Mount Hood Hikes: Burnt Lake and Zigzag Mountain, 6-24-2018

Burnt Lake and Zigzag Mountain is a little Mount Hood hike that has it all: trees, waterfall, lake, exercise, and a great big view of Mount Hood.

Mount Hood over Burnt Lake.

I took a couple of out-of-town guests up there on June 24, and we had perfect conditions. It was sunny, warm, a little breeze, no bugs, and we somehow had the whole summit to ourselves. There were a lot of people around the lake, but it was a fun and relaxed scene. There’s great camping there, but we were just up for the day.

The first little bit is super easy, through the woods, crossing a couple of small creeks, and passing a nice waterfall. Then you climb steadily for a but to Burnt Lake (right), where you can stop or just rest, have a snack, and continue on to the viewpoint up on Zigzag (top of this post).

It’s a little over nine miles to do the whole thing, but the lake alone is six miles. And it’s all about an hour and 15 minutes from central Portland, from a trailhead very near Ramona Falls.

It’s all in my book, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland; you can buy your very own signed copy of it directly from me, along with several other titles of mine, right here.

Here are some more photos from the day:

Big trees on the way up, some of the, burned long ago.
Burnt Lake, scene of much nice camping.
Rhodies on the way up, taken in late June
Looking around from the top of Zigzag Mountain.
Hood from the viewpoint up top.
Hood and the lake, from Zigzag Mountain.

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