5-legged Zigzag Spider

Are you in the market for a 100km route with some decent elevation gain? The 5-legged Zigzag Spider route with 20,000ft of elevation pain may be for you! Well, unless you have arachnophobia.

Credit for this route goes to John Harris, who pointed out to me that Zigzag mountain could be summited on 5 different trails.

Overview of the 100km/60mi 5-legged Zigzag Spider route. So scary.

The route

Zigzag mountain (5,015ft) sits rather unassumingly in the the Mt. Hood Wilderness and offers amazing view of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and the Washington volcanos. The 5-legged Zigzag Spider route summits Zigzag mountain 5 times, each time on a different access trail. Reaching the actual summit (45.3463,-121.8377) requires a ~0.2-mile off-trail travel from the Zigzag Mountain Trail #775 on the north side. Nothing too crazy, but you have been warned. The summit is flat(ish) and camping is possible if you want to make this into a multi-day adventure of some sorts.

Yellow garden spiders, a.k.a. zigzag spiders, are commonly found in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America. The spiders are easily recognizable by their black abdomen with symmetrical patches of yellow coloration. “The web of the garden spider contains a highly visible zigzagging X-shaped pattern called a stabilimentum. The exact function of the stabilimentum is unknown, but its purpose may be to alert birds to the presence of the web so that they don’t fly through and destroy it by mistake. The spider may eat and respin its web each night” [Source].

Yellow garden spider, a.k.a. zigzag spider, and its web with the characteristic stabilimentum. Source: WP. Shared under CC BY 3.0.

To complete the route in a “zigzag spidery” way, do the following: 

  1. Pick one of the 5 approach trails (i.e., a green, red, blue, yellow, or purple leg).
  2. Summit Zigzag mountain on that trail (summit #1).
  3. Descend on a different trail.
  4. Come back up the same trail and summit Zigzag mountain again (summit #2).
  5. Repeat until you have covered all 4 trails besides your initial approach trail (summit #3, #4, and #5).
  6. Descend to your start location on the trail you did your first climb on.

Congrats, you are done!

Rules and regulations:

  • You are not allowed to leave the spider legs, i.e., you have to always be on one of the 5 trails.
  • That implies that loops are not allowed, i.e., you are not allowed to connect from one trailhead to another on a non-spider-leg-section.
  • Each and every part of each of the 5 spider legs needs to be covered twice: once while ascending, once while descending. You are not allowed to descend or ascend twice on the same leg (which would require you do make a loop).
  • You must summit Zigzag mountain 5 times.

Spider leg info and GPS tracks

Leg Trailhead Trail Out-and-back distance Elevation gain GPS
Green South Burnt Lake Trailhead Burnt Lake Tr #772 7.0mi 1,922ft kml | gpx
Blue Cast Creek Trailhead Horseshoe Ridge Tr #774 12.2mi 3,750ft kml | gpx
Yellow Cast Creek Trailhead Cast Creek Tr #773 12.0mi 3,929ft kml | gpx
Purple North Burnt Lake Trailhead Burnt Lake Trail #772 12.1mi 3,789ft kml | gpx
Red West Zigzag Mountain Trailhead Zigzag Mt. Tr #775 16.4mi 5,981ft kml | gpx
Total 59.7mi 19,371ft All: kml | gpx

Use this data at your own risk. The GPS tracks do not indicate a safe route.

Trailhead info

Note that some trailheads will require a Northwest Forest Pass.

Trailhead Directions
West Zigzag Mountain Trailhead Google Maps
North Burnt Lake Trailhead Google Maps
Cast Creek Trailhead Google Maps
South Burnt Lake Trailhead Google Maps
What do spiders eat in Paris? French flies.

Acknowledgments

Credit for this route goes to John Harris, who pointed out to me that Zigzag mountain could be summited on 5 different trails.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this website does not identify possible dangers. When you are attempting this route, you assume responsibility for your own actions and safety.