Category: SW Washington

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Nestor Peak – 06/03/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 5, 2023
No Comments on Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Nestor Peak – 06/03/2023

We have really come to enjoy spending time at wildlife refuges and have been looking for more to visit. I’d noticed Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge on maps when looking at the Mt. Adams area so I dug a little deeper to find that there is a trail there, the Willard Springs Trail. The refuge webpage describes the Willard Springs Trail as a “two-mile loop” then lists the trail length as 3.79 miles. The Oregonhikers.org field guide entry shows 2.3 miles as the hike length. No matter which length was correct, on it’s own the hike would be too short to warrant the 2:30 hour drive from Salem. I went looking for a way to fit a visit in and looked over my map of future trailheads and saw that the trailhead for the Nestor Peak hike was located on the way to the refuge. The Nestor Peak hike was just over 8-miles so adding the Willard Spring Loop would put the day around 11 miles which sounded manageable.

Our plan was to visit Conboy Lake first since it was the furthest from home, and an earlier start there might provide a better chance at spotting wildlife. We parked at the refuge headquarters and made our way to the historic Whitcomb-Cole Hewn Log House.

The path to the cabin on the right.

Built in 1875 the cabin was moved from its original location in 1987.

The snowy top of Mt. Hood from the cabin.

After exploring the cabin we set off on the Willard Springs Trail only we briefly went the wrong way. A grassy track lead north directly across the gravel road from the path to the cabin and we took it.

We got about 250′ before realizing that this path was just going to take us back to the parking lot so we backtracked to the gravel road and followed it toward the lakebed across a small canal. (The Garmin named this Cold Springs Ditch.)

We turned left on a wide grassy track along the ditch. Numerous colorful birds were flying in and out of the bushes and trees along the ditch, most of which would not sit still long enough for me to photograph.

There was a lot of monkeyflower in and along the ditch.

Lupine along the ditch.

Lazuli bunting

Robin

Yellow warbler (according to the Merlin app).

Red-winged blackbird

The top of Mt. Adams above the trees.

We followed the ditch for a third of a mile then crossed over it to a field with bird houses and more birds.

Swallow

Western bluebirds

We stayed right at a junction near the corner of the field following the trail through the grass then into a mixed forest.

Honeysuckle

Columbine

Rose

The lakebed was often visible through breaks in the trees.

Through one such gap in the trees we spotted a pair of greater Sandhill cranes. The refuge is the only place in Washington that supports breeding pairs of the birds.

Approximately 1.4 miles from the trailhead we came to a 4-way junction. To the left was a “shortcut trail” and to the right a viewing platform with the Willard Springs Trail continuing straight(ish).

Continuation of the Willard Springs Trail behind the sign.

More often than not on our hikes we strike out with viewing platforms/bird blinds. (We’d have better luck if we sat and waited for the wildlife to come to us.) It was a different story today with a deer making its way across the lakebed and an excellent view of Mt. Adams.

We hung around long enough that this warbling vireo came to check on us.

After a nice break at the platform we continued on the Willard Springs Trail. After another 0.5-miles we came to a signed spur trail to Willard Springs.

We followed this spur 0.2-miles to its end at a couple of benches near the springs.

Willard Sprins hidden in the vegetation. We could hear them better then we could see them.

A healthy lupine near the springs.

We returned to the junction and continued on the loop which now turned back south. It was interesting to see the change in the forest along this section that was further from the lakebed.

Cat’s ear lily

Hitchhiker

Lupine along the trail.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Swallowtail

Lorquin’s admiral

Arriving back at the refuge headquarters.

Two interesting things to note about the hike were that the Oregonhikers.org Field Guide mentioned a trailhead 0.2-miles from the HQs along the entrance road but we passed no trails coming from the road and there appeared to be a no parking sign on the side of the road near where we expected to see this other trailhead. Our guess is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department decommissioned the alternate trailhead at some point. The other oddity was that while we did pass the other end of the shortcut trail neither of us noticed another trail joining from the left closer to the headquarters which would have been the other end of the trail that had split off at the edge of the field with the bird houses. There was even a map at the trailhead showing such a trail. Possibly another recent change (or we both just missed the connector trail).
Trail map at the trailhead.

The Garmin map shows the shortcut, spur to the old trailhead, and the other connector as well as some different locations for the trails.

Between exploring the cabin and briefly going the wrong way our hike here came in at an even 4-miles with only 50′ of elevation gain. Given the 4-mile figure the 3.79 miles listed on the refuge webpage for the Willard Springs Trail is probably the most accurate of the distance we came across. We didn’t see any other people, just a lot of wildlife which made for a great first stop of the day.

After finishing at Conboy Lake we drove back south to the Buck Creek Trailhead #1.

This is one of several trailheads located along the roughly 21-mile Buck Creek Trail loop. We had hiked a segment of the Buck Creek Trail in 2020 on our Monte Carlo – Monte Cristo Loop (post). Today’s segment would be a roughly 4.2 mile climb to a former lookout site atop Nestor (Nester) Peak. We picked up the trail on West side of N-1000 across from the trailhead.

It was later in the morning than we usually get started due to visiting Conboy Lake first and even though it was a little before 10:30am it was already feeling a little warm. The trail made a steep initial ascent before leveling off a bit.

There were lots of phantom orchids blooming along the lower sections of the hike.

Thimbleberry

Spotted coralroot was also plentiful.

Wallflower

Near the 3/4-mile mark we recrossed N-1000.

The trail actually lost some elevation here as it descended toward N-1300.

The trail ran parallel to N-1300 for a mile before again turning steeply uphill.
One of only two trees that were down over the trail, both were easily manageable.

The one small stream crossing.

There was enough sunlight getting through to really heat up the trail.

While there wasn’t much there we did occasionally see poison oak throughout most of the lower 2/3rds of the hike.

After the trail steepened we passed a spring on the right at the first of three switchbacks.

Sign above the switchbacks warning mountain bikers that they were ahead.

Following a fourth switchback the trail came to another dirt road which we jogged slightly right on before finding the continuation of the Buck Creek Trail.

Buck Creek Trail to the left near the roads end.

For the next half mile the trail climbed at a healthy pace. Heather hadn’t been feeling well and the heat wasn’t helping things. We talked it over and she told me to go ahead and she would go at her own pace so we split up for now.

More spotted coralroot.

Just over a half mile from the road crossing the trail crossed another road.

After another initial steep climb the trail relented a bit as it traversed around a ridge before gaining a ridgetop and following down to a saddle below Nestor Peak. Along the way were a couple of openings hosting bright wildflowers.

Vanilla leaf

Queen’s cup

Anemone

Lupine

Mt. Hood from the Buck Creek Trail.

Mt. Hood

Cedar hairstreak on yarrow.

Paintbrush, lupine, penstemon, and balsamroot.

Moth

Penstemon

Gaining the ridge.

Paintbrush

Showy phlox

The trail dropped off the ridge and started another good climb along a hillside to a ridge end where it turned steeply uphill climbing to road N-1600 a tenth of a mile below the summit of Nestor Peak.
Approaching the start of the final climb.

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Showy phlox

Road N-1600.

A right turn on the road led past more wildflowers with a view of Mt. Hood to the remains of a shed on top of Nestor Peak.

At the summit Mt. Adams came into view to the NE.

I took a break at the summit and followed some butterflies around trying to get pictures. While I was busy chasing butterflies Heather messaged to let me know she was at the start of the final climb so I waited for her at the summit.

Unfortunate amount of graffiti on the old shed.

Mt. Hood and balsamroot.

Mt. Hood

Oregon sunshine

Boisduval blues

Duskywing

Balsamroot

Moths

Moth

Lupine

Butterfly on cat’s ear lily.

Woodland stars

Paintbrush

After Heather got a break too, we headed back down. There was a little bit of a breeze as we went down which combined with going downhill instead of up helped it feel cooler on the way down.

Blue-head gilia

Ookow

Winecup clarkia

Mountain lady slipper

The hike here would have been between 8 and 8.5 miles but I wandered around the summit area enough to log 8.9 miles on the GPS unit.

We passed 8 others on the trail (3 hikers and 6 mountain bikers) and saw another mountain biker on Road N-1600 from the summit. It was a nice hike but it would have been a little more enjoyable in cooler temperatures. The views and wildflowers were great though. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Conboy Lake WLFR and Nestor Peak

Tags Buck Creek Trail, Buck Creek Trailhead #1, Conboy Lake, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, hiking, Mt. Adams, Nestor Peak, Sandhill Crane, Washington, Whitcomb-Cole Cabin, Willard Springs, Willard Springs Trail

Hiking Silver Star Mountain SW Washington Trip report Washington

Starway Trail to Silver Star Mountain

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 25, 2022
9 Comments on Starway Trail to Silver Star Mountain

The late snow melt in in SW Washington had prompted us to push a planned hike to Silver Star Mountain at the end of June to next year but when we found ourselves in need of a substitute for another hike we took the opportunity to pull it back into this year. This would be our fourth visit to Silver Star Mountain having previously taken Ed’s Trail in 2013 (post), the Bluff Mountain Trail in 2015 (post), and the Grouse Vista Trail in 2019 (post). Those hikes had taken place on July 1st, June 27th, and June 24th respectively so this was a later visit for us, but we knew that the late snow melt had delayed the wildflower display so we still expected to get to experience that.

