Lowder Trail continues another eight miles down to Road 500 at Cougar Reservoir, but the Forest Service has abandoned that section and no longer maintains it. We turned right onto the Walker Creek Trail:
The summit area of Lowder Mountain is a broad flat area:
We reached this large meadow:
When the trail reaches the tall forest the Walker Creek Trail continues another five miles down to a road. This section too has been abandoned. It’s actually hard to spot. The user trail that heads off to the viewpoint is easy to follow, though. We skirted the meadow on the far side along the treeline:
And reached a clifftop viewpoint where we stopped for a break:
Below us we could see Karl and Ruth Lakes:
The view included Mt. Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Washington in the background; O’Leary Mountain and Horsepasture Mountain in foreground:
Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack (if you look closely at far left you can see distant Mt. Hood):
Three Sisters and Broken Top:
We had the place to ourselves, but we had a long drive home so we started hiking back to the car. Through the trees we got a view to the southwest on our way down:
6.2 miles, 1,000′ elevation gain.
