Month: June 2024

Big Huckleberry Mountain – 06/22/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 24, 2024
4 Comments on Big Huckleberry Mountain – 06/22/2024

There are a few hikes we’ve done where either fog, clouds, or smoke have left us without a view from our destination. When that happens, we add them to the list of destinations to revisit. Big Huckleberry Mountain was one such destination. Located in SW Washington in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest we had visited this former lookout site in 2019 (post). For that hike we started from the Grassy Knoll Trailhead. That was an 11.4-mile hike gaining 1800′ of elevation with lots of wildflowers.

While the Grassy Knoll approach was great there are other ways to reach Big Huckleberry Mountain. Two of them are by starting at trailheads along the Pacific Crest Trail from either the north or south. We chose the southern trailhead based on it being the starting point of William L. Sullivan’s featured hike in his “100 Hikes Northwest Oregon” guidebook. An unofficial trailhead, it isn’t shown on Forest Service or Google maps, but a large pullout along Forest Road 68 where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses serves the purpose.
Looking down at the pullout from the PCT on the way back.

Be aware that FR68 is rough with numerous good-sized potholes and one large, steep drop that would be difficult for low clearance vehicles.

From the pullout we crossed the road at a large sign for the Wind River Experimental Forest and headed uphill on the PCT.

The PCT gradually climbed through a nice forest where a good number of wildflowers were blooming. There were also some glimpses of Mt. Hood through the trees. At the 1.3-mile mark the views to the south opened up where a large landslide at some point in the distant past had removed much of the forested hillside.

Phantom orchid

Spotted coralroot

Finetooth beardtongue

Mt. Hood through a window in the trees.

Finetooth beardtongue along the trail.

White spiraea

Bluehead gilia

Paintbrush

Some yellow balsamroot along the trail.

Columbine

Inside-out flower

Queen’s cup

Bunchberry

Vanilla leaf

Arnica

Approaching the landslide area.

Starting at the green up to the left is Augspurger Mountain (post) and Dog Mountain (post) on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. Mt. Defiance (post) is the high point on the Oregon side with Mt. Hood to the right. The three lower peaks to the right of Mt. Hood are Tomlike, Chinidere, and Indian Mountain (post).

Mt. Hood from the viewpoint.

Lomatium, bluehead gilia, and arrowleaf buckwheat in the bowl.

The trail continued along above the landslide before veering left to pass around a rise along the ridge.

Honeysuckle

On the far side of the rise a spur trail led right to a small wildflower meadow along the side of the landslide.

Wild onion mixed in with bluehead gilia.

Bluehead gilia

Lupine

Catchfly

Beyond the viewpoint the trail dropped to a saddle then resumed its gradual climb following the forested ridge. Just before the 3-mile mark we passed the Cedar Creek Trail coming up from the right. Along the way we passed through a couple more small meadows with nice wildflowers.
Arnica and beargrass in the forest.

Nearing one of the little meadows.

Sub-alpine mariposa lilies

Bluehead gilia

Sub-alpine mariposa lilies

A closer look shows why these are also known as cat’s ear lilies.

Buckwheat

Onion

Bastard toadflax behind a cat’s ear lily.

Rosy pussytoes

Yarrow

Looking back from the meadow.

I believe these are some type of microseris.

Boundary sign for the Wind River Experimental Forest.

Broadleaf arnica

Star-flowered false solomonseal

The Cedar Creek Trail coming up from the right.

Anemones

A third of a mile beyond the Cedar Creek Trail junction the PCT passed by a rocky outcrop. On the far side we took a path to the left leading to the top of the outcrop which had a great view of Mt. Hood and more wildflowers.

Wallflower

White groundsel

Cliff beardtongue

Wild rose

Larkspur

Mt. Hood from the viewpoint.

Spotted coralroot

Oregon sunshine and wild onions

Chickweed

While we were taking a break at the viewpoint another pair of hikers arrived (the only others we would see all day). We left the viewpoint to them and continued on.
Arriving at another small clearing with flowers.

Phlox, penstemon, lomatium, onion, and mariposa lilies.

Another little meadow.

Larkspur and balsamroot

This was the only time we spotted Mt. St. Helens on the hike.

At the 4-mile mark (0.7 from the rock outcrop viewpoint) we arrived at the junction with the Grassy Knoll Trail.

Almost immediately after passing this trail the Big Huckleberry Mountain Trail led uphill to the right.

We had forgotten how steep the 0.2-mile trail to the former lookout site was compared to the PCT, but the wildflowers and views from the long summit were worth it.

Mt. Adams from the former lookout site.

There was a lot of phlox in bloom.