Our inspiration for this visit came from Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition) which was printed in 2019. Reeder calls the hike to Silver Star Mountain via the Starway Trail as “by far the most difficult….”. He also mentions that the last two miles of driving on FR 41 to reach the trailhead are “potholed and rocky” while the Forest Service states “Trailhead is best accessed by high clearance vehicles due to rough road conditions.” The Washington Trail Association also mentions that “…most of the roads accessing the trailhead have been severely degraded…” This last description was probably the most accurate description of what we encountered for the final 3 miles on FR 41. The road didn’t have pot holes, it had craters. Our Outback scrapped the ground twice emerging from said craters and I can’t imagine how a low clearance vehicle could make it given the current condition of the road. In fact there was a sign at the Sunset Falls Campground with slash going through a low clearance vehicle. We parked at a pullout near a gate at the FR 41/FR 4107 junction. Reeder mentions that you can drive 4107 approximately a half mile to the start of the actual Starway Trail at Copper Creek but if the gate gets closed your stuck. Looking at the gate we weren’t sure if it even still closed but we were more than done with driving at that point.

We headed down this one lane road approximately a half mile to a small parking area near a bridge over Copper Creek.

It was an overcast morning which was a welcome sight for this hike. Reeder had recommended not attempting this hike on warmer days due to the steepness of the climbs. The forecast for Silver Star was for a high in the low 60’s with partly sunny skies. We hopped that by the time we reached Silver Star we’d be greeted by those partly sunny skies, but the low 60’s temperatures were what we were really after. Beyond Copper Creek the trail followed an old road bed as it gradually climbed for a little over a quarter of a mile to a fork.
Overgrown roadbed that is now the Starway Trail.

The fork with the Starway Trail to the right.

The trail began to steepen here but didn’t really pick up steam until reaching a couple of switchbacks 0.4 miles from the fork.

Scouler’s bluebells

Beardstongue

Paintbrush

Taken from the first switchback this gives a little reference for how steep the trail was.

The switchbacks only lasted a tenth of a mile and then the trail shot almost directly uphill. The grade varied between steep and really steep for three quarters of a mile where it finally leveled out for a bit on a bench along the ridge we had been following.
Pictures never do justice to just how steep trails are.

Almost to the bench.

Level trail!

A section of trail on the bench passed through a carpet of foam flower. We’d never seen so much of that flower in one area.

Inside out flower

For about a half mile the trail avoided any overly steep climbing and then it once again headed uphill in earnest.
The trail starting to steepen again.

Every website I checked agreed with Reeder that the Starway Trail didn’t see a lot of use. They all mention the steepness of the trail and that the trail was faint and could be difficult to follow. After having hiked the trail we can confirm the steepness but it appears that someone or some agency has put a good deal of work into improving the trail. We had no trouble following the tread and there were a couple of places where a series of short switchbacks appear to have replaced sections that went straight uphill.
The first set of what appeared to be fairly recently built switchbacks.

At the top of the switchbacks the trail emerged in a small meadow where it once again leveled out.
Approaching the little meadow.

A little bit of blue overhead through the fog.

Tiger lily

Paintbrush

Wood rose

Thimbleberry

I had gotten to this level section first and looked for a place to sit down and wait for Heather but the meadow was too wet so I found a log in the trees at the far end and had a seat.
Into the trees to look for a log.

For a little over a half mile the trail climbed gradually alternating between forest and small meadows before arriving at its high point just below the wildflower covered Point 3977. Along the way we emerged from the clouds and got our first glimpses of Silver Star Mountain and Mt. St. Helens.

Silver Star Mountain

Bunchberry

Our first view of Mt. St. Helens

Zoomed in on Mt. St. Helens.

Arriving below Point 3977.

Point 3977

Pollinator on catchfly

The pink vetch was very bright.

Silver Star Mountain from the trail below Point 3977.

Rose

Wildflowers on Point 3977.

Bluebells of Scotland

Sub alpine mariposa lily

Checkerspot on Oregon sunshine

Lots of purple larkspur amid the other flowers.

A few columbine were hiding in the mix.

Violet

We surprised a fellow hiker as he rounded Point 3977 from the other side. He said he hadn’t expected to run into anyone on the Starway Trail. He’d started at the Ed’s Trail Trailhead and was doing a big loop using the Starway Trail and then road walking FR 41 & 4109 back to his car. He climbed up Point 3977 and we continued on planning to do that same thing on our way back. On the far side (south) of the point the Starway Trail suddenly dropped heading steeply downhill through a meadow.
Starting down.

Looking back up.

For nearly the next three quarters of a mile the trail alternated between steep descents and more gradual downhills losing a little more than 500′ in the process. Then the trail shot back uphill gaining over 300′ in the next 0.3 miles before arriving at a junction with the Bluff Mountain Trail.
Stars on the trees marked the Starway Trail at times.

Pinesap emerging from the ground.

A cairn at the end of this brief level section marked the start of another steep descent. By this time we’d lost enough elevation to be back in the clouds.

Part of the elevation loss was to drop below some interesting rock outcrops.

Fully back in the fog.

Time to climb again.

Big root balls.

Trail sign near the Bluff Mountain Trail junction.

Final pitch to the Bluff Mountain Trail.

On the Bluff Mountain Trail at the junction.

We turned right on the Bluff Mountain Trail which steadily climbed for nearly three quarters of a mile to a fork.

Lots of nice wildflowers along the Bluff Mountain Trail.

Another checkerspot

Paintbrush

Penstemon

We just couldn’t quite shake the fog.

First sighting of Mt. Rainier.

Mt. St. Helens to the left with Mt. Rainier to the right.

Coiled lousewort

Lupine

Getting closer to Silver Star.

Crab spider on fleabane

Spirea along the trail.

Bistort and mountain goldenbanner

First Mt. Adams sighting.

A crescent on bistort.

Penstemon

Wallflower with beetle.

Passing below Silver Star Mountain.

Mt. Hood

Rock arch below Silver Star’s summit.

At the fork we turned uphill to the left leaving the Bluff Mountain Trail.

This short connector trail climbed 0.1 miles to an old roadbed.

Fading avalanche lily.

The old roadbed.

We turned left and followed the roadbed 0.2 miles to a saddle.
The summit to the left with Mt. Adams in the distance.

Mt. Hood to the right at the saddle.

We headed for the summit to start and met a couple with a cute puppy named Hazel, the same name as our cat that we’d lost a year ago nearly to the day (post). The puppy even shared similar colored fur to our Hazel’s.

The view from the summit was a good one on this day. The clouds were low enough that we could see all five of the Cascade volcanoes: St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, Hood and Jefferson.
Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams.

Goat Rocks (between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams)

Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson. If you enlarge and look closely you can also make out Three Fingered Jack and the North Sister to the far right.

Swallowtail

Sturgeon Rock

Wildflowers at the summit.

Bug at the summit.

After a nice break at the summit we dropped back down to the saddle then climbed to the southern high point just to say we did.
Point 3977 is the the island surrounded by clouds.

There was a lot of butterfly action here.

After tagging the southern point we headed back the way we’d come.
The only beargrass bloom we saw all day.

As we were passing below Silver Star we kept our eyes out for our favorite trail animals, pikas. We’d heard a few from the summit and we were rewarded with spotting one of the little rock rabbits in a talus slope.
The talus slope.

Pikas are not easy to spot.

On alert.

As always we kept our eyes out for other things we’d missed on the first pass.
Orange agoseris

Ladybug

Making the steep climb back up to Point 3977.

We did wind up making the short climb to the top of Point 3977 even though the clouds had risen enough to effectively block most of the views.
Looking toward Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

Looking toward Silver Star.

The views weren’t great but the wildflowers were.
Possibly a Native American vision quest pit.

Bluebells of Scotland with at least three visible insects.

Some bright paintbrush.

Larkspur

A brief appearance by Silver Star’s summit.

After a short break on Point 3977 we began the relentless descent to Copper Creek. The long steep descent was not a friend to the knees but we managed to make it down in one piece. Just before reaching the bridge we passed just the second hiker on the Starway Trail for the day.

Sorry knees.

Mock orange

A little blue sky in the afternoon.

We walked back up FR 4107 to our car and began the tedious drive back down FR 41 and made our way safely home.
Salmonberries along FR 4107. I may have eaten a few as well as some red huckleberries along the lower portion of the Starway Trail.

Both of those berry types are too sour for Heather who prefers thimbleberries but alas those were only beginning to show signs of ripening.

Looking back at the hillside the Starway Trail climbs from FR 4107.

In my research I’ve seen several different distances listed for this hike. In Reeder’s book he lists the hike to Silver Star as 10.2 miles. Our GPS units recorded 11 miles though. Some of that may be due to going to both ends of Silver Star and some additional distance may be due to the newer switchbacks (assuming they really are new). Regardless of the actual distance I think everyone agrees that the total elevation gain is right around 4200′.

