Tag: Mt. Hood

Elk Cove – 07/25/2026

Heather was able to join me for the final hike of my vacation which we’d decided would be the Elk Cove Trail on Mt. Hood. Located on the north side of the mountain the Elk Cove Trailhead was the only trailhead providing access to Mt. Hood’s Timberline Trail that we had not yet been to. Most of the others we’d used as trailheads while a couple we’d hiked through as part of a loop.

Be aware that high clearance vehicles are currently recommended to access this trailhead and Laurence Lake due to the access road having been washed out by the Eliot Branch. Our Outback had no issues. We made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Salem arriving shortly after 7am and set off on the trail.

The trail begins by crossing Pinnacle Creek.

Pinnacle Creek

For the first 1.25-miles the trail follows an old roadbed to the former trailhead. The trail also passes through the 2011 Dollar Lake Fire scar for its entire length.

Black cap raspberries

Signs of the 2011 fire.

Scouler’s bluebells

First view of Mt. Hood. One result of losing nearly all the trees in the fire is the trail now offers numerous excellent views of the mountain.

Woodland beardtongue

The location of the former trailhead. Here the trail leaves the old roadbed a switchbacks up to gain the ridge.

Trail sign announcing Elk Cove is just 3.9-miles away.

On the lower portion of the ridge some of the trees avoided crowning and survived the fire.

Mt. Adams was also visible to the north.

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood from the ridge.

The trail followed the ridge which provides no cover from the sun, but the views are spectacular.

Fireweed

Mt. Adams again.

Probably Cascade aster.

Lupine along the trail.

To the right is the namesake pinnacle of Pinnacle Ridge. We hiked that ridge to Elk Cove in 2014 (post), but recent reports indicate that it is in rough shape and in need of maintenance.

Owl Point (post) to the NW.

There are two saddles along the ridge which provide some downhill on the way up to Elk Cove which also means uphill on the way back down to the trailhead.

Yarrow

Bird on a snag with the Coe Glacier behind.

The ridge to the right across the Hood River Valley is Surveyors Ridge (post) with Bald Butte (post) the hump toward the left end.

Both Compass Creek and the Coe Branch flow down the valley to the left (east) of the ridge. Straight ahead about 3/4 up this photo is Cannon Ball Falls, a.k.a. Lower Compass Creek Falls.

Blurry attempt at zooming in on the falls in the afternoon.

Starting down the second saddle.

Mountain bluebird

The Coe Glacier on Mt. Hood.

Once we had successfully climbed out of the second saddle we stopped for a short break where we were visited by an inquisitive hummingbird.

Beyond the second saddle the ridge widened and flattened considerably, and the number of blooming wildflowers also increased considerably.

Barrett Spur (post)

There was also more blowdown on the upper portion of the trail but nothing that was too difficult to navigate.

The fireweed was in full bloom higher up.

More aster

False hellebore

Pearly everlasting and fireweed

Goldenrod

Just over 4-miles from the trailhead the trail crosses Cove Creek, the first water source along the trail since the Pinnacle Creek crossing at the trailhead.

These logs provided a dry crossing.

Lewis’ monkeyflower. We stopped here on the way down and Heather topped off her water.

Monkeyflower

Paintbrush

After a short break at the creek we continued on.

The trail up from the creek.

Orange agoseris

Dark-eyed junco

One-sided wintergreen with a dwarf bramble blossom behind.

Robin

Valerian

The trail soon entered a dry gully that was at one time a creek bed and followed it for a bit before climbing out and entering meadows shortly before arriving at the Timberline Trail.

Purple sanicle

Campsites at the edge of the meadow.

Sub-alpine fleabane

Sign ahead at the junction of the Timberline and Elk Cove trails.

We headed right on the Timberline Trail to Cove Creek where Heather was going to take a break. I decided to continue up the Timberline Trail from Elk Cove to visit a talus field where I hoped to spot a pika (or two). Even if I didn’t see a pika I knew from previous trips that there was yet another good view of the mountain from the trail as it descended into Elk Cove.

The Timberline Trail crossing at Cove Creek.

Monkeyflower and a couple of lupine

Mt. Hood from the crossing.

There was a lot of aster blooming in Elk Cove.

Western pasque flower seedhead.

Bistort

Monkeyflower lining Cove Creek.