Table Mountain (post) and Greenleaf Peak (post)

Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood with Mt. Jefferson behind to the right.

We walked west from the summit down the wildflower covered ridge to get some additional views.

Balsamroot and groundsel

Mt. Adams

Phlox

Paintbrush and cliff beardtongue

Another view of Mt. Hood.

Sandwort

Chickweed

Balsamroot

Some of the smaller flowers present on the summit.

Finetooth beardtongue

Wallflower

Wild onion

The end of the ridge is about three quarters of a mile from the lookout site.

We took a break on a small rock outcrop to enjoy the scenery and the gentle breeze that was keeping things from being too warm.
Heather on the outcrop.

Painted lady

When we finally started back we heard voices which turned out to be the two hikers that we’d seen at the lower viewpoint. They had set up their amateur radio and had just been communicating with someone in Pennsylvania. We passed by and made our way back past the lookout site and down to the PCT.

Larkspur
Swallowtail

Chickweed in some phlox.

We returned the way we’d come on the PCT enjoying the wildflowers the second time as much as we had the first.

Wallflower

Colubmine

Bluehead gilia

Beargrass along the PCT.

Heading down to the trailhead.

The hike ended up being 9.3 miles with approximately 1460′ of elevation gain.

This was a great hike with good views, lots of wildflowers, and plenty of solitude. The only downside at all was the rough drive up FR 68. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Big Huckleberry Mountain

Tags Big Huckleberry Mountain, cedar creek trail, Grassy Knoll Trail, hiking, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Washington, wildflowers, Wind River Experimental Forest

Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte – 06/19/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 22, 2024
No Comments on Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte – 06/19/2024

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak from Deception Butte

Juneteenth provided us an opportunity for a mid-week hike, and we used that opportunity to visit a pair of trails near Westfir, OR.

We began our day by stopping at the Buckhead Nature Trailhead for a short warmup hike.

A paved interpretive loop explores a riparian zone along the Middle Fork Willamette River.

Signboard about a tenth of a mile from the trailhead.

The loop began on the far side of the footbridge.

We hiked the loop clockwise and made our way back to the car. There were a few flowers and an obstructed view of the river. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife save for a couple of birds and a snail.

As far as we could remember we’d never seen a bench on the other side of a fence before.

Middle Fork Willamette River through the vegetation.

Tiger lily

Self-heal

Snail

Mock orange

The hike here was a little over half a mile, a good warm-up for our next stop at the Deception Butte Trailhead which was only 3.5 miles away.

We had attempted this hike in October 2017 (post), but a 2014 wildfire had left the trail beyond the creek itself unpassable. The trail remained closed until 2022 when the Forest Service and volunteers were finally able to clear and make the necessary repairs to the fire damage.

The fire mostly spared the forest up to the footbridge crossing Deception Creek.

Anemone

There are a few junctions prior to reaching the footbridge. The first was the only one with any signage. We stayed on the correct trail by ignoring side trails to the left that headed uphill and on the right that led down to Deception Creek.

We turned left at the signed junction following half a sign for the Deception Butte Trail.

At the last unsigned junction there was a signboard, but with nothing on it. (We went straight.)

Warning sign for the burned area ahead.

The footbridge over Deception Creek.

Deception Creek

On the far side of the footbridge the trail entered the fire scar and climbed steeply up a small ridge.

The trail then dropped steeply down on the other side of the ridge.

Due to the fire damage the tread here and for much of the remainder of the trail is rocky and somewhat slick so trekking poles came in very handy. There were also a few spots where some of the tread was missing requiring care. The trail was free of any significant debris, and we only had to step over one small tree. From the bridge it was approximately 3 miles to the summit with around 2300′ of elevation gain. The trail used a combination of switchbacks and longer traverses to gain the elevation. The grade varied widely with a few steep sections and some gentler climbs
The amount of trail work needed to clear the trail was evident by the sheer number of cut trees along the length of the trail.

This was from 2017 near the same stretch of trail.

View up the canyon from the trail.

Clodius parnassian

There was a lot of vegetation along the trail, so we had to keep an eye out for poison oak which was present at times on the lower two-thirds of the trail. It was never much of a problem, but there were a couple of plants crowding the trail that we had to maneuver around.

Moth

Starflower

Rhododendron

Northern cloudywing

Big deervetch

Hummingbird

Kreuger Rock with Patterson Mountain (post ) behind to the left.

Groundsel

One of the damaged sections of trail.

There was some forest that survived the fire starting near the 3.5-mile mark where the fire burned less intensely.

Townsend’s solitaire

Canada jay

There were a few views of the Three Sisters through the remaining trees. (Middle & South Sister here)

Inside-out flower

Looking up as the trail neared the summit.