I’m not sure we could have asked for a better day to do this hike on. We got some big views and lots of wildflowers while the temperature remained mild thanks to the low clouds and we saw our first pika of the year. I don’t know that either one of us would ever want to try that drive again but the hike itself was worth the effort. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Starway Trail to Silver Star

Tags bluff mountain trail, Butterly, FR 41, hiking, mountains, Off the Beaten Trail, Pika, Point 3977, Silver Star Mountian, Starway Trail, Starway Trailhead, Sturgeon Rock, Washington, wildlfowers

SW Washington SW Washington Coast Trip report Washington

Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer – 06/11/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 12, 2022
2 Comments on Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer – 06/11/2022

Another rainy weekend was in the forecast which had us questioning whether or not it was worth heading out. Our original plan had involved a hike with mountain views so we wanted to save that for a day with a clearer forecast. This had us looking for something that wasn’t view dependent. The Julia Butler Hansen Refuge a.k.a the Columbian White-Tailed Deer Refuge fit that bill and was on our schedule during the month of June in 2025. I had it penciled in for June due to one of the trails in the refuge, the Center Road Trail, only being open to hiking from June through September. While a refuge hike is typically okay on a rainy overcast day it had poured Friday and we were expecting Saturday to be similar and weren’t keen on driving over two hours to be drenched for an entire 12 mile hike. Friday evening we had all but decided to take the weekend off but just to be sure I pulled up the NOAA forecast for the refuge. To our surprise there was just a 10% chance of showers in the morning followed by partly sunny skies and a high in the low 60s. That sold us and we got our packs ready for a 5am departure the next morning.

After a brief conversation with a very friendly Washington State Trooper (I completely missed a 45mph sign and was given a warning) we pulled into the refuge HQ (open Mon-Fri 7:30am – 4pm). We had gotten the hike for this idea from the “more hikes” section of Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast & Coast Range” guidebook as well as an entry in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide describes a 6.1 mile loop, which for reasons that will become evident later, is no longer possible. (I have contacted both with updated information.)

A damp and cloudy morning.

Swallow

Our plan had been to to the described loop but after reaching the far end of the loop we were going to do an out-and-back along Steamboat and Brooks Slough Roads to add a little hiking time since a six mile loop would likely violate our rule of not having our driving time be greater than our hiking time on day trips. From the HQ we walked out of the parking lot onto Steamboat Slough Road and turned right crossing Indian Jack Slough. The loop description was to then turn right through a gate into the refuge shed/garage yard.
Indian Jack Slough and the garage from Refuge HQ.

The gate, including a secondary pedestrian gate were padlocked and there were “Area Closed” signs on the driveway gate. This was a bit unexpected, but shouldn’t have been if we’d have read the Refuge website more closely. What we discovered after our hike was that at some point a 0.3 section of Center Road, from Steamboat Slough Road west, had been closed to the public making the loop impossible and leaving the Center Road Trail as a 5 mile round trip out-and-back. At this point though we weren’t sure what was going on so we decided to simply head out Steamboat Slough Road and were prepared to skip Center Road and make the hike a simple out-and-back.

Beyond the shed/garage there was a living quarters and just beyond that we spotted the first Columbian White-tailed deer of the day.

We followed this road for 2.3 miles to the start of the White-tail Trail. It is possible to drive to this trail and park at the nearby dead end of Steamboat Slough Road.
Elochoman Slough

The first of many bald eagles we spotted (atop the dead tree across the slough).

Working on drying out.

Lots of non-native yellow flag iris in the area.

Little birds such as this sparrow were everywhere but rarely sat still.

A different eagle waiting to dry.

There are at least 5 birds in the tree including four goldfinches.

A male goldfinch takes off.

The morning clouds were starting to break up as forecasted.

One of many great blue herons.

A male wood duck.

Another great blue heron with the female wood duck on the log below.

The first of several osprey.

Cattle in a field along the road.

Geese

Snail crossing the road.

Maybe a yellow warbler. I had to use the digital zoom to get between the branches so it’s not the clearest photo.

The start of the mile long White-tail trail which travels along a setback levee.

There was a pole with a bunch of bird nests hung from it near the start of the trail. We’d never seen one like it before.

It turned out to be nests for purple martins, a bird that as far as we know we hadn’t seen before.

Bald eagle in the same area.

Slug on lupine

A different type of lupine.

Lupine, daisies and yellow gland-weed.

Bumble bee needing to dry out.

We spotted more white-tailed deer along the levee, a pair of young bucks.

A look at the white tail. He gave us a better look but in that one he was also doing his business so we stuck with this uncentered, slightly blurry version.

There was also a great blue heron sitting in a nearby snag.

While we were keeping an eye on the bucks and the heron to the inland side of the levee there were geese, ducks, and various small birds all around us.
Guessing marsh wren.

Ducks

Goose with goslings.

Common yellow throat.

Male gadwall?

We eventually tore ourselves away from the wildlife bonanza and continued on.

There was pretty much non-stop bird song throughout the day.

Traffic on the Columbia River.

The Santa Maria on the Columbia.

Female brown-headed cowbird?

Flowers along the levee.

American robin

Red-winged blackbird chasing a heron.

When we reached the end of the White-tail Trail we turned right onto Steamboat Slough Road. You can also park near this end of the trail but you must come from the west as Steamboat Slough Road is missing a section (which is why you hike on the levee).

We followed this two-lane version of the road for approximately 1.25 miles to a fork and turned right on Brooks Slough Road. After just 0.2 miles we passed the western end of the Center Road Trail. This end was clearly open. We talked ourselves into believing that either we missed where we were actually supposed to go or that they just hadn’t unlocked the gate yet since we were still unaware of the updated rules for the trail and decided that we would take this trail on our way back and we could do the loop after all.
Note the sign does not indicate that you cannot reach the HQ from the road, it simply says it is 5 miles round trip. Online it adds that hikers must exit the trail the way they entered.

Roses along the road.

Muskrat

Warbler

Osprey

Brooks Slough Road junction.

We turned right and followed this narrow one-lane road along Brooks Slough. For the first mile it ran parallel to Highway 4 then it veered away becoming a quieter walk.

Another eagle sitting near the top of the first tall tree on the far side of the slough.

Interesting shrub along the road.

The partly sunny skies had indeed materialized.

Kingfisher

California scrub jay

White pelicans

Some sort of ornamental shrub/tree but it had cool flowers.

Turkey vulture

Couldn’t tell what type of ducks they were.

We followed the road for approximately 2 miles to what was shown on the GPS as Alger Creek.
Alger Creek somewhere in the grass flowing into Brooks Slough.

Pond on the other side of the road.

Black pheobe?

After a short break we headed back. It was actually starting to feel warm now but we distracted ourselves with even more wildlife.

Red-tailed hawk

American goldfinch

Swallowtail

Cedar waxwing with a salmonberry.

Goat lounging in a driveway across the highway. There had actually been a black goat in nearly the same spot on our first pass.

Caterpillar

When we got back to Center Road we reread the signage and stuck to our plan to try and complete the loop.

We had been discussing all the different wildlife that we’d seen already and I mentioned that the only thing missing was a turtle. Not long after starting down Center Road I noticed something brown (that didn’t look like a cow) in the distance near the tree line. As I was staring at it a large set of antlers raised from the grass and I realized it was a bull elk.
The elk is in the center of the photo near the tree line.

We watched him as he munched on grass for quite a while before moving on. At that point I said something to the effect of forgetting about the turtle because that was better. It wasn’t too much longer before we came to some more wetlands. Lo and behold there was a turtle.

Many pictures followed before resuming our hike.

Heather spotted a pair of egrets in a distant tree which proved impossible to get a decent picture of.
Here is a not so decent picture of the egrets.

We also startled up a pair of American bitterns.
One of the bitterns in flight.

After 2 miles we spotted a set of posts with signs where we finally understood that the Center Road Trail no longer runs the entire length of the roadbed now.

We were less than half a mile from the HQ which was visible from where we were but we obeyed the signs and turned around. It would have been about a perfect distance for us as we were at the 12.1 mile mark when we had gotten to the closed area. Now we had to backtrack two miles on Center Road before the mile long White-tail Trail and the 2.3 mile road walk back to the HQ parking lot. Not only was this a lot longer than we’d planned but the surface had been mostly paved and what wasn’t paved was packed gravel road beds so our feet were really protesting as we retraced our steps.

Heather spotted this garter snake along Center Road. Another animal to add to the days list.

Back at the White-tail Trail.

It had cooled down again which provided some relief as we trudged back.

A second turtle

Mallards

Way more water in the afternoon.

Another kingfisher. It was in the same tree as the heron had been earlier that morning when we were watching the bucks.

Family swim

By Steamboat Slough Road we had all kinds of blisters/hotspots on our feet.

Arriving back at the refuge HQ.

I got to the car first, changed shoes and drove back to pick up Heather who was only about a quarter mile behind me. My GPS read 17.5 miles of almost entirely flat hiking.

Fortunately I had thought to bring my parents camera which has more powerful zoom than my point and shoot and also our binoculars which Heather had been using since there was so much wildlife to be seen. We encountered a couple of other hikers on the White-tail Trail as well as a pair of cyclists and several cars along the various roads but for the most part it was a fairly peaceful (long) hike. The one thing we kept coming back to was that if we hadn’t done the hike the we did we wouldn’t have seen some of the wildlife that we encountered. Was it worth the blisters though? You betcha – Happy Trails!

