7/13. Sunny Saturday. Warm. Clear sky with a few down-like clouds. ~10.5 miles out and back, ~2400 ft gain. Grassy Knoll is quite lovely (only 2 miles in, about 1000' gain): a large piece of almost flat meadow with views to Hood, Adams, and some Columbia river + the remnant of a fire lookout. Much more scenic than the top of Big Huckleberry Mt: 3 miles more ups and downs, the view is mostly obstructed by trees on both sides, and the top is rather small and uneventful. Just enough exercise to justify the long drive (7 miles of gravel with some serious potholes). 
At least 2 weeks too late for flowers (or this year's flowers are earlier). Still saw some remains of balsamroot, beargrass and lupine, lots of tiger lily and mariposa lily, penstemon is still coming. I picked a couple wild strawberries. They are tiny.Total 8 today. 1 left earlier. I rode with Claudio and Valarie. Very nice couple, who erected an orange parasol for lunch!
Started hike at ~9:45am, back at the car ~3:30pm. About 25 minutes from trailhead is the first viewpoint, towards Mt. Adams. 5 minutes later, a nice ridge like meadow. 10 minutes later, a flower strewn slope with view of Hood. 5 minutes later is Grassy Knoll. 40 minutes later is Gold Spring camp, where I didn't find any spring. 30 minutes later is the top of Big Huckleberry Mt. Dry trail, almost no water.Direction: Cross the Bridge of the Gods and turn right on Highway 14. Drive east for 5.9 miles, through Stevenson. Turn left on Wind River Road, following the signs for Carson. Drive north 4.0 miles, through Carson. Turn right on Bear Creek Road. Bear Creek Road is a narrow paved road. After 3.6 miles, the road turns to gravel and becomes NF-6808. Continue another 7.2 miles to an unsigned road junction at Triangle Pass. Turn left here and drive 2.1 miles on unsigned road NF-68. Turn right on unsigned road 511. The trailhead is right at this last junction. Parking is on the right and the trail heads uphill to the left. (Latitude: 45.79742, Longitude: -121.74096)
Took these photos of flowers, so I can ask Mary next weekend when I see her.
