SUM: Fabulous views, in all directions. Great hike, BUT: one monster pothole obstruction. Without which, I think, we'd have seen more cars -- such a great hike.
CARS/PEOPLE: This Monday: 3 other vehicles in parking lot when we arrived, 2 others when we left. On our way up, we met a guy coming down; on our way down, a pair coming up to overnight at the lookout. At the lookout, two overnighting parties (1 and 2 persons).
HUGE "POTHOLE" (see photo in aug.29 report of linzelmon88--as noted there, worse than it looks in the photo) only about 1/5 mile up from Cascade River Road. One vehicle parked back a bit on the Cascade River side of this pothole -- presumably not wanting to risk the pothole crossing. (Ouch, that's a long add to the hike up to the lookout). There were 2 vehicles in the lot when we left, so this vehicle seems to account for a night of 3 parties at the lookout. My AWD 2016 Mazda CX-5 has 8.5 inches clearance. I was worried but we found a way. Beyond this obstruction, the road still rewards alertness, but there is nothing nearly so bad later -- so get through this one, and you're good to go. Have a backup hike on tap if not? If I were coming back, I might come with a shovel (staying away from the sides, don't compromise the road). A fine citizen might bring in enough pea gravel and solve the problem.
VIEWS. All those raves aren't wrong. Fantastic. We risked rain and were rewarded with mountains rising out of morning fog. Just great.
TRAIL. Mostly quite okay. Some early bad stretches, and some side-of-path decay problematic in the future (not yet). Delightful wooden steps and bridges early. Variety, forest to meadow to rock to scaling. Tasty blueberries. Route finding challenges higher up.
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