Cast Lake Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Cast Creek Trailhead
- End point: Cast Lake and East Zigzag Mountain
- Trail log: Trail Log
- Hike type: Out and back
- Distance: 12.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 3890 feet
- High point: 4,971 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: July - November
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: Yes
Contents |
Hike Description
A less crowded approach than the one from the North Burnt Lake Trailhead leads you up to Zigzag Mountain via a forested route that then allows you to take short jaunts east to East Zigzag Mountain and west down to to sparkling Cast Lake, where there are multiple campsites. Views only emerge when you're on the ridge, but then the payoff is great.
From the Cast Creek Trailhead in Riley Horse Camp, follow the trail across lichen and moss carpeted Old Maid Flat to join a wide trail, where you turn right. If you’re beginning at the alternate trailhead, you have two options: (1) hike decommissioned FR 1825-380 up to where the Cast Creek Trail crosses it; or (2) follow the wide sandy path, ignoring trails coming in from the horse camp on the right, to cross a small tributary of Cast Creek, which you can hear but not really see. Then head up a shady slope of Douglas-fir and hemlock to cross the overgrown road bed of FR 1825-380.
You’ll need to fill out a wilderness permit at the station. The gently graded trail proceeds upward through the salal to switchback above a gully. The route winds around the head of the gully, where you’ll see some larger Douglas-firs. Note also the rotting old snags in the forest, reminders of a long ago fire. The trail crosses a footbridge over a stream and then makes eleven switchbacks up to round the nose of a ridge. The rhododendrons here will be blooming in July. On the crest of the ridge, the trail drops before rising again in five long switchbacks. Keeping near the crest of this ridge, the path becomes bordered by bear-grass and bunchberry, making more switchbacks and a couple of longer traverses. As the tread steepens, you’ll switchback up through a bear-grass/rhododendron corridor and arrive at a high crest with a mixed forest of lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, cedar, mountain hemlock, silver fir, and noble fir. Here, there are your first clifftop views past East Zigzag Mountain to Mount Hood; Mount Adams should also be visible. Lupine, paintbrush, and penstemon bloom in the small clearings. The trails drops and, five miles from the horse camp, you’ll come to the Zigzag Mountain-Cast Creek Trail Junction.
For East Zigzag Mountain (0.7 miles one-way), go left and wind up steeply in lodgepole pine, mountain hemlock, silver fir, and noble fir forest. The trail then ascends the ridge crest in a brilliant paintbrush meadow with mountain sandwort, sulfur buckwheat, and mariposa lilies all blooming in early summer. Just past a campsite, a spur takes you up to the rocky and wildflowered summit of East Zigzag Mountain, where there are views to Burnt Lake below and back to Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, Olallie Butte and Mount Jefferson. Mount Hood, of course, looms large, and to the north are the three southern Washington stratovolcanoes.
Return to the Zigzag Mountain-Cast Creek Trail Junction when you're done with your viewing, and keep straight on the Zigzag Mountain Trail. Drop to a lush, boggy flat of lodgepole pine, willow, and spiraea as well as many mosquitoes! Shortly, you'll come to the junction with the Cast Lake Trail, marked by a Zigzag Mountain Trail sign on a tree. Turn right, and follow the path as it rises through huckleberries to a saddle and then descends. The trail crosses a wet meadow with willow, shooting stars, and buttercups. The path makes a final short drop to the marshy lakeshore area. Marsh marigolds, shooting stars and violets are blooming here in summer. A small creek enters Cast Lake, and there are surprisingly few mosquitoes compared to the bogs above. You can make your way around the shore of the lake on a user path. There are a number of campsites.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Green Trails Maps: Government Camp, OR #461
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Zigzag Ranger District
- Discover Your Northwest: Mt. Hood National Forest North
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Hood National Forest
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount Hood
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount Hood Wilderness
- Adventure Maps: Mount Hood Area
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Pass) required
- Restrooms in Riley Horse Camp (if it’s open)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Cast Lake
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Cast Lake
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Day Hiking Mount Hood: A Year-Round Guide by Eli Boschetto
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Hiking Oregon’s Mount Hood & Badger Creek Wilderness by Fred Barstad
- 105 Virtual Hikes of the Mt. Hood National Forest by Northwest Hiker
- 70 Hiking Trails: Northern Oregon Cascades by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 62 Hiking Trails: Northern Oregon Cascades by Don & Roberta Lowe
- More Oregon Trails and Horse Camps by Kim McCarrel
More Links
- Cast Creek Trail #773 (USFS)
- Zigzag Mountain Trail #775 (USFS)
- Cast Lake Trail #796 (USFS)
- Cast Lake Hike (Northwest Hiker)
- Cast Lake Trail, OR (EyeHike)
- Sunshine at Cast Lake (Cascadia Trips)
Contributors
- retiredjerry (creator)