The X-rays on my back came back clear and the new stretches/exercises that PT assigned almost immediately improved my range of motion. Enough so that I felt up to giving another outing a try. We were heading into several days of precipitation, but there was a dry window on June 7th which worked out well for us since we had plans to attend my cousin’s daughter’s senior recital on the 6th.
For the hike Heather had wanted to find some wildflowers, and I was still limited to 6-8 miles, so we decided to give Coffin Mountain and the Bugaboo Ridge Trail a go. We’d last visited this area in 2016 (post) on July 4th.
We started our morning from the Coffin Mountain Trailhead.
We weren’t sure how many flowers would be blooming given we were visiting almost a full month earlier than on our previous visit, but the timing for the flowers is off this year due to the mild winter and dry spring. We were a little early, but there were still quite a few flowers blooming along the lower portion of the trail.
Beargrass at the trailhead.
Sticky currant
Yellowleaf iris
Paintbrush
A yellow paintbrush
Starry false Solomon’s seal
The morning clouds were giving way to some blue sky.
Wildflowers along the ridge.
Phlox
Onion and larkspur
Lupine and a little snow from the night before.
Oregon sunshine, larkspur, and tiny white flowers might be slender phlox.
Sub-alpine mariposa lily
Arrowleaf buckwheat
Bindweed
We knew that there had been a possibility of snow overnight, but we hadn’t expected any of it to stick but as we climbed, we began seeing more and more of the white stuff.
Trillium fading out.
Bluebells
False sunflowers
Penstemon
The large meadow below the summit of Coffin Mountain was covered with a thin layer of fresh snow.
Beargrass
Columbine
Snow covered lupine
The trail traverses uphill through the meadow toward the Coffin Mountain Lookout.
First view of the lookout.
Bleeding heart
The radio towers on the southern end of Coffin Mountain.
The lookout is staffed in the summer, but it was still empty today.
The helipad on Coffin Mountain.
The lookout tower and to the right the radio towers at the other end of the mountain.
Heather had detoured to the southern end, so when I arrived at the lookout she was arriving at the radio towers.
I pulled my Z Seat out and sat down on the helipad and had a snack while I waited for her to make her way over.
The view north which includes Mt. Hood when the clouds aren’t in the way.
Detroit Lake to the NW.
Heather joined me and we stayed a little longer enjoying the snowy summit before heading back down. It was just before 8:30am when we began our descent and much of the snow had already melted.
Junco and bleeding heart
The meadow was rapidly melting out.
Bastard toadflax
Paintbrush
Violet
Silverleaf phacelia
Yarrow
Cinquefoil, sandwort, and penstemon
Ragwort
Oregon sunshine and paintbrush
Larkspur
Violet
The trailhead signboard in view.
Roundtrip this hike comes in just under 3-miles, but with over 1000′ of elevation gain. The snow was a fun surprise and while we were a bit early to see the wildflowers at their peak, we were not disappointed. It did appear that this was not going be a huge beargrass year though. Every few years the big meadow is packed with beargrass, but conditions have to be just right.
On our two previous visits we had road walked from the Coffin Mountain Trailhead to the Bachelor Mountain Trailhead. That is a 1.2-mile walk one-way so to avoid adding unnecessary miles to my back we drove this time.
Rabbit along the road.
Bachelor Mountain Trailhead at the end of the road.
Instead of hiking to the summit of Bachelor Mountain our plan was to take the Bugaboo Ridge Trail out to a rocky viewpoint where we hoped to get a view of Mount Jefferson and see some wildflowers. We headed up the Bachelor Mountain Trail admiring the flowers and some more snow.
Lupine and paintbrush
A cloud had overtaken Coffin Mountain.
Cardwell’s penstemon
Valerian
The trail climbs steeply via switchback through the forest before rounding a ridge to more open terrain.
There were about a half dozen trees down along the trail, but none were too difficult to get over/around.
Bleeding heart
Vanilla leaf
Baneberry and arnica starting to bloom.
Rounding the ridge.
Coffin Mountain
Scarlet gilia
The trail continued to climb but less steeply as it traversed the hillside.
Three Fingered Jack hidden by clouds.
Three Fingered Jack.
Paintbrush and wild rose
Paintbrush along the trail.
Yellowleaf iris
Scarlet gilia, Oregon sunshine, and paintbrush.
A patch of false sunflowers that were just starting to bloom.
False sunflowers
This trail is a stark contrast to the Coffin Mountain Trail.
Stonecrop
Cinquefoil
Penstemon
Buckwheat and a yarrow.
The trail arrives at a large flat area where we spotted a lone rhododendron that hadn’t quite started to bloom.
These may be northern microseris (Microseris borealis).
Cloud over the summit of Bachelor Mountain.
At the far end of the flat area we reached the junction with the Bugaboo Ridge Trail.
Trail sign at the junction. It is approximately 0.8-miles (and 550′) to the summit of Bachelor Mountain. The viewpoint along the Bugaboo Ridge Trail on the other hand was 0.7-miles away with minimal elevation change.
We headed out on the Bugaboo Ridge Trail which was a little rougher and more overgrown than the Bachelor Mountain Trail. It was however mostly free of blowdown to the view point.
Coralroot
The extent of the blowdown.
Anemones
The trail actually passes through several openings along the hillside with views of the Cascade Range, but not of Mt. Jefferson.
The really snowy patch of forest is below Three Fingered Jack. Mt. Jefferson is north (left) of this and hidden by the hillside until the viewpoint where we would be turning around.
Mt. Jefferson is straight ahead hidden behind the hillside.
Jessica’s stickseed
Waterleaf
False sunflower
Jacob’s ladder
Larkspur and a butterfly
Columbine
Serviceberry
Three Fingered Jack still hiding in the clouds.
Diamond Peak was visible in the distance to the south.
Penstemon and paintbrush
Larkspur and monkeyflower
We arrived at the viewpoint for Mt. Jefferson to find it partially hidden by clouds.
We took a break here hoping for a break in the clouds and in the meantime studied the flowers in the area.
Larkspur and Oregon sunshine
Cliff beardtongue
Arrowleaf and sulphur flower buckwheat with some Oregon sunshine and stonecrop.
A sub-alpine mariposa lily hiding in arrowleaf buckwheat.
Paintbrush, larkspur, and arrowleaf buckwheat
Sticky cinquefoil
The clouds were being stubborn, but we did eventually get a little better view of Three Fingered Jack.
Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters also made an appearance.
Snowy Diamond Peak in the distance to the left with peaks of the Old Cascades closer including the nearby Three Pyramids (post) and to their right Iron Mountain where I’d been the week before (post).
We started back but before we’d left the open area the clouds revealed the top of Mt. Jefferson.
After getting our view we headed back. We were treated to some better views of the other Cascades along the way.
Wallflower
Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters.
One of the few Jacob’s ladder blossoms that was open.
Mt. Jefferson from the flat area.
Coffin Mountain from the Bachelor Mountain Trail.
Catchfly
Three Fingered Jack
Heading back into the forest for the descent to the trailhead.
A couple cars had joined us at the trailhead.
To hike to the viewpoint and back came in at 3.8-miles with approximately 700′ of elevation gain giving us 6.7-miles and 1750′ of elevation gain on the day.
This was a great hike despite being a little early for the peak wildflower bloom. The overnight snow more than made up for that. By the end my hips were feeling the hike a little but overall I felt better than I have for the past few months. I still have a way to go but it was encouraging. Happy Trails!
wanderingyuncks 