Flickr: Columbia White-tailed Deer Refuge

Hiking SW Washington Trip report Washington

Black Hole Falls – 06/04/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 11, 2022
7 Comments on Black Hole Falls – 06/04/2022

After our extended Memorial Day weekend of hiking in the Medford area we were looking forward to a poison oak free outing. While we didn’t come away from that trip with any physical repercussions from the plant it had gotten into our heads to the point where we were seeing it when we closed our eyes. As I said before I’m sure after a while people just get used to it but we weren’t anywhere near that point yet and while it is present in the Willamette Valley and parts of the Columbia Gorge it isn’t as abundant. On our schedule for this hike was a visit to Black Hole Falls along North Siouxon Creek. This was good timing as the forecast for the weekend was for rain showers which, barring heavy fog, wouldn’t negatively affect our experience here. Black Hole Falls is a hike featured in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” 2nd edition guidebook which as the title suggests contains 55 (50 featured and 5 bonus) hikes that don’t usually see a lot of visitors. In most cases it isn’t because of poor road or trail conditions but there are more popular destinations nearby causing these hikes to be overlooked. In the case of Black Hole Falls the drive wasn’t the greatest but it also was nowhere near the worst we’d been on but it is also near the much more popular hike at Siouxon Creek (post). Note that the 2020 Big Hollow Fire affected the Siouxon Creek area (it didn’t reach North Siouxon Creek) which was reopened in August 2021.

We followed the Oregon Hikers Field Guide directions to the North Siouxon Trailhead which were also the direction provided by Google Maps as Reeder’s directions were no longer appeared accurate. (We don’t independently trust Google Maps as it sometimes tries to send you on roads that in no way shape or form appear passable.)

The trail departing from this trailhead is actually the Mitchell Peak Trail which leads to the summit of Mount Mitchell (post) but that destination is over 9 miles away with the upper portion of the trail being unmaintained. The trail drops steeply for approximately 200′ from the trailhead before leveling out. The remainder of the hike was a series of ups and downs, none of which were too long nor too steep. There were a number of creek crossings some of which had footbridges (sometimes makeshift) or logs to cross on. Given the wet conditions we chose to ford a couple of the creeks instead of risking slipping off of a slick log. A reroute of the trail at mile 3.5 dropped below a pair of cascades where the previous tread had been washed out. At the 4.5 mile mark the trail forks with the right hand fork leading a quarter mile downhill to Black Hole Falls.
Dropping into the forest.

The forest along the trail was just what we’d needed with a lush green (poison oak free) under story where woodland wildflowers and mushrooms thrived. With no confusing junctions and very little blowdown along the trail we were able to fully relax and take in the surroundings.

Anemone

Vanilla leaf

Baneberry

Quite a few snails and slugs along the trail.

Starflower

Some of the logs had had tiles and ropes placed on them to help avoid slipping.

Surprisingly this was the only rough-skinned newt we spotted all day.

Foam flower

Inside-out flower

There were some huge nursery logs in the forest here.

A good example of a makeshift crossing.

Most of the flowers were white or pale pink but this salmonberry blossom added a splash of bright color.

A side trail near the 1.75 mile mark led down to a campsite near North Siouxon Creek.

Violets

This was an interesting log/bridge.

Millipedes were everywhere but this one was a color we hadn’t seen before.

These were the ones we were seeing all over.

The dismount was a little awkward but doable.

Star-flowered solmonseal catching a moment of sunlight.

Fairybells

Solomonseal

False lily of the valley

Moss and lichens

Spotted coralroot

Bunchberry

Small fall along the trail.

Did I mention millipedes were everywhere?

Another creek crossing.

The trail reroute at the 3.5 mile mark.

The reroute

This was one of the log crossings that looked too slick and high to warrant an attempt so we forded here. The water was ankle deep and we crossed easily.

We forded just above the larger rocks in the middle of the creek.

The lower of the two cascades.

After fording the trail climbed up hill alongside a large tree that had fallen directly in the middle of the reroute. The presence of this tree didn’t cause too much trouble although it was wide enough that you could clamber over it except for near it’s top. I had wound up on the wrong side so I took the opportunity to follow the original trail to the old crossing before climbing up and around the root ball of the tree to rejoin Heather on the trail.
The upper cascade.

Looking across the old crossing you can see where some of the hillside was washed out.

Looking back at the trail from the creek. The large downed tree was the one that was too wide to climb over.

Most of the downed trees were like this although there was one that required ducking pretty low.

We could hear the songs of wrens throughout the hike but only caught flitting glimpses of the little singers.

Two of the footbridges were in a state like this. It held but we had to watch our step to not only avoid the holes but also the millipedes.

This was another ford/rock hop. There was a log serving as the bridge but it also looked slick. The rope in the picture was connected to the log and I almost didn’t see it (both times by).

Deep pool near the crossing.

A post marked the side trail down to Black Hole Falls.

We turned right and descended to Black Hole Falls which did not disappoint.
First view through the trees.

The pool was a beautiful green.

More cascades and clear pools were located downstream.

Heather taking in the view.

Since I was already wet from the fords I waded out in the calf deep creek to get a different angle.

In addition to the beautiful waterfall and creek there was a unique feature in the basalt to the left of the falls that looked to us like a head with a wide open mouth.

We stayed at the falls for a while before heading back. The forest was just as pretty on the return trip as it was on the way to falls. A light rain finally began to fall in the final mile or two of the hike which felt nice by then.
The right fork heading on toward Mount Mitchell.

A really long nursery log spanning across this whole depression.

Camouflaged mushrooms.

The only trillium that still had its petals.

It looked like someone took a slice of this mushroom.

There weren’t too many views of North Siouxon Creek from the trail but this was a nice one.

Sour grass

Youth-on-age

Scouler’s corydalis

Candy flower

With some wandering down and along the creek and at the falls our day came in at 10.6 miles and approximately 2400′ of cumulative elevation gain.

The hike had lived up to being referred to as off the beaten trail as we didn’t encounter another hiker all day. We did have a pickup drive by while we were changing back at the car after our hike but it appeared to be someone from one of the logging companies checking the area. We had passed signs for active logging operations and saw equipment on the drive in. This turned out to be an excellent hike from start to finish and one that we will be keeping in mind to revisit in the future. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Black Hole Falls

Tags Black Hole Falls, forest, hiking, Matt Reeder, Mitchell Peak Trail, Mount Mitchell, mushroom, North Fork Siouxon Trailhead, North Siouxon Creek, North Siouxon Creek Trailhead, Off the Beaten Trail, Washington

Hiking SW Washington Trip report Washington

Mount Mitchell via Sugarloaf Ridge- 08/07/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 9, 2021
3 Comments on Mount Mitchell via Sugarloaf Ridge- 08/07/2021

Mount Mitchell is located near Cougar, WA just south of the Lewis River (post) and only 10 miles south of Mt. St. Helens providing an up close view of the mountain’s southern flank. That is if there is any visibility at the summit. On our recent visit we had near zero visibility from the former lookout site but despite missing out on the view this was an enjoyable hike which will soon likely be inaccessible due to planned logging activities.

Until 2011 the hike to Mount Mitchell began at the Mount Mitchell Trailhead on the north side of the mountain and was a 5 mile round trip gaining just over 2000′. In 2011 the owner of private land which the access road passes through gated the road and cut off recreational access. An alternate route via the North Siouxon Creek Trail requires a 20+ mile hike and quite a bit more elevation gain but for now at least there is a third unofficial option, a hunter’s path from the east along Sugarloaf Ridge to the Mount Mitchell Trail. The hike starts on Washington Department of Natural Resources land (which means a Discover Pass is required) at the end of a dirt/gravel road not shown on Google Maps (it is visible on the satellite image though).
The start of the “trail” at the end of the road.

Wildflowers at the trailhead.

It was a cloudy morning but the last forecast I had seen was for partly sunny skies so we were hoping the clouds might burn off, although some precipitation wouldn’t be the worst thing given the current drought conditions in the West. After briefly following an old road bed the trail launched steeply uphill through thick vegetation.

It’s hard to capture steepness in pictures but it was steep. Luckily this wasn’t the case for long and we soon found ourselves on a more level trail.

For an unofficial trail it was in good shape and easy to follow. We did run into a hunter later in the day who said he had been one of the people that originally cleared some of the trail years ago. He wasn’t sure the history of the trail, he thought possibly loggers, but the tread had been there. He also said that it had become a much clearer and well wore trail ever since it showed up on “some yuppie hiker website”. While the tread was good and there were pointers and flagging present there was also a lot of recent flagging done for the timber sales along the first mile or so of the hike.
Orange dot on a tree.

Another orange dot.

Occasionally there were short steep climbs but nothing as steep as the first part.

Mushroom

Pink flagging on the right related to the timber sale.

Water in a creek bed.

Mushroom amid bunchberry leaves.

Red huckleberries

Timber sale boundary sign on the right with a flag.

More huckleberries.

After leaving the timber sale the trail continued through a nice forest until reaching basalt cliffs below Sugarloaf Mountain near the 2.5 mile mark.

The cliffs reminded us a lot of Table Rock (post) near Mollalla just not quite as tall. We thought we heard a pika or two “meep” from the rocks but weren’t able to spot any. There were however a good number of flowers blooming along the route below the cliffs.
Bluebell of Scotland

Gentian

Pearly everlasting

The view north, not much to see.

Mount Mitchell from the path.

Paintbrush

20210807_085857 Gentian

Penstemon

aster

Oregon sunshine

Yarrow

The trail nearing the end of the basalt cliffs.

The trail reentered the forest beyond the cliffs and a short distance later arrived a junction with the Sugarloaf Trail.

We turned right on the Sugarloaf Trail and followed it 200 yards to a viewpoint where we met the hunter who gave us the back history on the area.
The view south across North Siouxon Creek was the same as it had been to the north.

It’s possible to follow a faint trail from the viewpoint to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain but with no views to be gained by doing so we returned to the junction and continued east on the Sugarloaf Trail toward Mount Mitchell.