As I approached the talus slope I could hear multiple pikas.

I was able to spot one of the little guys.

Surveyors Ridge from the talus slope.

Waterfalls on the mountain.

Barrett Spur in front of Mt. Hood.

I continued a little further up the Timberline Trail to visit a wildflower filled hillside before returning to Elk Cove.

After meeting back up with Heather and showing her to the monkeyflower lined section of Cove Creek we returned to the Elk Cove Trail junction, but continued a little further on the Timberline Trail for another view of the mountain.

A spur trail next to a no camping sign leads to this view from Elk Cove.

Flowers along the spur trail.

We finally decided it was time to head back so we returned to the Elk Cove Trail and started down.

It was a fairly uneventful but pleasant descent. We had passed by backpacker on her way out during our climb up to Elk Cove and passed 9 or 10 hikers on their way up the trail on our way back. Those are pretty small numbers for a weekend. We did see a number of people while at Elk Cove, but the north side of the mountain is much less crowded than other areas around the mountain.

Sickletop lousewort

Checkerspot on pearly everlasting

Felt-leaved pearly everlasting

A cinquefoil

Penstemon

Golden chinquapin

A duskywing

A sulphur

Laurence Lake from the trail before descending to the old trailhead.

Laurence Lake

Back on the old roadbed.

Ripe thimbleberries!

Back at the trailhead.

My exploring brought this hike for me to 11.1-miles with approximately 2500′ of elevation gain making it the most milage I’d done since January and the most elevation gained since December 2025. While I’m not back to 100% it seems, I’m heading the right direction.

This was one of our favorite approaches to the Timberline Trail. The combination of big views and fewer people was a big plus. The lack of shade on the ridge would make it less appealing on a hot day though. Whatever route you take Elk Cove is a worthwhile goal. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Elk Cove

Tags Barrett Spur, Cove Creek, Elk Cove, Elk Cove Trail, Elk Cove Trailhead, hiking, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, timberline trail, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Ramona Falls – 07/09/2026

It’s been a busy week here. Monday, we took my brother and his family on a hike to Marion Lake (post), Tuesday I drove our son home to Eugene where we stopped at Meadowlark Prairie for a short outing (post). Wednesday, I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor who referred me back to physical therapy, this time for my back, as well as massage therapy to hopefully address the remaining issues I’m having.

While my back and hips are still bothering me, I’m not under any activity restrictions so Thursday I headed back to the trails. My brother and his family had gone down to Northern California for a couple of days to see the redwoods and Heather had to work leaving me on my own. After considering a couple of options I landed on Ramona Falls which Heather had visited back on May 30th. I was also hoping to visit the remains of the Upper Sandy River Guard Station.

I got an extra early start to my day and arrived at the Ramona Falls Trailhead shortly before 6am.

The trail almost immediately enters the Mt. Hood Wilderness making a very gradual climb along the Sandy River for 1.3-miles before dropping to a crossing of the river.

The wilderness sign to the right behind the trail sign at the trailhead.

White spiraea

A faded wilderness map stands near a junction where the Sandy River Trail joins from left.

Fireweed

Beardtongue

Pearly everlasting and penstemon

Mt. Hood from the trail just before dropping down to the river for the crossing.

Monkeyflower

It had been almost thirteen years since I’d been on this trail, having last visited when we hiked up Yocum Ridge (post). That was the year before a hiker was tragically swept away attempting to cross the seasonal bridge the Forest Service used to install for the Sandy River Crossing following a sudden storm. That was the last time a seasonal bridge would be installed. The crossing now changes from year to year depending on where the best option can be found. This year the crossing consisted of three logs, two small logs tied together and a larger log sitting around waist high to hold onto.

Easy peasy crossing this year.

On the other side of the river I spotted a raspberry bush with a single ripe berry and more to come.

I continued another third of a mile to a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail.

Last Chance Mountain

The PCT to the left (northbound) and to the right (southbound). Ramona Falls can be reached in either direction on a loop, but I prefer clockwise so I stayed left.

After half a mile I left the PCT at another junction by turning right on the Ramona Falls Trail.

Next was a 1.8-mile stretch on the Ramona Falls trail to a junction with the Timberline Trail near Ramona Falls.

Salal

Twinflower

Most of the rhododendron blossoms were done but there were a few remaining in the cool forest here.

