8/20, Saturday. Busy at the rental car office. Only got my car at 9:30am. When I headed out, the car registered 80°F. Drove towards Cascade Lock. The stretch west of the hill on hwy-26 registered 86°F. Arrived at Thunder Island 10:45, about 85°F. PCT Day event is not on the island proper, unlike last time I was there. Lots of tents all over the island, again, unlike last time, not a lot of people camped here 3 years ago. Maybe more marketing, and more and more PCT hikers. I did see a few in dirty clothes and backpacks. Quite a few have name tags with their trail names. But most participants are like me, freshly emerged from their air-conditioned car. Similar amount of booths. No talks/seminars. A proper stage with a lot of speakers. A few games. Overall, not a whole lot to do. I chatted with 2 forest rangers, inquiring the road conditions to a few hiking choices at Hood. That's very useful. There's a raffle at noon. I got a small LED lighter. There are, of course, lots of schwag.
I didn't want to camp here due to the heat. At 1pm, I drove away. My car, parked in the sun, registered 105°F. Once in the shade, it dropped to 95°F. It's about 1.5 hour drive to Vista Ridge trailhead. However, Google Map doesn't even have the road where the TH is, causing me to take a wrong branch at the last mile. There's about 8 miles bad road, but not too bad. The small TH had ~a dozen cars. It smells of dog poop, maybe my tires went over some. Saw quite a few. I waited for a car to leave and took that spot. 88°F @3:40, 4500'.
Vista Ridge is an easy hike. Very dusty. Almost flat. But my sweat was still dripping. I took my umbrella, and a can of beer. In about 10-15 minutes, you get to wilderness boundary, where I filled a backcountry permit. There, the burnt area starts. Dead trees with white barks, fireweed and beargrass. In 2 miles, you see live trees, but not long, you are emerging out of the tree line. Timberline trail is 2.5 miles from the sign. I pitched my tent (no rainfly) at Wy'east Basin (5800'), the first meadow with healthy streams, minutes from the trail junction. 
It was just past 5pm, but I called it a day. A very easy day in the hear. Good view here. Can see Adams, Rainier, and St Helens, the latter two were very faint. Good breeze. Quite some little flies. I washed a bit my T-shirt in the creek and wore the wet shirt. Felt good. Ate my sandwich sitting in the shade, typing this blog. Soon, I was actually feeling cold.At 8pm, I decided to go up the basin wall for a sunset photo of Hood. Unbeknownst to me, the wall keeps rising, and I lost the view of Hood entirely. By the time Hood reappeared, it was devoid of color. 8:30, headed back down the dusty scree.
Since I didn't put up the rainfly, I could see the stars lying on my mattress. The sky wasn't too dark at 9pm, but the 3/4 moon would rise at 9:30. You could also see the light pollution from Hood River.
8/21, Sunday. Headed back up the same trail at 6am, hoping for some sunrise photo. Again, too late. Barrett Spur loop. Looks like I was going up further along the same Vista Ridge, but not on the ridge proper, as too many short gnarled trees. Walking up in scree next to the ridge. Therefore view of Hood is blocked, so is the wind. The slope is not steep. Probably better if were in snow. Surprising number of flowers, at least 2 weeks too late. 
Once you plateau out, wind gets stronger. There are more low lying plants here, like dwarf lupine. Hood looms closer and closer, until you reach the end, marked by big boulders, nails, and a can of chilly! View of Hood is superb. So close, you can see and hear the falling water, the cracks. Too windy to breathe comfortably. Elevation 7850'.
Return towards Dollar Lake. You can see the routes from this photo looking down. This loop is better done in reverse. You can almost always see Hood along this trail. Flowers are also better. You can look down Elk Cove to the right below you, which I'd go next. 
Dollar Lake itself is just a small pond. The water isn't even clear. Much better looking when it was snowed over last time I was here. I saw two tents. Pretty soon after Dollar Lake, you hit Timberline Trail. 
Follow it to the right (east) to Elk Cove itself. Narrow and deep. It's very green, braids of creeks, pretty. Quite a lot of people camp here. I walked around the cove for some time, ate my 2nd sandwich. Again, too late for flowers.Retrace my steps on Timberline Trail to my tent, packed up, reached trailhead around 1pm, 68°F. ~20 cars parked here. I don't know how most of them can turn around. One car waited for me to leave. Drove down to Zigzag road and out to hwy-26. Have good views of Hood in many places. It's a long drive for Hood. Took me over 2.5 hours. My phone registered 24k steps. 8-9 miles.
Overall, about 12 miles (8-9 miles Vista Ridge TH to Elk Cove RT, and 3 miles Barrett Spur add-on), about 4000' gain, but seems less. Easy for overnight, very very dusty.