It was apparently a good beargrass year along the trail.

A half mile from the junction we arrived at the Mount Mitchell Trail as it made a turn uphill.

We followed the left hand fork uphill through more beargrass stalks.

Fireweed amid the beargrass.

We reached the rocky summit after 0.4 miles only to find ourselves in the middle of passing clouds.

Mt. St. Helens is out there somewhere.

Looking east over the site of the former lookout.

The survey marker and one of several neat rock formation near the summit.

Closer look at the formation.

It was an interesting summit even without the views but it was also a little chilly due to the dampness of the passing clouds and our own sweat from the hike up so we didn’t stay too long before heading back down. We had wondered if this was going to be one of those hikes where the skies didn’t clear up until we were on our way back down but that wasn’t the case today. By the time we were passing the basalt cliffs it was sprinkling off and on and the visibility was even less than it had been earlier when we passed through.

This time we for sure were hearing the meeps of pikas so we took our time passing through and stopped below the largest rock field and watched.

Heather was the first to spot one darting toward some brush at the edge of the rocks. After a little more surveying I spotted a flash of movement in the middle of the rocks. After seeing another bit of movement I took a picture of the area and even though I couldn’t pick it out then I got a pika in the picture.

A second picture after seeing it move again.

The pika disappeared for a moment behind a larger rock but we waited it out knowing from experience that it would probably reemerge to keep an eye on us.
The pika popped back out below the larger rock that it had run behind.

This was our first pika this year as we haven’t spent much time in areas where they are present in 2021 and they are not easy to spot.
A non zoomed in photo, the pika is still in the same spot as in the two photos immediately above.

Having seen the pika more than made up for the lack of views. We completed the final 2.5 miles in on-again off-again light showers.

Spotting this patch of ghost pipe emerging from the forest floor was another highlight on the return hike. The hike is reportedly 7.3 miles with a little over 2000′ of elevation gain but Heather’s GPS put us at 7.8 miles and mine registered 8.3 miles. (If you’ve read other posts you know that Heather’s unit used to almost always show the higher mileage but lately mine has been.) Whatever the actual mileage it was a good hike through a very nice forest which sadly, barring a last minute successful change, may not be possible in the future.

Typically I’d say Happy Trails here but the thought of losing another to logging, fire or abandonment somehow makes it seem inappropriate.

Flickr: Mount Mitchell

Tags hiking, Mount Mitchell, Mt. Mitchell, Mt. Mitchell Trail, Pika, Sugarloaf Mountain, Sugarloaf Ridge, Sugarloaf Trail, Washington

Hiking SW Washington SW Washington Coast Trip report Washington

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and Ledbetter Point – 07/31/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 1, 2021
4 Comments on Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and Ledbetter Point – 07/31/2021

As we continue to close in on and complete some of our long term hiking goals such as hiking all 100 featured hikes in at least one edition of William L. Sullivan’s five 100 Hikes guidebooks some of the remaining hikes have provided some challenges (post). Distance, weather, and various closures have required us to be flexible and get creative at times. Our visit to the Ridgefield and Willapa Wildlife Refuges in SW Washington was a good example. We had a visit to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge on our schedule for 2020 but then COVID-19 struck and things changed. It was back on the schedule for this Spring but nesting Sandhill Cranes caused the refuge to close the 1.5 mile Kiwa Trail which was part of Sullivan’s featured hike. The Ledbetter Point hike had been a featured hike in the “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast & Coast Range” 3rd edition but was moved to an additional hike in the 4th edition. We had switched to the 4th edition as the one to attempt completing all 100 featured hikes in part because the hike at Ledbetter Point was only 4 miles long but was a three and a half hour drive from Salem. Subsequently we switched back to the 3rd edition due to the indefinite closure of the Salmonberry Railroad which was a new featured hike in the 4th edition.

After having to postpone our Ridgefield hike and modify the plan if we were going to hike there this year (I had originally combined it with a hike at the Stiegerwald Wildlife Refuge but a restoration project has closed it for the entirety of 2021.) I came up with the idea to combine it with the Ledbetter Point hike which was also planned for this year. It was only a little bit out of the way to stop at Ridgefield before continuing up to Ledbetter Point State Park. The combined hikes would be close to 11 miles which was a reasonable distance and with an early start would likely get us back home between 5 and 6pm. (This did mean breaking our self imposed rule of not spending more time driving than hiking on day hikes but sometimes compromises must be made.) With the plan set we just needed for the hikes to be open and as luck would have it the sandhill crane colt fledged and the Kiwa Trail was set to reopen on the very day we had hoped to do the hike.

After paying the $3.00 entry fee at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge our first stop of the morning was at the Kiwa Trailhead.

The Kiwa Trail crossed the Bower Slough and then splits to create a loop around South East and Middle Lakes. We chose to hike the trail in a counter clockwise direction.
Bower Slough

Ducks in the slough.

South East Lake which was mostly dried up at this point in the year.

Apparently deer can’t read based on the trail leading past the sign.

The bed of South East Lake

Some moisture passing through this morning.

Dove

Walking along a cleaner looking portion of the slough.

Bridge/boardwalk between Middle Lake (left) and West Lake (right).

Wapato blossoms

With the lack of water this time of year there wasn’t much in the way of wildlife other than lots of little birds flying in and out of the vegetation. The views were nice enough to keep us entertained on the short loop though and when we got back to the trailhead there were several deer in the field across the road and a rabbit just a short distance from our car.

Lots of ripening blackberries.

Second crossing of Bower Slough near the end of the loop.

Since the trailhead is along the 4.2 mile one-way auto tour loop we drove back around to the fee booth and restrooms at the start of the loop. Along the way we stopped several times for wildlife.
Great blue heron

Doe

Deer near the restrooms/fee booth.

From the auto tour loop we drove to our second stop in the refuge at the Ridgefield Trailhead in the Carty Unit.

Construction to build a new multi-purpose building is in process to be completed in 2022.

We passed the new building and crossed over some railroad tracks on a nice footbridge.
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Doe in the brush near the tracks.

The trail then led to a replica plankhouse.

The trail split on the far side of the plankhouse with the Carty Lake Trail heading left around Duck Lake and the Oaks to Wetland Trail system to the right.
Carty Lake Trail and Duck Lake

Ducks on Duck Lake

We went right to explore the Oaks to Wetland Trails. The maps show several loop possibilities but an ongoing restoration project currently has some connector trails closed and an entire portion of the system closed on Thursdays.

Paved and dirt options allow for a mini-loop near the start, later the trails are all dirt.

Big oak

One-way pointers for a second loop.

The trails can reportedly be quite muddy during the wet season but the current drought meant a hard packed surface.

Bright red poison oak climbing some of the tree trunks.

A bit of a low bridge.

Passing back by Duck Lake on the way back.

After touring the Oaks To Wetlands trails we headed past Duck Lake toward Carty Lake.
<img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51349920581_2ee1202bd3_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="IMG_1434">Looked like a young pied billed grebe.

Spotted towhees

Onward toward Carty Lake.

It’s possible to follow the Carty Lake Trail all the way to the Port of Ridgefield Trailhead on the Lake River but for our hike today we simply hiked until the trail turned south on the far side of Carty Lake then turned around and headed back to the car.
Gee Creek

Orange jewelweed along Gee Creek.

Carty Lake also lacking much water.

Bindweed

A primrose

Wapato at Carty Lake

The trail turning south toward the Port of Ridgefield.

From Ridgefield we drove north to Longview, WA where we crossed back into Oregon to take Highway 30 to Astoria only to return once again to Washington eventually making our way to the Ledbetter Point Trailhead.

We got a little confused at the trailhead as three trails appeared to start here, one was to the left of the restrooms, one on the right of the signboard which appeared to head straight for Willapa Bay, and another to the right of the signboard that appeared to head parallel to the bay. Our plan was to follow the Bay Loop Trail (Green) north along the bay to the Bayberry Trail (Yellow) and take that trail west across the peninsula to the Beach Trail at the Pacific Ocean. We’d then head south along the beach to the Weather Beach (Blue) Trail where we would turn inland and hook up with the Dune Forest Loop Trail (Red). Sullivan’s description of this hike would have had us turn left here for 0.6 miles back to the trailhead but our plan was to go right for 1.5 miles to the southern parking lot and then turn north along Willapa Bay for 0.7 miles back to the car.

The official trail is the one to the left of the restrooms but being unaware of that we struck out on the path which looked to head directly to the Willapa Bay.

Lots of salal along the trail.

The trail did pop us out near the bay and onto an official trail where we turned left.

We realized we’d chosen the wrong path when we spotted a group of hikers that had taken the left hand trail ahead of us on the trail. When we made it to where they had come out we found a signboard and viewing platform indicating it had been the official trail.

Map near the platform.

We continued up the beach until we spotted another signboard and hiker post.

High tide had been between 7 and 8am so the water was retreating from the Bay.

Looking south.

A short distance later we came to another signboard at the junction of the Bay Loop and Bayberry Trails. Here we began to follow the hiker posts coded in yellow for the Bayberry Trail.

The Bayberry Trail soon turned inland into the forest.

We were following another pair of hikers who had spotted something small running along the trail. We stopped and watched as what we believe was a mole hurried down the trail right past us nearly running into my foot in the process.

The trail eventually left the forest and entered the deflation plain behind the dunes along the beach.

