6/22. Saturday. Cloudy, warm. Salmon Butte hike in the Mt. Hood area is quite rewarding, especially at this time of the year, and not too many people. ~10 miles, 2250' gain + some up and downs. Quite a few camp along Salmon River next to the trail head. Spring flowers at the bottom (not a lot), and gradually migrated to rhododendron. They get denser as you go hiker. Some still has pink flowers (maybe 1-2 weeks too late?). Gentle grade. The old road is a pleasant ~1 mile walk with tall grasses, looks just like a trail. I didn't notice the service road near the top either: just the trail. Most of the trail is soft, well maintained, easy grade.
The specialty of this hike is the wild rhododendron. Often under them, beargrass about to bloom. Most of the trail is shaded with little undergrowth (hard to find a toilet choice). Tall evergreen trees. There's a small open slope halfway up (about 2 hours from the trailhead) filled with Sea Blush. So it's all pink. Lovely. 
View on the top: not quite 360° yet. St Helens and Adams to the north, Hood due east, Jefferson to the south. On Jefferson's eastern shoulder, with the aid of a binocular, I could pick up another peak (one of the Sisters). On a clear day, possible to see Rainier.Direction: 17.3 miles east of Sandy on US Hwy 26. Turn right (south) at Salmon River road. The pavement ends in 5 miles at the bridge. Continue on graveled road for 0.7 miles till the end. Zigzag ranger station is a bit east of the Salmon River rd turn.