Woodpecker

Common whipplea

Anemone

The Deception Butte Trail arriving at Deception Butte.

Beargrass

From the actual summit the view is limited in every direction save the south.

A user trail heads SW and drops to an open saddle where you can get an unobstructed view of Diamond Peak to the SE.

Looking down at the saddle and wondering if it was really worth having to climb back up.

I had arrived before Heather and decided I needed to see the view, so I headed down to the saddle where there were I found quite a bit of wildlife and a few flowers.
Northern flicker

Lizard

Rock outcrop on the other side of the saddle.

Tolmie’s mariposa lilies

Bluehead gilia

Squirrel

Oakridge in the valley below with Diamond Peak (post) on the right. The smaller peak with snow to the left of Diamond is Mt. Yoran, the triangle shaped peak is Coyote Mountain, and the peak with a little snow to the left of that is Fuji Mountain (post).

Diamond Peak

Oakridge

Leafy fleabane

Oregon sunshine on the hillside looking up Deception Butte from the saddle.

Wild onion

One of the fritillary butterflies.

Fly inside a Tolmie’s mariposa lily.

Hether had joined me at the summit, and we took a nice break in the shade on the mossy ground before heading back down.

There is a very steep trail just below the summit that leads to an upper trailhead. The Forest Service does not recommend using these though as the trail is said to be slippery and steep. We can vouch for the steep just by having looked down from the Deception Butte Trail.

Plectris and stonecrop

It was warming up fast as we descended, a stark contrast to the cold wet descent on MacDuff Mountain (post) just four days prior. We had to be careful not to slip on the loose rocks in the steeper sections and were again thankful for our trekking poles.

Coralroot

The best view of the Three Sisters that we got all day.

Butterflies enjoying some vetch. There were at least a half dozen butterflies visiting this patch.

Brown creeper

Pink pyrola

Pearly everlasting

Turkey vulture

Fireweed

Entering the trees near the footbridge over Deception Creek.

Columbine

Tiger lilies

This was a challenging but nice hike. We only saw one other person all day, a trail runner, before reaching the footbridge in the morning. In addition to some poison oak along parts of the trail we did flick a total of three ticks off our clothing so that is something to be aware of. Our GPS track showed approximately 9.5 miles which is partially inflated by my wandering back and forth a bit at the summit.

While it’s not the most exciting hike you can find, there were enough views and variety of plants and wildlife to keep things interesting and the elevation gain made it a good training hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte

Tags Buckhead Nature Trail. Lower Deception Butte Trailhead, Deception Butte, Deception Butte Trail, Deception Creek, hiking, oakridge, Oregon, wildflowers, Willamette National Forest

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

MacDuff Mountain – 06/15/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 17, 2024
2 Comments on MacDuff Mountain – 06/15/2024

Seemingly all of the upcoming hikes I have slated for June (this year and in the future) involve viewpoints, but after a week of mostly blue skies and warm weather rain showers arrived just in time for our day off. Our original plan had been a two-stop day near McKeznie Bridge, first to revisit Castle Rock where we’d missed the view in 2017 (post) due to clouds, then hike to MacDuff Mountain for the first time. When I checked Friday morning the forecast for this area called for a 60% chance of showers mainly before 11am, less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation, and partly sunny skies. I checked some other areas and unless we were willing to drive to Central Oregon none looked better than this.

We decided to save Castle Rock for another (sunnier) day and drove straight to the O’Leary/Castle Rock Trailhead.

The hike to MacDuff Mountain was brought to our attention by Hike Oregon who is a great resource for hiking and backpacking information and tips. The O’Leary Mountain Trail passes just below the rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain on its way to joining the 22.8-mile long Olallie Trail. This trail and a portion of the Olallie Trail are open to mountain bikes as well as hiking. The out-and-back to MacDuff Mountain is approximately 10.5 miles with over 2700′ of elevation gain. The well graded trail makes the climb feel like less than that number though.

From the trailhead we crossed FR 411 to a pointer for the Castle Rock and O’Leary Trails.

We quickly arrived at a junction where the Castle Rock Trail headed left.

From this junction it is approximately 5 miles to the summit of Castle Rock. We wouldn’t have gone that route even if we had stuck to the original plan to visit it first. We would have parked at the Castle Rock Trailhead which is only 1.2-miles from that peak’s summit.

We stayed straight on the O’Leary Trail and quickly became soaked by the damp vegetation along the trail.

There were some nice rhododendron blooms along the trail.

It was hard to tell if it was actually raining or if the low clouds/fog was just leaving the trees and plants damp but either way drops were falling from overhead as we climbed a series of switchbacks. These led us past some nice rock formations in the first mile and a half.