Looking back along the trail.

Cresting the dune.

Snowy plover sign, a common sight along the beaches in Oregon too.

Bayberry Trail passing through the snowy plover closure area.

Bumblee on American skyrocket.

While there had been a bit of blue sky above Willapa Bay the Pacific Ocean was covered in fog (another familiar sight to for us).

We turned south as planned, hiking through the fog between the Pacific and the snowy plover closure area, until we spotted an opening in the foredune marking the Weather Beach Trail.

We followed this trail back into the forest to its end at the Dune Forest Loop Trail.

Chestnut backed chickadee

We turned right as planned wondering why Sullivan didn’t have you do the same.

Someone had written “umpassable (sic) swamp” below the word loop on this sign. This is when we began to guess why Sullivan had you turn left at the Weather Beach Trail junction.

Slug and a mushroom. We both thought of Alice in Wonderland.

While we did not encounter any swamps the vegetation did get thick and it was easy to see how in wetter times of the year the trail would be difficult if not impossible. Our biggest problem though were the mosquitos which were a nuisance.

Signboard at the southern trailhead.

We were happy to have reached the southern trailhead and gotten back to the bay where the openness and breeze kept the mosquitos away.

We turned north and followed the trail back to where we had come down from the trailhead and hiked back up that same way. There were a few downed trees that needed to be climbed over along this stretch. We were also fortunate to have a bald eagle land ahead of us with its catch and then watch as some pesky crows tried to steal it for their own.

Looking back over one of the trees.

Bumble bee on gumweed.

A pair of great blue herons in Willapa Bay.

The eagle has landed.

Crow attack

Looking for a quite place to eat.

We didn’t see what happened to the kill, if the eagle got to eat it or not.

The crows weren’t leaving the eagle alone.

Last of the trees to navigate.

Our hike here was a little over 6 miles giving us about 10.5 miles on the day with minimal elevation gain.

Ledbetter Point Track (no we weren’t in the water)

On the way home we stopped in Warrenton for a late lunch/early dinner at Nisa’s Thai Kitchen. We’d eaten here in 2017 and really enjoyed the food and it was as good as we had remembered. It was a good way to celebrate checking off our final featured hike of the coast guidebook as well as the 97th in the northwestern Oregon book. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and Ledbetter Point

Tags Bald Eagle, Bay Loop Trail, Bayberry Trail, Carty Lake, Duck Lake, Dune Forest Loop Trail, hiking, Kiwa Trail, Ledbetter Point State Park, Ledbetter Point Trailhead, Oaks to Wetland Trail, Plankhouse, Ridgefield Wildlife Refure, Washington, Weather Beach Trail, Willapa Bay Wildlife Refuge

Hiking Silver Star Mountain SW Washington Trip report Washington

Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista – 6/24/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 28, 2019
3 Comments on Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista – 6/24/2019

We continued to rearrange our vacation plans based on a seemingly ever changing forecast. On Sunday night the Monday forecast for Silver Star Mountain was mostly sunny so we decided to make our third visit to the area. Our first hike at Silver Star Mountain began at the Silver Star Mountain Trailhead in 2013 (post). The road to that trailhead has become extremely rough and is now only recommended for high clearance vehicles. Then in 2015 we used the Bluff Mountain Trail to visit Silver Star (post). A better road but still a bit rough and further away.

For this visit we would start at the Grouse Vista Trailhead. We took the Battleground approach described in the trailhead link which was a mostly paved road approach with just a final 5.5 miles of decent gravel driving.

The Tarbell Trail crosses the road at the trailhead. The route to Silver Star begins on the far side of the road, opposite the restrooms and signboard. (A Washington Discover Pass is required to park here.)

The trail climbs from the start as it follows an old roadbed uphill.

The Tarbell Trail splits off just before the .2 mile mark allowing for a loop. We stayed right at the fork on the Grouse Vista Trail.

The trail gains 500′ over the next half mile as it climbs up a ridge end. The rocky surface provides an added challenge.

As the trail begins to emerge from the trees Sturgeon Rock is visible across the Rock Creek Valley (when clouds aren’t hovering over it). The loop route that we were considering would have us descending beneath Sturgeon Rock.

The trail continued to climb around the ridge and we soon found ourselves with a view of Pyramid Rock (and the Sun).

Sturgeon Rock (still with cloud) and Pyramid Rock

A smattering of flowers were popping up along the trail as we approached Pyramid Rock.
Wild iris

Paintbrush and lupine

Daisies

Penstemon

Shortly before reaching Pyramid Rock we detoured on a spur to the right that lead up to a meadow in a saddle.

Here we had what would turn out to be our only view of a Cascade volcano on the day as Mt. Hood rose above a mass of clouds over the Columbia River Gorge.

We returned to the trail and continued heading toward Sturgeon Rock past ever improving flower displays.

paintbrush and mountain spirea

Beargrass

Columbine

A penstemon

More penstemon

Variety pack

Tiger lily

Golden pea and paintbrush

Another variety pack

Wallflower

As we neared the junction with the summit trail we could see that clouds had now overtaken Pyramid Rock.

They were moving up the Rock Creek drainage heading for the summit of Silver Star so when we arrived at the large rock cairn marking the junction we decided that we would skip the summit for now and head north on the Silver Star Trail.

Avalanche lilies near the junction.

Sign for the Silver Star Trail.

Silver Star Trail

We headed out along the Silver Star trail which began on top of the ridge. This was a new section of trail for us as we had done a big loop around the ridge on our first visit. There wasn’t much visible at the first viewpoint we arrived at but we were able to see Little Baldy which the Bluff Mountain Trail passes along.

We followed this trail along the ridge for just over a mile and a half passing in and out of the clouds as they in turn passed over the area. The lack of views was mildly disappointing but the flowers more than made up for it.

Sturgeon Rock momentarily out of the clouds.

Phlox

Beargrass

White crowned sparrow

We arrived at Ed’s Trail having already seen a wide variety of flowers.

We turned up Ed’s Trail wondering if we could possibly see any more types.

For the most part it was the same cast but in continuously different combinations.

There were a few new sightings though.
Cat’s ear lily

Rose

Violets

Rock penstemon

And some we’d seen but not a lot of yet.
Bleeding heart

Candy flower

Lousewort

An aster or fleabane

A unique feature of Ed’s Trail is a rock arch just past the one mile mark.

Backside of the arch.

Beyond the arch the next quarter of a mile gets a little tricky. There are two short but steep scramble sections. The first was a bit muddy making it a little slick. The second is a rocky section with pretty good holds.

We had forgotten just how steep these places were and had considered doing the loop in the opposite direction. We were glad we had not.

Silver Star’s summit soon came into view and although it was cloud free there didn’t appear to be much hope for views of the surrounding mountains anytime soon.

When we arrived back at the junction we eschewed the .3 mile climb to the summit opting to skip the 250′ climb since we’d been up there twice before and there weren’t going to be any views. Instead we continued past the rock cairn two tenths of a mile and turned down hill on a rocky unmarked roadbed.

This return route would add about 1.6 miles to the hike, but it would cut down on the amount of time spent descending on a rocky roadbed. We find that toward the end of hikes our feet and lower legs are much more sensitive to uneven terrain, especially loose rocks. We had been down this 1.4 mile section of road before passing the basalt columns of Sturgeon Rock.

Silver Star was not done with the flower show even though we were now in denser forest as we spotted some marsh marigolds and marsh corydalis near a wet area.
Marsh marigold

Marsh corydalis

The section of the Tarbell Trail that runs from the Grouse Vista Trailhead to Hidden Falls had been closed on weekdays during much of 2018 due to an active logging operation. There were plenty of signs of it when we arrived at the junction with that trail.

We turned left onto the Tarbell Trail which followed the new logging road for a bit before crossing it into the clear cut.

Pyramid Rock from the Tarbell Trail

Black headed grosbeak

Mountain parnassian

After descedning a series of switchbacks the trail left the clear cut and reentred the forest before reaching a footbridge over Rock Creek.

Beyond Rock Creek the trail traversed the hillside beneath Pyramid Rock wrapping around the ridge end to meet the Grouse Vista Trail. Along this final stretch we noticed some green orchids near a seep that was also popular with butterflies.

The trailhead parking lot had filled up while we’d been hiking but we only ran into a half dozen people on the trails, far fewer than the number of different flowers we had seen over our 11.1 miles. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista

Tags bluff mountain trail, Ed's Trail, Grouse Vista Trail, Grouse Vista Trailhead, hiking, Pyramid Rock, Rock Arch, Silver Star Mountain, silver star trail, Sturgeon Rock, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking SW Washington Coast Trip report Washington

Long Beach, Cape Disappointment State Park, and Fort Columbia

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 15, 2017
1 Comment on Long Beach, Cape Disappointment State Park, and Fort Columbia

For the third day of our 4 day mini-vacation we headed north into Washington for a series of hikes along the coast from Long Beach to the Columbia River. We decided to start with the northernmost hike and work our way south. Our first stop was at the north end of the 7.2 mile Discovery Trail located on North 26th St. in Long Beach.

Normally when we have a 7.2 mile trail we would just hike the entire thing out and back and call it a day, but on this rare occasion we were going to follow Sullivan’s easy 3 hike description. From this trailhead we were simply following the trail for .3 miles to a replica of Clark’s Tree. The replica represents a tree where William Clark carved his name on a tree in November of 1805 to claim the territory for the U.S.