The Timberline Trail junction and the first glimpse of Ramona Falls.

I had passed a couple of tents a little before reaching the junction but I was the only one at the waterfall at 7:23am. I took a short break and had a snack before continuing on my hike.

The view from my break spot.

After my snack I continued on the Timberline Trail toward the PCT.

Looking back at the falls.

Squirrel

I had dropped the location of the Upper Sandy Guard Station, which sits on a bench below the Timberline Trail and above the PCT, on my map. As I neared the pin I began looking for a faint trail to the left. My first attempt was too early and the short path led to a secluded camp site but my second attempt led me to a rough trail the led down to the crumbling guard station.

The remains of the guard station.

The Sandy River Canyon.

For the fascinating history of the station please read this post by WyEast Blog.

From the guard station I followed a steep path downhill past another pair of tents to the Pacific Crest Trail (also the Timberline Trail here). To get back to the trailhead I needed to turn right and head northbound however I was in an exploring mood and had not ever been to the Sandy River Crossing which was only 0.3-miles away, so I turned left.

Red elderberry

Paintbrush

The Sandy River crossing. The river is pretty braided here and crossing wouldn’t have been too difficult, but it would have required fording at least one of the braids and I didn’t have my water shoes with me and didn’t want wet shoes so exploring further up the trail toward Paradise Park (post) was not an option.

Instead I decided to head upstream along the river and see what the area between Yocum Ridge and Slide Mountain was like.

No official trails head up the canyon but there were some footprints and several camp sites closer to the crossing.

This area was also popular with pikas. Several seemed to be having a conversation in “meeps” about my presence. It took a while but I finally spotted one of them.

I rambled a little of half a mile beyond the crossing before deciding that I’d had enough scrambling over rocks and turned around.

Buckwheat

The view from my turnaround spot. Not only was it rocky but it was getting increasingly brushy.

With no actual trails my route back was quite a bit different in spots, and I spotted some flowers I’d missed on my first pass.

Starting back.

Beardtongue

Paintbrush

Buckwheat patch.

Monkeyflower and algea

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

As I neared the Timberline Trail/PCT crossing I spotted pink flagging on the far side that marked the continuation of the trail.

California tortoiseshell

I found a spot where I could cross the first braided channel of the river but from the little island I was on I couldn’t see a way to cross the next one without getting wet.

I returned to the riverbank and picked up the trail then headed back.

Sugar sticks

The PCT/Timberline Trail climbed to a junction on a ridge where the Timberline Trail split off to the right toward Ramona Falls and the PCT went left. I went left and descended to the junction with the Ramona Falls Trail and then left the PCT to return to the trailhead.

Woodpecker

Back at the crossing.

Last look at Mt. Hood with the Sun kind of in the way.

Back at the trailhead.

Ramona Falls was as beautiful as I’d remembered and getting to see the old guard station was neat. Doing the hike on a weekday morning provided a lot of solitude. I only passed 13 people on the trails and ten of those were from the crossing to the trailhead. I’d seen about the same number of people at the various camp sites that were occupied. The hike itself came to 9.5-miles with approximately 1400′ of elevation gain.

This was the longest hike I’d done since my January 31st 14.8-mile hike along the Lower Deschutes River (post). I’m a little tight/sore as I write this trip report, but the hike itself felt really good. Hopefully this next round of therapy will help get me the rest of the way back. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Ramona Falls

Tags hiking, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Ramona Falls, Ramona Falls Trail, Sandy River Trail, Sandy River. Timberline Trail, Upper Sandy River Guard Station

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Silcox Hut and Paradise Park – 08/31/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 3, 2025
1 Comment on Silcox Hut and Paradise Park – 08/31/2025

For our second hike of Labor Day Weekend we decided to head to Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge and hike up to the Silcox Hut.

The hike to the hut was one of the options Sullivan described in his Timberline Lodge Trails entry of “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington”. We had done the longer options to meet our goal of hiking at least part of all 100 featured hikes in the book (post) so this was a chance to put a bow on this hike.

We parked at Timberline Lodge and hiked past the lodge on the Mountain Access Road.

Sunrise from Timberline Lodge.

We followed the access road to a junction with the Timberline Trail/Pacific Crest Trail.

We angled to the right on a use trail looking for the Mountaineer Trail

The Mountaineer Trail heads uphill along the small ridge ahead.

