We headed down to the gorge for some snow free backpacking for memorial day weekend. Started at grassy knoll trailhead up to the knoll and then on to big huckleberry mountain. Plenty of flowers line the trail - paintbrush, balsamroot, phlox, trillium, avalanche lily etc. A few blowdowns but nothing wild.
The first views of Adams are near "point 3603" and continue - sometimes of Hood, sometimes Adams, sometimes just of meadows - all the way until you reach 3800' about 0.4 from "cold spring" on the USPS map. This section of the trail is the best part. After that, you dip back into the deep woods - the trail sees less use from there on out and has some debris- all the way until the very top of huckleberry.
We panicked a bit when we could not locate the "cold spring" - we found the camping area but no water nearby at all - even looking downhill off the trail. Luckily we did find a good sized streamlet just under a mile beyond the supposed spring, at 45.84325, -121-7789. I am unsure how long this runs for but is going good now.
Filled up here and hoofed all the water we'd need for dinner and breakfast up to the top of big huckleberry. There are two nice impacted spots near where the fire lookout used to be, as well as two that are further east - one with a killer peekaboo of Hood and the other tucked in the trees.
You can't really see Adams from the top due to the trees having grown quite tall, but there are good views of Hood.
Overall, not a bad early season overnight option, but I'd be wary of the water situation later in the season.
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