We took a short sandy path from the tree to the foredune to take a look at the ocean before heading back.

For our next hike we drove south to Sid Snyder St. where a .4 mile stretch of boardwalk parallels the paved Discovery Trail.

Interpretive signs lined the boardwalk including one showing all of the shipwrecks that have occurred in the area.

We returned via the paved Discovery Trail and once again hopped into the car and headed south. We left Long Beach and continued south on Highway 101 for 3 miles to the stoplight in Ilwaco where we turned right on Highway 100 and entered Cape Disappointment State Park.

We were originally headed for a signed parking lot for Beards Hollow 1.9 miles away. We needed a $10 Discovery Pass to park there but, when we turned right into the parking area we discovered that there was no self-pay station. We had passed a Beards Hollow Viewpoint about a mile before turning into the parking lot which didn’t require a pass so we drove back uphill to the viewpoint parking lot and started our hike from there.

A trail led downhill from the viewpoint to the lower parking lot.

At the lower parking lot we once again picked up the Discovery Trail.

We followed the paved trail through a wetlands which is a result of the building of the Columbia River jetties.

When the Discovery Trail made a sharp right near the ocean we took one of several sandy paths to the beach where we turned south and headed for North Head.

The beach was quite but judging from the number of tire tracks and amount of garbage lying around it gets a lot busier in the evenings. Near the end of the beach we came upon some nice tide pools which we explored briefly before heading back.

After hiking back up to the viewpoint we continued south on Highway 100 and turned right onto North Head Lighthouse Road. A Discovery Pass is required to park here as well but we spotted a self-pay station near some signboards so we parked and I went to pay.

I don’t mind having to pay for the passes, but I do get annoyed by how hard it is to buy them sometimes. We had to drive a couple of miles further along Hwy 100 to the park entrance booth where we were finally able to purchase the required pass.

After returning to the North Head parking lot we headed for the North Head Lighthouse.

A short .3 mile loop passes several buildings that used to house the lighthouse keepers, but are now vacation rentals, before continuing out the headland to the lighthouse which is currently undergoing rennovations.

After completing the loop we turned right at a sign for the 1.5 mile North Head Trail.

Our plan was to follow this trail out to McKenzie Head then take a short road walk past Oneil Lake and explore a few more trails in the park from the area near the entrance booth. The North Head Trail passed through a pretty coastal forest going up and down, over and around ridges. We spotted lots of wildlife along this section of trail, mostly in the form of frogs and snakes.

We crossed Fort Canby Road at a small parking lot for McKenzie Head.

After stopping to read the interpretive signs we started up the .3 mile path to Battery 247.

We explored the old bunker and took in the view from North Head before heading back down.

When we arrived back at the McKenzie Head parking lot we turned right and walked along Fort Canby Road until we were able to cut over to a gravel campground road along Oneil Lake.

We spotted an egret and an osprey at the lake.

At the far end of the lake we crossed Jetty Road just west of the park entrance booth and located the Cape Disappointment Trail.

We followed the trail uphill past a viewpoint of the jetty.

The trail continued to climb from the viewpoint passing a set of stairs that led to a hilltop with a view of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

The little hilltop was a dead end so we backtracked down the stairs and continued following the trail to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

The aroma near the center was less than appealing due to the presence of sea birds on the rocks below.

At the far end of the center we managed to find a spot in the shade where we couldn’t smell the birds and took a short break.

It was another .6 miles to the lighthouse from the interpretive center so we sallied forth. The trail dipped down between a Coast Guard station and Dead Mans Cove.

A narrow paved road led from the Coast Guard station uphill to the lighthouse and an impressive view.

After another short break we returned to the interpretive center and walked around the east side and explored Battery Harvey Allen.

After exploring the battery we returned to the park entrance booth. We headed out Jetty Road past the booth and park entrance sign toward the boat launch across Coast Guard Road. On the far side of that road we located a trail sign for the Coastal Forest Trail.

There was a moment of hesitation when we read the caution sign warning of ground hornets on the trail. Growing up I had a huge fear of bees and any related species but as we’ve been hiking I’ve come to an understanding with most of the yellow and black insects. Hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets are not on that list. We decided to proceed but with extreme caution.

Our plan was to do the 1.5 mile loop. At the far end of the loop near a bench a spur trail led out to a viewpoint.

A heron was hunting in the grasses nearby.

We completed the loop without running into any hornets and I was relieved when we got back to Coast Guard Road. After passing Oneil Lake on Fort Canby Road again we took the North Head Trail back to our car at the lighthouse parking lot. There were more snakes on the trail on the return trip than we’d seen earlier in the day which was fine with me since they weren’t hornets.

We had one final stop left. Following signs for Ilwaco we left the park and returned to Highway 101 where we headed back toward Oregon. Eight miles from Ilwaco we turned right at a sign for Fort Columbia State Park.

We walked through the old buildings and turned uphill on Military Road. The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was visible in the distance.

We found a map on a signpost which showed fewer trails than what our guidebook and Google showed.

We decided to trust the park map and headed up the grassy Military Road Trail.

The trail passed some overgrown structures.

When we arrived at 780′ summit we decided to head back down on the Scarborough Trail, forgoing the .5 mile Summit Trail.

The Scarborough Trail began as a decent dirt trail but soon became overgrown with a few downed trees to climb over.

After .4 miles we came to another grassy roadbed.

This was the route shown on the park map. The trail did seem to continue downhill which corresponded to the map in the guidebook but without knowing the condition of that trail we played it safe and followed the roadbed back to the Military Road Trail. On the way down we took a short detour following a use path toward the sound of falling water. The path led to a small waterfall behind a fence with a “Do Not Enter” sign. We took a photo from the fence and then returned to our car.

When it was all said and done we’d hiked a total of 17.3 miles from 5 different trailheads. It had been a really enjoyable group of hikes full of wildlife and history. Happy Trails!

Flickr: SW Washington Coast

Tags Battery 247, Battery Harvey Allen, Beards Hollow, Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Cape Disappointment State Park, Clark's Tree, Discovery Trail, Fort Canby, Fort Columbia, hiking, Ilwaco, Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Long Beach, McKenzie Head, North Head, North Head Lighthouse, Oneil Lake, Washington

Hiking Silver Star Mountain SW Washington Trip report Washington

Lucia & Moulton Falls Parks

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 15, 2017
3 Comments on Lucia & Moulton Falls Parks

It’s been a wet and dreary winter in the Pacific Northwest so when a halfway decent forecast came along we jumped on it and headed out for our March hike. Our destination was a pair of Clark County, WA parks along NE Lucia Falls Road and the North Fork Lewis River.

We began our day with 1 mile warm-up hike at Lucia Falls Regional Park. A loop passes through the park and along the river past viewpoints of the modest Lucia Falls.

After our warm-up we hopped back into the car and continued east on Lucia Falls Rd for .3 miles where we veered right onto Hantwick Rd. We followed this road for half a mile to the Hantwick Road Trailhead.

From the trailhead the Moulton Falls Trail follows an old railroad grade 2.6 miles to Moulton Falls Park.

The trail crossed several streams which were flowing nicely and also passed a long pond.

Beyond the pond the trail neared the East Fork Lewis River.

Just beyond the 2 mile mark we came to the Bells Mountain Trail junction. We planned on heading up the trail a ways after visiting Moulton Falls Park so for now we took a photo of the sign and continued on.

A little further along the trail we spotted cars on the far side of the river in the park’s parking lot. Moulton Falls was visible below, a small 10′ cascade.

We crossed the river on a scenic footbridge.

The trail split on the far side of the bridge and we forked right heading uphill toward Yacolt Creek Falls. The trail climbed to an upper parking lot which appeared to still be closed for the winter before dropping back down to a crossing of Lucia Falls Rd. On the far side of the road were a couple of picnic tables and a small pullout above Yacolt Creek Falls. The trail continued down some stairs to a seasonal footbridge.

The footbridge pivots and was still in its winter position making it impossible to complete the loop shown on the park map.

We were a little confused by this as well as by the placement of the falls on the map. The star marking the location appeared to be further up the creek along a spur trail that extended north off the loop on the other side of Big Tree Creek. The fact that the falls at the footbridge were on Big Tree Creek and not Yacolt Creek also made us question whether or not this was actually Yacolt Creek Falls. We decided to walk down Lucia Falls Road and pick up the other side of the loop where it crossed the road. We turned back uphill on the loop trail on the east side of Big Tree Creek and quickly arrived at a viewpoint of the falls and bridge.

We found the spur trail shown on the map leading up and away from the viewpoint. We followed this path less than 100 yards past a sign for Yacolt Creek Falls to the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad and Moulton Station.

Despite the fact that the Yacolt Creek Falls sign seemed to support the falls we’d just come from as being the correct ones we were still unsure based on how we were reading the park map.

We passed through Moulton Station and continued along the tracks for a bit before deciding that we were on a wild goose chase. We had failed to take into account the scale of the map and just how short the distances reflected on the map were. It was a good early season reminder to pay attention to the map scale. We turned around and headed back past Yacolt Creek Falls and descended to Lucia Falls Road which we crossed.

To the right was the parking lot at Moulton Falls which was filling up pretty quickly and to the left was the continuation of the loop. If we’d have gone right a short distance we would have come to a viewpoint with a close up of Moulton Falls, but we’d seen them from the other side of the river already so we turned left. The trail crossed Big Tree Creek on a footbridge then led to a nice viewpoint of the bridge over the East Fork Lewis River.

