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1. #Paradise park Patch
2. #Paradise park series

Head up to a viewpoint over Zigzag Canyon and switchback. The route 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.

#Paradise park series

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.

#Paradise park Patch

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. While Paradise Park itself is a popular destination, this hike's long access and egress using the forested lower slopes will most likely be quite unpeopled. 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. However, if you want to get a good impression of the different layers of climate/vegetation zones on the west slope of Mount Hood, this lollipop loop hike takes you from typical lowland woodland through the montane forest zone and into subalpine parklands. The Paradise Park from Timberline Lodge Hike describes an easier way to get there - 10 miles round trip and 2000 feet elevation gain to the same spot as this hike. This hike takes you up to and around Paradise Park, one of the most extensive and beautiful alpine areas on Mount Hood.