Mud Mountain Dam - Rim Trail, Mud Mountain Dam – Vista Trail — Wednesday, May. 6, 2026

We parked in the Mud Mountain Recreation area and took the Rim trail above White River for an out and back hike.  It was 48 degrees with socked in low clouds emitting a fine mist. The trail was a wet cushion duff on top of saturated soil. There were a surprising number of down trees all easy to step over. The main bathroom was open. Now is the time to hike here for spring wild flowers. We saw miner’s lettuce, Solomon seal, star Solomon seal, trillium, Oregon grape, salmon berry, elder berry, water leaf,  fairy bells, bleeding heart, black berry, fringe cups, yellow violets, false lily of the valley, honeysuckle and more. With the low clouds emitting cover there were only fleeting views of the river. We passed two hikers and their dog that was it for trail traffic. Robins, song sparrows, woodpeckers were all alerting and a hummingbird buzzed one person in my group. The slug and snail population were alive and thriving everywhere. To finish off the hike we headed down to the dam gorge vista overlook deck. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.