A great little trail with a "short and sassy" elevation gain and amazing views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams and the gorge and surrounding valleys. Followed a Gazateer map and drove in via FR 66 to 68 from White Salmon and not too bad in a Tacoma with a few slow spots from potholes and narrow roadways.

The trail was clear with some woody debris and a small snow section but all in all very good shape for early season adventures. The very start of the high county wildflowers has begun in the lower elevations and sunny exposures. The trilliums were especially plump in the wooded canopy and the plentiful amount of glacier lily reminded me that the snow just recently melted here. The sunny outcrops have some color and lots of unspecified new growth that promises a showy display in the coming warm days. 

There were zero cars at the trailhead and saw no humans. A nice reprieve from the madness of other more readily accessible hikes. And yes the old fire platform has LOTS of glass and dogs and kids should avoid that however the rest of the hike was straightforward and worth a day trip for the steep little hike and lovely spring highlights. A new early season favorite to be sure. 

Good hike.  Still a few snow spots but nothing major.  I would say in about 2 weeks it will be more epic with Wildflowers

I drove down to the COlumbia River Gorge to volunteer with WTA for the weekend, on a new to me trail.

Getting there, the directions on WTA state to go through Carson to get to the trailhead, however there is another way to get there on a little bit better road. Other directions are as followed:

From WA-14 East in about 49 miltes turn left onto Cook-underwood Rd. Contine for about 5 miles, then turn left onto Willard Rd. Stay on Willard Road and in about 1/5 miles continue straight onto Oklahoma Rd. After .7 miles turn lefft onto Forest Service Road 66 (There is a small sign). IN about 1.94 miles, stay straight onto Forest Service Road 68 (66 will turn right) You'll some up on a T for spur 500, and infront of you is a grassy hill (The trailhead!). Turn right onto Spur 500 and the parking lot is right there to your right. There is no bathroom, but there is room for about 8 cars, if you are meeting people there, I would highly suggest double parking (as the trailhead parking lot is deep). 

There are some pothole along the way but they are not as bad going this way as it is coming in from the directions on the website. (this is also the way that GPS will take you). The road is kind of narrow but there are pullout spots.

IF YOU DO COME IN FROM CARSON: There are some good sized pot holes, and some logs in the road, a few that were cut halfway into the road, you can get around them, but they are there.

Our work- the crew continued up FS 68 to the ALWAY TRAIL (a user built trail, that is not on the website) This ALWAY trail is a little hard to find in some spots as it's not maintained by WTA, but there is evidence that it is maintained as some older trees that habe fallen have been cleared out of the trail. This trail is no joke, the family that built it was a straight up kind of family, it's steep for sure! in about .6 miles you gain just shy of 700 feet! from here we worked towards Grassy Knoll using power brushers and hedgers to clear out very brushy portions of the trail. We did make it to the Knoll! You can now see the trail and where you should be walking at. along the way if you turn behind you you'll see Mt. Adams, and as you continue towars the Knoll Mt. Hood is right infront of you!

The Knoll is pretty cool if you have never been there before. There is evidence of the old fire lookout. Views here are pretty amazing, from Adams, to Hood, The Columbia, to the far stretches where the trees stop and the eastern washington brown hills start. 

Grassy Knoll and Big Huckleberry Mountain came through with spectacular views and ample displays of wildflowers, even in midsummer. At 8:45 a.m. the temperature was 50 degrees and low-level clouds obscured distant peaks, but the temperature rose to the low 60s and the clouds lifted by noon, fully revealing snow-capped mounts Hood and Adams plus dozens of forested peaks to the far horizons.

The one (expected) disappointment was that the spring and early summer wildflowers on Grassy Knoll were past blooming, leaving Grassy Knoll an uninspiring expanse of brown and tan ground cover. In compensation, the woods and forest edges of other meadows had wildflowers blooming in profusion—Foamflower, Woodland Beardtongue, Yellow Hawkweed, Paintbrush, Sickletop Lousewort, Hooker’s Onion, Mountain Aster, and Western Red Columbine. For much of the hike, huckleberry bushes lined the trail filled with fat, ripe, juicy berries, packing a wallop of flavor: first sweet, then tart—a treat throughout the hike.

The trail is in excellent shape to Grassy Knoll, and more or less level after the relatively steep first mile. From Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry Mountain it’s occasionally so overgrown with masses of flowering Woodland Beardtongue, Angelica, and Ocean Spray arching over it that you wouldn’t guess there was a trail was under all the foliage. It was easy enough to push aside the bushes with their dozens of bees on the blossoms.

From Grassy Knoll onward, Mount Adams revealed and concealed itself behind trees or Little Huckleberry Mountain, and Mount Hood appeared on the horizon with a view to the south. The Whisky Creek Fire burning in the Columbia River Gorge was sending so much smoke eastward across the lower reaches of Mount Hood that the mountain sometimes seemed to be floating on a white pillow.

No other cars on Forest Road 6808 or FR 68 on the drive to the trailhead or at the trailhead upon arrival or upon return; no other human beings encountered during the whole 11.7 miles hike. Bear Creek Road once it turns into gravel Forest Road 6808 had series of potholes here and there that required slowing down to 5 miles an hour or less, but the road seemed in no worse shape than most other forest roads. And the hike was well worth driving through potholes to the trailhead: The trail alternates flower-filled woods, open meadows, and breathtaking views all the way to Big Huckleberry Mountain.

It's been said the "last mile is steep". So is the first mile. But this is a beautiful hike mostly in open forest with wild flowers abundant this time on year. It's not long so take your time. the view from the top is awesome! If you thrive on long distance vistas, this is it. Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, etc. This is our second time on this trail and fell in love again. Highly recommended.