[trillium troll]

We had to abort a hike to Mt. Higgins - closed - if I had checked the internet I suppose I would have known. The equipment guard said there won't be access to the trailhead until July, due to logging activities. So we drove a bit further to Lonetree Pass trailhead. The forest road to the trailhead is short (2mi), but I'm glad we had 4wd. The trail is as steep as described, and it was good that it was in the shade. The going gets rough, and then rougher. One spot has some tricky blowdowns. Just a couple of thin trickles of water, though we did hear a creek. Absolutely no snow on the way up. We ended up losing the trail, and lunched exhausted, rewarded with nice views through the trees. We thought the meadows were close, given our effort. Turned out we had 1400 more vertical feet to go, with no clear idea of the trail location. We blamed the dog (my excellent trail dog is getting old, and this one was hard on his hips) and headed back down. It was good to get an early work-out!