We turned left when we reached the small ridgetop and began the mile long, nearly 1000′ climb to the Silcox Hut.

The trails are braided and there was also a dirt road that we followed for a bit, but as long as you head up along the ridge toward the buildings, you’re on track.

Aster

The Palmer Lift to the left of the Palmer Glacier.

The Magic Mile and Palmer Lifts to the left with the Silcox Hut to their right (a white van is parked in front).

Timberline Lodge below. The haze is from the numerous wildfires currently burning.

Silcox Hut and Illumination Rock

Mountain bluebird

There was a private event going on at the hut but there was a picnic table nearby where we took a break.

Mt. Hood from the Silcox Hut.

After our break we followed a road over to the ski lifts where we faced two options. Sullivan’s entry has you follow this road down below the Magic Mile Lift back to Timberline Lodge, but since we were going to head toward Paradise Park we picked up the Mountaineer Loop Trail which would drop us onto the Timberline Trail nearly three quarters of mile from the lodge.

The Magic Mile Lift runs during the summer allowing for a less strenuous climb to the Silcox Hut.

The Mountaineer Loop continues from the end of the first turn in the road below the Magic Mile Lift.

We should have stayed on the road between the two lifts but instead we went up and around them and wound up looking down at the curve where the Mountain Loop continued. We followed a use trail down to the curve.

Tundra aster

Pussy paws

The large cairn ahead marks the trail.

Heather had decided that she was not going go all the way to Paradise Park and would instead turn around at the Zigzag River and return to the lodge to wait for me. Since I would be doing over 5.5 more miles than she we split up and I went ahead and reached the Timberline Trail first.

Illumination Rock

Looking down toward Timberline Lodge

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

I turned right onto the Timberline Trail and followed it for two and a half miles to the crossing of the Zigzag River.

Wilderness information along the Timberline Trail.

Mt. Hood Wilderness signs at Sand Canyon West Branch.

The Timberline Trail on the far side of the Little Zigzag Canyon.

Mt. Hood from the Little Zigzag River.

Junction with the Hidden Lake Trail (post).

Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain (post)

One and a half miles from the Mountaineer Trail the Timberline Trail arrives at viewpoint above the Zigzag River Canyon.

From the viewpoint it is a mile and 600′ down to the river.

There was a lot of beargrass earlier in the year.

Big mushroom

Sickletop lousewort

Beardtongue

Grass-of-parnassus

Paintbrush

Arnica

The trail crosses near the left of this photo. I was able to rock hop across and keep my feet dry.

Zigzag Falls

Zoomed in photo.

Heather went up to the falls when she got to the river.

A half mile climb gaining 250′ led up from the river to a junction with the Paradise Park Loop Trail where I turned right.

Another mile of climbing brought me to a junction with the Paradise Park Trail (post) in the middle of a wildflower meadow.

Pearly everlasting and paintbrush

Aster along the trail.

Trail sign at the junction ahead.

Fritillary butterfly.

The trail leveled out as it passed through the meadow and after a quarter mile I passed the ruins of the former Paradise Park Shelter.

Western pasque flower

Valerian

Monkeyflower

Pink and yellow monkeyflower and paintbrush near Lost Creek.

The shelter ruins.

I continued along the trail crossing another branch of Lost Creek and passing through wildflower meadows with views of Mt. Hood.

Fireweed

The iconic (and crowded) split rock on the hillside to the left.

Gentians

Bistort, lupine, and groundsel

Part of the crowd at Split Rock.

Yocum Ridge (post) in the distance.

The trail eventually descended back into the forest and arrived back at the Timberline Trail a little over a mile from the shelter ruins.

The Timberline Trail/PCT junction.

I turned left on the Timberline Trail and started back toward the lodge. It was roughly 2.2-miles back to where I had turned up the Paradise Park Loop Trail and another 3.7 back to Timberline Lodge. I kept a good pace as I made my way back to the Zigzag River.

Monkeyflower

Heading down to Rushing Water Creek.

I heard several pikas in the rocks here but failed to spot any of them.

A barely flowing waterfall on Rushing Water Creek.

Looking back as I passed the Paradise Park Loop Trail.

