6/24, Saturday. 97°F. Eight of us met at Gateway Transit Center at 8 am. Drove to Riley horse camp on East Lolo Pass Road after a stop at the ranger station. A challenge was await only a few minutes from TH. The bridge is out. The log to the right (downstream?) is more substantial. I scooped over. 2 of us were able to walk over on that log. The rest of the trail is on soft dirt, easy walking. 
Saw this remains about 1.5 hours from TH (last winter's kill?). Most of the trail is in the woods, until we reach Horseshoe Ridge, where you can see Mt Hood through trees. 
We had lunch at the top of the ridge, a butte of 4877' on my map, after turning left onto Zigzag Mt Trail. My umbrella was very useful here. Open. Great view: St Helen, Rainier, Adams to the north, and Jefferson to the south.
Walking down along a saddle to north of Zigzag Mt (on the topo map I bought), we encountered plenty of snow patches, and puddle on trail. Mosquitos appeared, especially when you stop to put some snow into your water bottle, or on your head. There were quite some avalanche lily blooming and about to bloom. Some snow patch obscured the trail, so you had to look around before continuing. I checked on my GPS map, and saw that we were going farther from Zigzag Mt. I mistook this as where the East Zigzag Lookout is, and bailed out of the group. I bushwhacked uphill (quite steep, but short). Once I got on the top (very overgrown) it dawned on me this is the wrong top (I was there exactly a year ago, so I still remember). Bushwhacked down along a more gentle slope to the east. Until I hit Burnt Lake Trail. Then I backtracked to Zigzag Trail (this part is not on the printed map, nor on US Topo Traditional DRG map I downloaded on my phone). The rest is straight forward. At the junction to Cast Lake is very meadowy, somewhat swampy now, with running creek and more mosquitos. Then the junction of Cast Creek Trail (left, where my group would go down to their cars) and East Zigzag Trail (right, to the lookout).
By the time I arrived at East Zigzag Lookout, my group was long gone. I was worried when I saw only a couple of small patches of snow on the slope about to disappear, because I don't want to camp by Cast Lake for fear of being eaten alive by mosquitos. It was 3pm, and I was utterly alone. In the woods by the lookout, to my relief, I found enough snow to make a comfortable camp. Someone had built a cooking station and seat. All under direct sun, until about 8:30pm. Hard to find a place with shade to sit and read. 
As the sun went down, the colors got more intense, so were more mosquitos. Even at 8:30pm (when this photo was taken), it was too warm to wait for sunset in the flowering slope, as it was facing west without any shade. I eventually had to hide in my tent from mosquitos. I spent quite some time looking at the map, and weighing my two exit options (continue on Zigzag Trail and turn south on Timberline Trail to the lodge for about 8 miles, or backtrack on Zigzag Trail and hike down West Zigzag trail to Hwy 26 for about 11 miles). Not surprisingly, I had cell service here. Couldn't find out how Zigzag Canyon crossing is (USFS website said the trail is good from the log to the canyon). Eventually I settled on FSTopo Forest Map on the phone, and West Zigzag trail down. 
I could see Mt St Helen from my tent. Didn't bother to use rain fly. The stars were nice at night, and I could see very well on my mattress. The night wasn't very dark. Light of Portland shows in the distant west horizon. A still and warm night.About 9-10 miles today, maybe 3000' gain.
6/25, Sunday. 101°F. Set my alarm at 4:45am, half an hour before sunrise, hoping to pack out before mosquitos woke up. No luck, some of them came as soon as I got out of my tent. The color is not as vivid as sunset. Hiked out shortly after 5:30am, hoping to catch the 10:45 Mt Hood Express. Just I walked down the flower slope, I heard some thumping noise to the south. Never saw what that was.Down and up. At around 7am, I was back to the junction of Zigzag and Horseshoe Ridge. Here, I turned left, continuing on 775 (Zigzag Mt trail). Trail was a bit overgrown, narrowed by beargrass and rhododendron, non flowering. More of less flat.
A little later, saw some rhodies blooming, and again near West Zigzag. Too late or too early? Saw a little snake skittered away. The next junction, I turned right, still on 775. Here, on my printed map says 4.8 miles, while on the sign it says 5.3 miles. The trail is well trodden here again. The trail goes to the west of the ridge for a bit. There around 8am is a nice dry camp (no snow left) and an outcrop with many penstemon. This may be the West Zigzag Lookout (4468'). The trail continues below another butte labeled on my GPS map as Zigzag 4504. No obvious route up. After maybe another hour, the trail starts to go down. 
Lots of long zigzags. Glad to see this Mt Hood Lily. Only one. I reached the trailhead at 10:18. Walked the gravel road (in decent shape) west (doesn't appear on Google Map). Maybe 1/4 mile. Met a couple of people walking their dogs. It was in the shade, so not too hot. Continued onto paved East Mountain Dr. It hits Lolo Pass Rd, where I turned left (W), cross Zigzag River, to Hwy 26. Walk north, cross Hwy 26, turn left on the next road (E. Salmon River Rd). There's my bus stop. 10:45am. Very sunny, not much shade.Maybe 11 miles today.
The shuttle arrived around 11:20am. Me and another guy with bike boarded bus. Thank god there's AC. Maybe half a dozen on board. A couple of stops later, I disembarked at Sandy TC ~10:50. Waited on the wooden bench for the 12:30 express SAM (Sandy Area Metro). The driver let me on earlier, to profit the AC in the bus. I got off at Gresham TC, and on to MAX. Glad to have found a public transportation option between Portland and Mt Hood. These buses run daily.