Beyond the viewpoint the trail climbed up away from the river completing the loop. We recrossed the footbridge and headed back toward the Bells Mountain Trail. This trail provides access to Silver Star Mountain. We weren’t going to be going anywhere near that far on this day though, instead we decided to pick a turn around time based on when we started on the trail.

It was 10:25am when we started up the Bells Mountain Trail so we gave ourselves until 12:30pm and then we’d turn around hoping that would get us home around 5pm. The trail climbed fairly steeply at first but soon leveled off in a young forest.

After the initial climb the trail did a series of ups and downs crossing several streams and logging roads as it passed through alternating sections of clear cuts and trees.

Due to the amount of logging activity in the area the trail is subject to periodic closures so make sure to check ahead if you’re planning on visiting.

The trail was in really good shape and there was good signage at the road crossings as well as mile markers every half mile.

The mile posts actually played into our turnaround point as we arrived at the 4.5 mile marker at 12:25 which was exactly 2 hours after having set off on the Bells Mountain Trail.

Despite setting 12:30 as our turn around time being at the mile marker exactly 2 hours after having started out seemed to demand our calling it so we tapped the post and headed back. On the way back the clouds lifted enough to reveal Silver Star Mountain.

We were really feeling the effects of not hiking regularly on the way back. We hadn’t really been paying that much attention to how far we’d gone but our feet knew it was a lot further than the 10 miles I’d originally planned on for the day. By the time we’d made it back to the Hantwick Road Trailhead we’d gone 17.8 miles, but we’d finished a little before three so we were on track to be home by five. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lucia & Moulton Falls

Tags Bells Mountain Trail, Big Tree Creek, Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, East Fork Lewis River, Hantwick Road Trailhead, hiking, Lucia Falls, Lucia Falls Park, Moulton Falls, Moulton Falls Park, Moulton Station, Silver Star Mountain, Washington, Yacolt Creek Falls

Hiking Silver Star Mountain SW Washington Trip report Washington

Bluff Mountain Trail to Silver Star Mountain

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 1, 2015
5 Comments on Bluff Mountain Trail to Silver Star Mountain

Late June is typically a good time to catch the wildflower displays on Silver Star Mountain in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. Located in Washington between the Columbia Gorge and the snowy peaks of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams the Silver Star Scenic Area offers several trails. Many of the trails pass through areas that were part of the 1902 Yacolt Burn, the largest fire in Washington State’s history. The series of September fires left exposed ridges and hillsides which are now wildflower filled meadows. The two most popular routes to Silver Star Mountain are via the Silver Star Trail/Ed’s Trail, a 5.2 mile loop, and an 8.2 mile loop via the Grouse Vista Trailhead. Each of these starting points come with their own drawbacks. Road 4109 which leads to the Silver Star Trail is an awful drive full of rocks, ruts, and potholes. The Grouse Vista Trailhead is on Washington Department of Natural Resource land and thus a Discovery Pass is required to park a car there. Passes are currently $10/day or $30/annually. We had done an expanded loop starting on the Silver Star Trail in 2013 https://wanderingyuncks.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/silver-star-mountain/ and didn’t feel like shelling out another $10 for a discovery pass so for this visit we chose a third option – the Bluff Mountain Trail.

The Bluff Mountain Trailhead has its drawbacks too, mostly a slow drive on a rock and pothole filled Forest Service road. I don’t think it is as bad as road 4109, you do pass this road on the way to the trailhead, but it is longer and took us a little over 45min to cover the 9.4 miles. It is also the longest route to Silver Star at 6.5 miles one way. The trailhead is at a poorly marked junction where the road bends around a ridge at a large swath of dirt. Only a small wooden stake marks the start of the trail which follows an old roadbed for the first 2 miles.

Both Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams were visible from the trailhead parking area. It was going to be another hot day here with the highs near 90 degrees, but it was also fairly cloudy so the air was humid and the horizon hazy. We had prepared for the heat by filling the bladders for our packs the night before and leaving them in the refrigerator, bringing a couple of additional Hydro Flasks full of water, and packing some extra salty items such as potato chips and some after hike pickles.

The old road traveled along ridges past a couple of small hills where a few trees were present. After passing the first of these hills Silver Star Mountain was visible in the distance.

Silver Star Mountain on the far right.

There were still quite a few flowers along the ridge despite the hot and dry conditions, and there seemed to be butterflies everywhere we looked.

There were even some huckleberries beginning to ripen.

One sight that was not welcome was a fire pit filled with garbage where someone had obviously been shooting a shotgun.

This is something we see far too often and it’s really disappointing that people bother to head out into nature just to make it their personal garbage can.

We continued along the road toward Bluff Mountain amid the wildflowers and butterflies. The views kept shifting as the old road made its way around the small hills along the ridge.

Little Baldy

Silver Star Mountain and Little Baldy

At the two mile mark the trail left the road and diped along the right hand side of a small knoll. At the split the view included all three of the peaks we would be passing – Bluff Mountain, Little Blady, and Silver Star Mountain.

It was interesting to be able to see so much of our route due to the open views. Often times we could see the trail in the distance giving us a glimpse of what lay ahead.

The section of trail between the road and Bluff Mountain was full of flowers. Some had seen better days a week or two before but many were still blooming strong and crowding the trail.

In addition to the numerous butterflies we were seeing we also spotted several snakes during the hike. This one was spotted as we were passing below Bluff Mountain.

New flowers and more butterflies joined the views as we passed under the cliffs of Bluff Mountain.

There were also lots of thimble and salmon berry bushes. The thimbleberries were not ripe yet but we found plenty of red and orange salmonberries ready to be eaten.

Looking back from where we’d come we could see three Cascade mountains. (Some better than others)

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Adams

After passing through the thick berry bushes the trail crossed a rock field then entered an forest of trees on a wide ridge between Bluff Mountain and Little Baldy.

We spotted a small rock cairn and what looked like a possible trail leading off to the right but didn’t have time to investigate.

When we emerged from the trees we were in a small meadow with a view of Mt. Hood.

The meadow was full of yellow flowers.

We also spotted some of my favorite flowers – gentians.

We were now on the opposite side of Little Baldy from what we’d been seeing all morning. Silver Star Mountain spread out ahead of us across a deep valley.

Little Baldy looked like a giant rock pile with a few patches of vegetation growing on its flanks.

Gentians dotted the trail wherever plants were able to grow.

As were were walking we started to hear a loud noise in the distance. At first I thought it might be thunder since the forecast had called for some storms later in the afternoon, but the noise kept growing and getting closer. Heather was the first to identify it as helicopters and then we spotted three of them crossing the sky above Silver Star.

At the 5 mile mark we reached the junction with the Starway Trail. This trail starts on the same Forest Service Road as the Bluff Mountain Trail but at an elevation almost 2000′ lower and is reportedly difficult to follow due to light usage and maintenance. We had watched for the trailhead during the tedious drive along road 41 but were unable to spot it on the way up or back down in the afternoon.

We were now on the final half mile section of the Bluff Mountain Trail before its end at the Silver Star Summit Trail. The trail skirted along the ridge amid wildflower covered slopes and mountain views.

I had been trying to get one of the many lighter colored butterflies to land long enough for a picture and finally a pink-edged sulpher landed long enough for one.

As we neared the end of the trail it suddenly forked with the left hand path heading up the hillside while the right hand side turned and began a traverse along a ridge away from the summit. We initially went right due to that fork looking more like an official trail than the left hand fork but we were getting further from the summit and starting to lose some elevation. I checked the map then the GPS unit and decided we should have taken the narrower left hand fork up so we hiked back and took the other path up to a camp site next to an old road that serves as the Silver Star Summit Trail. The only sign in the area was a small metal plate attached to a tree at the campsite.

We turned up the old road and headed for Silver Stars dual summits.

The views are great all along the long summit of the mountain. Our route was laid out below us all the way to the large dirt parking area where we’d left our car that morning.

On our previous visit we had visited the southern summit first so this time we headed for the northern rocky summit where a lookout tower once stood.

We took a seat on the rocks and ate the potato chips we’d brought along for their extra salt. They really hit the spot after all the hot climb we’d just finished. While we were relaxing and enjoying the view another pair of hikers arrived. I noticed a yellow button hanging from one of their packs and thought it might be a “I’m A Portland Hiker!!” button that some of the members of Oregonhikers.org (formerly Portlandhikers.org) had. It turned out to be miah66 from the forum and a friend who had come up the Silver Star Trail and was planning to return via Ed’s Trail. This was the second time that we’d crossed paths with another member of the forum but the first time we realized it at the time. The first time it wasn’t until we saw a trip report posted on the website that we realized we had passed another forum member.

After a nice conversation we headed to the southern summit then started back down the road. As we were starting to turn into the campsite and the start of the Bluff Mountain Trail miah66 caught up to us. He had realized that he had an extra button which he was nice enough to gift us. After a group photo it went straight on my pack.

It was a warm hike back to the car but the views and the butterflies helped keep our minds off the heat. We arrived back at the car with a little water to spare and a shiny new button. 🙂 Happy Trails!

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157655183073161

Tags bluff mountain, bluff mountain trail, department of natural resources, discovery pass, Ed's Trail, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, hiking, little baldy, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, pink-edged sulpher, salmonberry, Silver Star Mountain, silver star trail, Washington