Spotted coralroot

The first of three crossings of FR 411, this is at the 0.4-mile mark.

Inside-out flower

Starflower

Yellowleaf iris

The trail is narrow at times but well maintiained.

Forest filled with rhododendron.

A closer look at the rhodies.

There were several madrones in the forest.

Little prince’s pine

Sugar sticks

There were a few places where we might have had a view if not for the clouds.

Stonecrop

Passing below some of the rock formations.

Anemones

Bleeding heart

The switchbacks became much rarer beyond the rock formations as the trail traversed the hillside below a ridgeline, and occasionally on the ridge.

The first small meadow that the trail passed through was full of blue-eyed Mary.

Northern phlox

Coming up on another small meadow.

Subalpine mariposa lily

Beargrass

A little under three miles from the trailhead the trail arrived at FR 411 for the second time.

We were briefly confused here because the Forest Service map showed the trail continuing straight across the road here, and the description from Hike Oregon was that you would cross the road here. There was no sign of the trail to be seen though. We wandered back and forth a bit then based on the topography decided that any continuation of the trail would be further up the road (to the right when arriving at the road). We walked approximately 100 yards to spot the continuation of the trail through the fog.
The fog didn’t help with our trying to find the trail. There was enough room along this section of road that parking and starting the hike from here would be possible.

Back on trail.

The trail made one of its steepest climbs from the road here then after briefly leveling out dropped back down to the road again.
Honeysuckle

More northern phlox

This meadow was full of bluehead gilia.

The trail dropped steeply as it rejoined FR 411.

Another brief road walk followed before the trail split off to the right at a pointer.
There was no parking room that we could see near this area.

It was only about a quarter of a mile between the two road crossings and the steep up and down had us questioning if it wouldn’t have been better just to stay on the road, but then we’d have missed the meadow of bluehead gilia.

The trail continued its gradual but steady climb for two more miles before arriving below the rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain.
Vanilla leaf along the trail.

Bunchberry

Trillium

We stopped when we spotted something in the trail ahead that looked like it might be an animal. Using the camera to zoom we realized it was a grouse hen with her little chicks.

The hen got up and then the chicks headed into the underbrush. We felt bad having disturbed them, but once they’d moved, we calmly passed by while momma came back to gather her little ones.

This was all beargrass, but none of the plants in this area appeared to be planning on blooming this year.

Hermit thrush

The rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain.

Our hopes that the clouds might break up or lift before our arrival at MacDuff Mountain were in vain. It was a little past 11am but partly sunny skies were a distant dream. While there wouldn’t be any mountain views today the wildflowers blooming on the rocks made for a worthy destination on their own.
A lot of larkspur.

Subalpine mariposa lilies

Paintbrush and buckwheat

Cinquefoil

A penstemon

Before going up to the actual summit I passed beneath and back into the forest following the trail until it began to descend.

There is no trail to the summit, so I went up cross country along the forest border then across to a 1931 memorial plaque at the top.

The view from the top.

No blue sky that way.

No sign of clearing this way either.

Cliff beardtongue

Woodland-stars

Paintbrush

We didn’t stay at the summit long. There was a slight breeze and that combined with the damp conditions made things chilly. We were not as prepared for the chilly conditions as we probably should have been, but even after 14 years of hiking we occasionally do dumb stuff. We headed back down and along the way encountered the only other person we’d see all day, another hiker making good time going uphill. We got even wetter when an actual rain shower passed over (it was chunky rain and we both thought there might have been a little snow mixed in) before finally got to see at least a little blue sky.

Hey look, there is another ridge over there.

Ookow just starting to open up.

Steep climb or road walk? We chose the trail again on the way back.

A wetter road now thanks to the rain shower.

Blue sky, it does exist.

The clouds got a late start but eventually started lifting.

From this angle it looks like a statue.

Looking down from some of the switchbacks.

Cougar Reservoir

Pyrola

Sunlight!

Both of our GPS units experienced technical difficulties. Mine randomly decided I was going a different direction that wound up putting us almost 7 miles north of our actual position, and Heather’s track couldn’t be imported to Basecamp. From what I could piece together the hike was approximately 11.2 miles but would have been closer to 10.5 had I not gone past the summit.
I’ve never seen a track this far off.

The track after manually editing it.

Despite the lack of views and not being prepared for it to be quite that chilly this was a good hike. The trail was in great condition with nice forest and wildflowers throughout. It may be a busier trail on nicer weekend days, but it didn’t appear that it sees a lot of usage regardless. Happy Trails!

