7/26. A beautiful sunny day, warm but not too hot. Starting at the Top Spur Trailhead (Lat/Long: 45.4074/-121.7856). In ~0.4 mile, at the first junction, turn right. Shortly thereafter, at 2nd junction, take PCT. Soon, ~10am, we arrived at our first view of Hood on Bald Mt. Plenty of flowers, but no beargrass. Actually a lot of beargrass in the woods, but not blooming.
When the trail re-enters the woods after the second, smaller meadow, took the 2 parallel logs to the left. If you reach a stock gate, you've gone too far. In ~100m, rejoin Timberline trail. Follow Timberline along the Bald Mountain ridge, and it opens for more views of the Sandy Glacier and McNeil Point. After we emerged from the woods, took the small climber's trail to a scramble, first in a most lushly green slope full of Corn Lilies, then bare steep rocks. In 0.4 mile, we were at McNeil Shelter. Snacked under Hood, with the view of St Helen, Rainier, and Adams. As we left the shelter, Brooke caught up with us. Poor lady went through the stock gate down to the river, before realizing that she was on a wrong trail. Surprising how strong she is, being oldest and fastest among us. We continued east along Timberline. Crossing the tumbling outlet from the Glisan Glacier caused minor problem. Beyond the crossing, the Timberline Trail rounds a ridge, then curves into the valley holding Cairn Basin and Eden Park. You can see Eden Park down below. To visit Cairn Basin Shelter (5700'), stay straight, and walk through dense mountain hemlock forest to campsites and the old stone shelter, only 0.5 miles after McNeil junction. Quite nice camping area close by, but not at the shelter.
Continued further east along Timberline Trail to Wy'east Basin. It's quite lovely. Small. Looks almost swampy. Great view. But to get here, another big creek crossing.
Return to Timberline Trail, continue the last 0.7 mile to Elk Cove. Larger flowering basin. Minor ups and downs. Running creek. A late lunch break ~2:30pm.
On the way back, we looked harder at the faint trail for Dollar Lake. Eventually, we found it. It's a delightful pond. Only 1/4 miles, over mostly snow patches. A family is camping right next to it, and jumped in it. Perfect reflection of Hood. Continued back to Wy'east Basin junction. At the sign turn right towards Eden Park for 0.3 miles. At the junction with Vista Ridge trail, turn left for 0.9 miles to Eden Park. (I missed that trail, and caused everyone extra miles down on Vista Ridge). We went through burned trees, and a profusion of avalanche lilies.Eden Park is small, aptly named. A creek, flat and green, lots of lilies, view of Hood of course. Crossed the same creek downstream, equally non-trivial. Uphill back to Cairn Basin, and Timberline Trail, and then all the way back to the car.
Total 5 women, 1 car. Took longer than I thought: ~8.5 hours. About 15 miles, 4000' total. Early summer flowers. Heathers are coming. Even saw a few glacier lilies. Snow patches, but easy to walk on. Almost no bugs. Some flies on the trail on Bald Mountain ridge.Reference: Cairn Basin from Top Spur and Elk Cove from Vista Ridge
