![]() ![]() The trail now enters meadows blooming with heliotrope, lupine and groundsel in mid-summer. Wind up and keep right at the Paradise Park-Zigzag Mountain Trail Junction. Cross a gully and reach the edge of the canyon to switchback again. The trail drops to another footbridge and wends up past two noble firs on the left (one has been split off by lightning) and then there is a series of six switchbacks before the trail rises and then switchbacks twice more. Cross a footbrdige over a brook and switchback. The path makes two switchbacks, heading up in a montane woodland of mountain hemlock, silver fir, and noble fir. Pass through a blueberry patch and enter the silver fir zone. Bear-grass and rhododendrons form the understory. Hike steadily up under both western and mountain hemlocks, Douglas-fir and cedar with some western white pines. Now mountain hemlock and lodgepole pine are in the mix. A spur leads right to the Paradise Park Lower Viewpoint, where you can get vistas towards Mirror Lake and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. The track heads up in the woods on the edge of the canyon. Drop a little to reach the edge of Zigzag Canyon. The trail makes three long switchbacks and then levels in rhododendron, cedar and hemlock woods. Traverse up and swing right with lady fern, sword fern and Oregon grape dominating now. Then switchback past large Douglas-firs in a vine maple understory. Hike gradually up past the wilderness permit box. Salal, pipsissewa, rhododendron, and red huckleberry contribute to the understory here. The path switchbacks past an information kiosk and up a bank. Hemlock, cedar and Douglas-fir provide the canopy. It’s a clear understory at first, quiet and shady and carpeted with moss. The trail begins in an old campground with the Zigzag River rushing to the right. The Paradise Park Trail is used by horses and is usually well-maintained the Hidden Lake Trail can get brushy on its upper reaches. While there will be a lot of human action along the Timberline/Pacific Crest Trail and in Paradise Park, your long access and egress using the forested lower slopes will most likely be quite peaceful. Be prepared for a long day, as you'll want to tarry in the alpine zone and also, perhaps, splash yourself down at any of the numerous creek crossings. The hike, in essence, takes you up one side of the deeply incised Zigzag River Canyon and then down the other, via the Hidden Lake Trail, with the loop around Paradise Park making it a figure of eight. ![]() The destination, of course, is the alpine fell area above the treeline in Paradise Park, best visited from late July through August for prime-time flower blooms. If you want to get a good impression of the different layers of climate/vegetation zones on the west slope of Mount Hood, this loop hike starts you in typical lowland woodland and then passes you into the montane forest zone, which is followed by subalpine parklands. ![]()
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