Flickr: MacDuff Mountain

Tags Castle Rock Trail, cougar reservoir, Hike Oregon, hiking, MacDuff Mountain, O'Leary Mountain Trail, O'Leary Trail Complex, Oregon, wildflowers, Willamette National Forest

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Kilchis Falls, South Triangulation Point, and Cedar Butte – 06/08/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 10, 2024
1 Comment on Kilchis Falls, South Triangulation Point, and Cedar Butte – 06/08/2024

We’re continually looking for hikes that are new to us which led us to a pair of such hikes in the Tillamook State Forest. William L. Sullivan includes the 1.6-mile round trip to a former lookout site in Cedar Butte as an additional, non-featured hike in his “100 Hikes Oregon Coast” guidebook. A hike that short didn’t warrant the 2hr drive from Salem, so I took a look at the Oregonhikers.org field guide for other nearby hikes. That research revealed the Triangulation Point Loop. The field guide entry mentioned that the loop could be started from a saddle on the north side of Cedar Butte which was just over a mile from the Cedar Butte Trailhead.

We decided to start with the long loop first. We drove up the steep, narrow Cedar Butte Road past the Cedar Butte Trailhead and parked at the saddle overlooking a clearcut.
From the saddle South Triangulation Point, the highpoint of the loop, is to the right.

We would be doing the loop clockwise to avoid ending the loop with a climb back up to up to the saddle. We headed down Kilchis Forest Road which wound down through the clearcut before entering the forest.

The roadside was lined with wildflowers which we focused on over the missing trees.
Bleeding heart

Fairy lanterns

Solomonseal

Inside-out flower

Paintbrush

Lupine

Starflower

Salmonberry

Cardwell’s penstemon

Beargrass

Wallflower

Little-leaf montia

Fringecup

Salal

Rosy bird’s-foot trefoil

Band-tailed pigeons

Looking back at the saddle before heading into the trees.

Vetch

Leaving the clearcut.

The road leveled out in the forest making for a pleasant walk. Two miles from the saddle we arrived at 100′ Kilchis Falls.

Rock cliffs marking the location of Kilchis Falls.

Located on a tributary of the North Fork Kilchis River the falls reportedly seldom have much flow, but there was enough water today to make for a pretty sight.

The small pool below the falls.

Avens

Spider hiding on a columbine.

Scouler’s corydalis

Youth-on-age

Valerian

After a relaxing break at the falls, we continued along Kilchis Forest Road which approached the North Fork Kichis River and then followed it NW.

Hedgenettle

Waterfall on an unnamed creek. It was quite a way back in thick vegetation.

The above waterfall sans zoom.

Buttercup

Fick Creek joining the river.

Potholes on the North Fork Kilchis River.

Triangulation Creek flowing into the river.

Approximately two miles from Kilchis Falls we crossed the river on a bridge.

We continued to follow the river for another 0.6-miles where Middle Road joined steeply from the right.

Snail shadow on a iris.

Middle Road coming downhill on the right. This is the Middle Road Trailhead mentioned in the Oregonhikers.org field guide.

We made a sharp right turn here and began the difficult climb to South Triangulation Point.

Middle Road isn’t really a road anymore and is only suitable for high clearance 4wd vehicles or OHVs. We huffed and puffed up this track passing a road on the left after 1.3 miles and arriving at a saddle in another 0.3 miles.

A very blurry picture of a doe that was way down the hillside in the forest.

Large rock and log in the middle of Middle Road.

Monkeyflower surrounded by candyflower

Paintbrush on some cliffs above Middle Road.

Thistle

The road at the 1.3-mile mark along Middle Road.

The saddle at the 1.6-mile mark.

Memorial at the saddle.

We took a break at the saddle before continuing the climb. We passed another road on the left approximately half a mile from the saddle then came to 4-way junction 0.6 miles later.
Middle Road continuing on from the saddle.

Beargrass

The road on the left at the 2.1-mile mark.

Iris

Stream flowing down the road.

Coming up to the 4-way junction.

From the junction we took the righthand fork signed “FB3”.
Middle Road from the 4-way junction.

The two lefthand forks at the 4-way junction.

FB3

The elevation at the 4-way junction is about 2600′ and the Middle Road Trailhead is just over 800′ so we’d gained over 1800′ on Middle Road. South Triangulation Point tops out at 3255′ meaning we were still over 650′ below its summit so neither of us were pleased when FB3 proceeded to lose approximately 100′ of elevation in the first 0.6 miles.

Monkeyflower

Beargrass, paintbrush and penstemon

More flowers on a rocky outcrop along FB3.

A bunch of monkeyflowers.

When the road finally started climbing again it was more gradual than Middle Road had been. In 3/4 of a mile, we gained 350′ before coming to a fork.
Springs along the road.