My pace slowed considerably as I made the mile climb out of the Zigzag Canyon. In hindsight I should have stopped for water from the river, but I didn’t and wound up having to ration what I had left in order to make it back to the lodge. (The Little Zigzag River had no visible water this late in summer.)

Canada jay

Mt. Hood from the Zigzag Canyon overlook.

There was a lot of sneaky uphill on the way back to the lodge and I was dragging by the time I reached the Magic Mile chairlift which is where the last of my water was sipped.

The Palmer and Magic Mile Lifts on the hillside ahead.

The top of Timberline Lodge from beneath the Magic Mile Lift.

Heather had texted me and let me know she had gotten a table upstairs at the Ram’s Head Bar & Restaurant.

I made my way through the crowds, and after calling out a family for allowing their kids to throw rocks at a ground squirrel (sigh), I found her table. Heather got a Strawberry Spinach Salad which was refreshing, and I ordered the Maple Bourbon Bacon Meatballs. The food hit the spot and so did the couple of glasses of water I downed before we headed home.

My hike came in at 14.2-miles with approximately 3300′ of cumulative elevation gain. It was a challenging hike which I made more difficult by not stopping for water when I had the chance.

Happy Trails!

Flickr: Silcox Hut to Paradise Park

Tags hidden lake trail, hiking, Little Zigzag River, Lost Creek, Magic Mile Lift, Mountaineer Loop Trail, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Palmer Lift, paradise park loop trail, Rushing Water Creek, Silcox Hut. Paradise Park, Timberline Lodge, timberline trail, zigzag river

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Wizard Way (Mt. Hood Meadows) – 07/12/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 14, 2025
1 Comment on Wizard Way (Mt. Hood Meadows) – 07/12/2025

In 2021 the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area opened a new collection of summer trails to the public. We had passed through the area clear back in 2013 (post) so it was past time for us to revisit and check out some of those new trails.

We used an entry in the OregonHikers Field Guide as inspiration for our planned route which included the Bear Grass, Bear Grass Cutoff, Stadium Loop, Lower Wizard Way, Middle Wizard Way, and Picnic Rock Spur trails. Our planned route got extended immediately upon our arrival at the entrance to the main parking lot at Mt. Hood Meadows. The lot is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the amenities at the lodge (restaurant and restrooms) don’t open until 10am however it was our understanding that the lot was available to park in prior to 10am. This was true; however we failed to notice that the left side of the entrance gate was open.

Something about the ribbon, cones, and equipment in the background tricked my eyes into seeing a gate across both sides, green on the right and pink on the left so we parked in a small pullout on the side of the road.

You’d think I would have noticed that there wasn’t actually a gate on the left when I took this photo.

Parking here meant walking through the parking lot which took us right past the Umbrella Falls Trail.

It was just under a quarter of a mile down to Umbrella Falls from the parking lot and given we had not been to the falls in almost 12 years we detoured down the trail.

Valerian and false hellebore

Mountain bluebells

Aster

Mt. Hood from the Umbrella Falls Trail.

Umbrella Falls

After visiting the waterfall we climbed back up to the parking lot and continued on to the Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge.

Trail map at the lodge.

From the lodge we angled left on a roped gravel path passing several interpretive signs to a large “Blue Chair Lift” sign. The signed Bear Grass Trail began to the right of that sign.

Spirea

We followed this trail for a half mile through wildflower meadows to a junction with the Bear Grass Cutoff Trail.

An aster or fleabane

Elephants head

Penstemon, cat’s ear lilies, and spirea.

Beargrass on the hillside.

Beargrass and clumps of lupine on a hillside.

Arnica and valerian

The Bear Grass Trail crossing a service road.

Coiled lousewort

Jacob’s ladder

A short section of trees between meadows/ski runs.

Bear Grass Cutoff Trail on the left.

We turned left onto the cutoff trail which climbed roughly 350′ in 0.8-miles before rejoining the Bear Grass Trail. The climb was well graded and crossed several ski runs which provided views and more flowers.

Pink monkeyflower

One-sided wintergreen and dwarf bramble

Pacific coralroot

Sub-alpine mariposa lily (cat’s ear lily)

Coming up on another ski run covered in beargrass.

Partridgefoot

Bonney Butte (post) on the far right.

Hood River Express chairlift.

Back at the Bear Grass Trail we turned left to continue up the mountain.

Another half mile of views and wildflowers brought us to a fork where the Stadium Loop Trail split off to the left.

