Todays hike almost didn’t happen. I had wanted to it to be a family hike with the dog (while he is still able to hike). No one else seemed interested, and I almost didn’t go, but mid morning, I decided to do it. Bodie and I got in the truck and headed out about 10:30. That is much later than I usually go, but this was going to be a short hike, so I knew it would be OK.
It has been a long time since I’ve been to this cabin (I think it was 2011), but I remember the wonderful view of Mt Jefferson you get from driving along the 6350 road:

Olallie Butte has a nice view as well – it has lost almost all of its snow – that is telling how little snow we got this year – the top of it is over 7000′:

We drove to the trailhead, parked, and got ready. Someone appeared to be camped nearby – I could hear voices to the south somewhere, although I didn’t see any vehicles. We headed down the trail, and I quickly remembered how neat it was going thru the beginning of the trail – thru the old clearcut. It gives you another impressive view of of Olallie and Jefferson:

We headed into the woods and walked the trail, enjoying the solitude and peace. The temperature was just about perfect. I wasn’t sweating too much, but wasn’t cold, either – without a jacket on. We continued on until we got to a spring I saw a photo of recently, but never remembered seeing it before:

And on the trail next to it was a tree with a very unique blaze pattern – not sure what it means (I’m guessing it has something to do with the spring):

A little farther down the trail, we passed Round Meadow (the source of Round Lake):

Shortly, we got to the junction of the 564-A trail to Hawk Mountain and up we went. Along the way, I found another interesting blaze pattern – I don’t know what 2 on the left, one on the right means?:

We continued up to the top until we got to the cabin on top of Hawk Mountain – cute little cabin:

I opened up the windows to let it air about a bit, and started looking at the logbooks that were there that people had signed over the years. I took some photos of some interesting ones:




I absolutely LOVE this view from inside the cabin – looking out to Mt Jefferson:

I sat in the cabin for a bit, reading the entries and just enjoying being in there. After a while, I closed it all back up and went out and sat in the sun and ate a snack and enjoyed the views from on top of Hawk Mountain. Bodie poked around, sniffing everything in sight. After about 15 minutes, I decided we should head out, so we could get home on time. We headed back down the trail and made great time back to the truck.

A very quiet and pleasant day in the woods.

P.S. – The better way to get to this trailhead is to take 46 all the way down to where 6350 intersects and then take that north to the 6355 road. It is a LOT better driving than doing all the gravel roads. Probably slightly longer, but it has to be a LOT faster.