Snake cooling off in the mud.

The snake didn’t budge as we passed around it.

This fork is approximately 4.2 miles from the Middle Road Trailhead.

At the fork we veered uphill to the left. This road gained nearly another 300′ in half a mile where it arrived at a saddle between Triangulation Point and South Triangulation Point.
Snake number two on the day.

This one didn’t budge either.

Switchback below the saddle.

Approaching the saddle.

Gated road up Triangulation Point.

South Triangulation Point

The wildflower display at the saddle was impressive and we spent some time admiring the blooms.
Serviceberry, paintbrush, yarrow, and iris.

Paintbrush and Cardwell’s penstemon

Iris

Broadleaf arnica, paintbrush and penstemon

Columbine among others.

Broadleaf arnica

Aside from a vehicle that was just leaving the saddle below Cedar Butte when we’d arrived that morning we hadn’t seen anyone all day. That changed at South Triangulation Point as a group of dirt bikes had arrived while we were taking a break at the switchback below the saddle. We took a left fork in the road and made our way to the summit where we briefly spoke with them.
Final pitch to the summit.

We could see our car parked at the saddle below Cedar Butte from South Triangulation Point.

Motorcycle track heading down from the summit with Triangulation Point on the other side of the saddle.

Looking to the NW you can see out to the Pacific Ocean. The line of peaks furtherst back staring from left to right consists of Neahkahnie Mountain (post), Angora Peak (post), West Onion & Onion Peaks, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Kidders Butte.

Closer look at Surgarloaf Mountain and Kidder Butte.

Wildflowers on South Triangulation Point.

After a break we headed down the road to the fork where we turned left and quickly began a steep half mile descent to a 5-way junction.

Another nice clump of wild iris.

Lupine

Flowers lining the road.

More motorcycles at the 5-way junction.

We stayed straight at this junction and continued downhill sticking to the main road at all junctions.

Variable-leaf collomia

The road briefly followed a narrow ridge.

Anemones

Moth

Heather spotted this little one. Not sure if it’s a vole, pocket gopher, or something else.

A little over a mile from our car we passed a series of wet cliffs that were putting on a spectacular flower display.

Silverleaf phacelia and chickweed

A lomatium

Larkspur and monkeyflower

This pink larkspur really stood out on the cliffs.

Littleleaf miner’s-lettuce

Several types of yellow wildflowers.

The cliffs helped explain why the road had dipped so far below Kilchis Saddle where our car was. Shortly after passing them the road began a final climb to the saddle gaining close to 200′ in the final three quarters of a mile.
Still dropping a little after the cliffs.

Bleeding heart and candyflower

Climbing the road at the edge of the clearcut.

The saddle where our car was parked across the clearcut.

South Triangulation Point from Cedar Butte Road.

South Triangulation Point

Looking down the North Fork Kilchis River valley from the saddle.

For us this loop came in at 12.7 miles a little over 2700′ of elevation gain. Despite being on roads some of the elevation change was quite steep adding to the difficulty. That being said this was a good hike with a nice waterfall and lots of wildflowers. We encountered about a dozen motorbikes, all between South Triangulation Point and end of the hike and we didn’t hear them all that often either.

It had been a long hard loop, so Heather chose not to add another 780′ climb when we arrived at the Cedar Butte Trailhead.

I on the other hand am a glutton for punishment so I threw my pack back on and walked 250′ up a gravel road to a signboard marking the start of the Cedar Butte Trail.
The trail information lists the hike as “difficult” due to the amount of elevation gained over just three quarters of a mile to the summit.

The start of the Cedar Butte Trail.

The trail began fairly level passing through some heavy brush before breaking into a second growth forest.

Star-flowered false solomonseal

Black-headed grosbeak

False lily of the valley

The trail didn’t really begin to climb until the 0.3-mile mark where it made a series of short switchbacks then alternated between steep straightaways and more switchbacks.
The trail was in good shape with just one small tree down over it.

Blue-eyed Mary

Small saddle below the summit.

Beargrass

Phlox

Final pitch to the summit.

Wild onion

Benches at the former lookout site.

View from the summit.

Wildflowers at the summit.

On the way back down I took a short, steep spur trail to a viewpoint where I could see Kings Mountain (post) to the NE.
Kings Mountain is the high point to the right along the ridge.

After checking out the viewpoint I continued my descent and rejoined Heather at the trailhead.

Fairy bells and vanilla leaf

Almost back

This hike had been 1.6 miles and one heck of a climb. My legs were feeling all 3500′ on the day. Late Spring seems like a good time to visit this area as the wildflowers were the highlight. Kilchis Falls was nice but at different times of the year the flow would likely diminish the appeal quite a bit. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Kilchis Falls, South Triangulation Point, and Cedar Butte

Tags Cedar Butte, Cedar Butte Trail, Cedar Butte Trailhead, FB3, hiking, Kilchis Falls, Kilchis Forest Road, Middle Road, North Fork Kilchis River, Oregon, Oregon Coast Range, South Triangulation Point, Tillamook State Forest, Triangulation Point, wildflowers

Columbia Gorge North Hiking Trip report Washington

Cook Hill – 06/01/2024

Cook Hill is a 3015′ peak just east of Dog Mountain (post). Dog Mountain is famous for its wildflower meadows and has become so popular that permits are required for weekend hikes during the peak flower season. Cook Hill has its own, albeit less spectacular, meadows and a recent online report informed us that the wildflower display there was near peak. We did some shifting to our planned hikes and headed out to check them out for ourselves.

The hike up Cook Hill is on unofficial trails, partly using old logging roads, primarily on public lands. (A small section past the summit is on private land held by a lumber company.) Matt Reeder featured the hike in his “off the Beaten Trail” guidebook which is what put it on our radar. It can be done as a lollipop loop or a shorter out-and-back. Reeder’s description as well as older trip reports found online mentioned that the trail could be faint in places and that there was no signage present. This was no longer the case as we found a clear trail the entire route and some signage was now present. It may be that the implementation of the permit system has driven more people to this hike, or it may just be more well known now. Whatever the reason we were thankful to those that have been maintaining the unofficial trail.

We arrived at 6:30am and were the third car at the trailhead.
The trailhead is just a large gravel pullout along Cook-Underhill Road.

From the parking area we crossed the road to Jackson Rd (to the left in the above photo).
There is no parking for the trail anywhere along Jackson Rd.

Approximately a tenth of a mile up Jackson Road we came to a gate with a “Cook Trailhead” sign.

We followed the roadbed uphill through a mixed forest with a lot of poison oak off to the sides.

Ookow surrounded by poison oak.

Mt. Defiance (post) across the Columbia River.

Large-flower triteleia

Monkeyflower along the road.

Ookow

Small waterfall through the vegetation.

The first of two crossings of this unnamed creek.

There was a lot of spotted coralroot along the road.

Most of the trees had been cleared from the road, those that remained were easily stepped over.

Anemones

The second creek crossing.

Lupine

White groundsel

Small spring near the junction with the start of the loop.

Reeder mentioned a rock cairn at the start of the loop which was still present, but now there were signs too.

Going counterclockwise seemed to be preferred direction based on trip reports. This was also the shorter distance to the summit at 1.6-miles.

The clockwise sign listed the summit as 2.8-miles away in that direction.

We chose counterclockwise and continued through the forest. The roadbed had been fairly steep but soon this trail began to steepen even more as it approached the small lower meadow.

Arriving at the lower meadow.

At the meadow the trail turned directly uphill through the flowers before reentering the forest.

Balsamroot

Groundsel and balsamroot

Lupine

Death camas

The rocks up ahead made for some nice seats to take in the view from.

Mt. Hood peaking over the ridge to the left with Mt. Defiance to the right.

Mt. Hood

After a much needed break we continued steeply through the forest to the start of the next, much longer meadow.

Vanilla leaf

Starflower

Fairybells

The start of the long upper meadow.

There wasn’t as much balsamroot in the upper meadow, but rather a wide variety of flowers in various stages of blooming.
Larkspur

Violets

Slender phlox and blue-eyed Mary

Phlox

Balsamroot surrounded by larkspur and coastal manroot.

Coastal manroot

Groundsel

Dog Mountain from the meadow.

Chocolate lily

This was the closest lupine to blooming in the upper meadow.

Chickweed

Oregon sunshine yet to boom.

Mt. Hood from the meadow.

The trail continued to climb through the meadow with increasingly better views and flowers.

Woodland stars, larkspur, and lomatium.

Yellow buttercups lining the trail.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Defiance

Mt. Hood

Mt. Defiance

Alpine pennycress

Larkspur and lomatium

Chocolate lily eating a buttercup.

Largeleaf sandwort

The final stretch of the upper meadow.

Violets

Phlox

Dog Mountain

Mt. Hood and Mt. Defiance from the upper meadow.

Table Mountain (post) and Greenleaf Peak (post) further to the west beyond Dog Mountain.

Phlox, paintbrush, and lomatium

After slowly making our way through the meadow the trail climbed to the forested summit of Cook Hill.

At this point we had hiked a little over 3.5-miles and gained over 2800′. To complete the loop portion of the hike we continued past the summit and made an initially steep descent along a ridge past some more meadow and occasional views of Mt. Adams to the north.

Mt. Adams from between trees.

Arnica

The final stretch of the steep descent was through this forest with no understory.

The trail then leveled out along with the ridge and actually made a very gradual climb to a radio tower.

Vine maple overhanging the trail.

It’s hard to tell from the photo but these were huge paintbrushes.

Another view of Mt. Hood and Mt. Defiance.

Dogwood

Trillium

The first tower.

The trail continued past the radio tower to the left on a roadbed and soon passed under a large set of powerlines near more towers at Cook Hill Saddle.

Looking toward Mt. Adams from beneath the powerlines.

Mt. Adams

Wind Mountain (post) sticking up to the left before the Columbia River.

We made a hard right beneath the powerlines on a fainter old roadbed that quickly reentered the forest.
The faint roadbed heading left back toward the forest.

We followed this roadbed back to the signed junction to complete the loop. This part of the trail was more overgrown with a few more logs to step over but it was still quite easy to follow and navigate.

Wild ginger

Candyflower

The trail passed under a talus slope where a fair number of flowers were present.

Lupine and yarrow

Stonecrop

Bee visiting penstemon.

The talus slope.

Descending to the junction.

At the junction we turned right to head back to the car. At this point we’d encountered just three other hikers, but now that it was later, and we were off the loop we passed around two dozen more hikers heading up.

Ookow and bachelor buttons along the trail.

Bachelor button

Heather spotted this arctic skipper on some vetch.

Clarkia. It wasn’t open yet when we’d passed by in the morning.

There were a lot of phantom orchids starting along the lower portion of the hike, but this was the only one with any flowers opened.

Cook-Underhill Road from Jackson Road.

The hike was challenging at 8.5-miles and over 2900′ of elevation gain, but the views and the flowers had made the effort worth it.

The parking area was full when we got back, and several cars had parked along the shoulder of the road which could become an issue at some point. The other thing we saw that could cause problems were the bags of dog poop left along Jackson Road, yuck. Please be respectful of both public and private lands and happy trails!

Flickr: Cook Hill

Tags arctic skipper, Columbia River Gorge, Cook Hill, Cook Hill Saddle, Cook Hill Trailhead, hiking, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 05/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 1, 2024
4 Comments on Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 05/28/2024

I extended my Memorial Day Weekend by taking a vacation day, and what better way to follow up a weekend of hiking than taking another hike. I turned to our nearest wildlife refuge and returned to Baskett Slough for a quick morning hike. This would be my fifth visit (far too few) with the most recent having been last April (post).

I started out at the Baskett Butte Trailhead and hiked up to the Rich Guadagno Observation Platform on Mt. Baldy hoping for a colorful Sunrise.

The best of the color was while I was still at the trailhead.

Checkerbloom

Common madia

Meadow checker-mallow and vetch

The platform

Too late for any color.

From the platform I headed out to the Morgan Lake Loop. There didn’t seem to be many birds around until I got to Moffitti Marsh.
There always seems to a western meadowlark or two on Mt. Baldy.

Spotted towhee

I went left to hike the loop clockwise.

Moffitti Marsh in the distance.

Geese flying over.

Snake in the grass.

Pied-billed grebes

Common yellowthroats

Gadwalls

Moffitti Marsh

Dove

Beyond the marsh the trail follows a fence line along farmland where I spotted a northern harrier. Normally these birds fly off quickly, but the one sat on his post as I slowly got close enough to get some decent zoomed photos.

When he finally flew off I continued to the Smithfield Road Trailhead then continued on the loop toward Morgan Lake.
House finch

Swallow

Sparrow

Crow

Goose family

Common yellow-throat (female)

Roses

Columbine

White-crowned sparrow

Ookow

Tolmie’s mariposa lily

After completing the Morgan Lake Loop I returned to the trailhead by completing the Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop.

Waxwing

After returning to the car I decided to check out a part of the refuge that I hadn’t seen before by driving out Coville Road to a parking area at Cottonwood Pond. It was a quarter to 8am and I wanted to avoid joining the morning rush hour traffic on the highway. It turned out to be a good decision because, as luck would have it, an American Bittern was sitting in grass near the mostly dry pond.

I watched the bittern for a few minutes then hopped back in the car and headed home. This was a 4.9-mile hike with 340′ of elevation gain.
Cottonwood Pond is in the lower left corner.

This was a nice way to end my long weekend leaving me plenty of time to do things like write these trip reports. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Baskett Slough 2024

Tags American Bittern, Baskett Butte, Baskett Butte Trailhead, Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge, Cottonwood Pond, Coville Road, hiking, Morgan Lake, Northern Harrier, Oregon, Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail, Smithfield Road Trailhead