Mt. Jefferson to the south.

Broken Top, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Jefferson.

Cinquefoil

Mountain heather

Stadium Loop left and Bear Grass Trail to the right.

Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge from the junction.

We took the Stadium Loop Trail uphill and rejoined the Bear Grass Trail in less than a quarter mile.

The Stadium Express lift in front of Mt. Hood.

Goldenrod

Buckwheat

Yarrow

Penstemon

Subalpine fleabane

Trail signs below the Stadium Express at the upper junction with the Bear Grass Trail.

From the upper junction the Bear Grass Trail briefly followed a service road uphill to the top of the Stadium Express chairlift and a couple more interpretive signs.

The trail signage had been very good up to this point but there weren’t any signs at the top of the lift. The Bear Grass Trail was obvious though as it headed into a stand of trees.

In less than a tenth of a mile we arrived a the Timberline Trail where the Bear Grass Trail ended. The Lower Wizard Way Trail continued on the opposite side of Timberline Trail.

We crossed the Timberline Trail and began a mile long, 600′ climb, to the top of the Mt. Hood Express chairlift. This trail was a bit steeper than any of the lower trails, but it was still reasonably graded.

Sub-alpine mariposa lily and an orange agoseris

Paintbrush and cinquefoil

The trail crossing another service road.

Broken Top and the Three Sisters in the distance.

Jacob’s ladder

Townsend’s solitare

Pussypaws

Ragwort

Checkerspot on cinquefoil

Mountain heather and Jacob’s ladder

The trail got lost in the rocks here, but we simply walked under the lift to a service road and a ski patrol hut.

Penstemon

Mt. Hood from the top of the Mt. Hood Express lift.

That’s the blue lift to the right.

The ski patrol hut.

We followed the road past the ski patrol hut to the signed Middle Wizard Way Trail.

The Middle Wizard Way Trail is much rougher and steeper than any of the other trails. The route was flagged which helped us stay on course as we climbed over rocks and snowfields. Heather and I had split up on this portion and I made it a little over three quarters of a mile up to an old structure where I declared victory.

Stripped flagging marking the trail.

Paintbrush

Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sister from the trail.

The trail heading into a snowfield.

Penstemon, yarrow, buckwheat and pussypaws.

The lupine bloom was going strong.

Clark’s nutcracker

Mt. Jefferson from my turnaround point.

Broken Top, the Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson

Looking down the Clark Creek Canyon. The Timberline Trail is visible near the bottom of the grey hillside on opposite canyon wall.

The Clark and Newton Glaciers.

The trail had gained 600′ from the service road and the remaining length of the trail gained at least 600′ more. On a cooler day I might have been tempted, but it was warm enough today to make me think twice.

The trail heads up the left side of this rock formation. It is reportedly possible to continue to the moraine behind and climb to 9000′ in elevation (which would be an additional 1300’+ climb from the top of the rock formation).

After a brief rest I started back down to find Heather was waiting for me part way up the trail near one of the snow fields.

Crossing one of the snow fields on the way down.

Jacob’s ladder and lupine

Aster

The view from Heather’s turnaround point.

We headed back down together retracing our steps back to the upper junction with the Stadium Loop where this time we stuck to the Bear Grass Trail.

Western white?

Mt. Jefferson and the ski patrol hut.

Checkerspot and aster

Cinquefoil

Stadium Loop Trail on the right.

It was just a tenth of mile before we arrived at the lower junction with Stadium Loop Trail and we were back on our earlier route.

Cat’s ear lilies along the trail.

The lower junction.

We followed the Bear Grass Trail downhill to the junction with the Bear Grass Cutoff Trail where we again left our earlier route and stayed on the Bear Grass Trail.

We followed the Bear Grass Trail down through the forest. This section of trail did not cross any ski runs and there were several patches of snow remaining in the trees.

Snow patch covering the Bear Grass Trail.

Shooting stars and cinquefoil

Violets

Four tenths of a mile from the Bear Grass Cutoff Trail we ignored the Jack Woods Trail joining from the left. This trail connects with the Timberline Trail along the ridge above the Clark Creek Canyon.

View across the Clark Creek Canyon.

Avalanche lilies

A little over 1.25-miles from the Bear Grass Cutoff Trail we came to a junction with the Picnic Rock Spur. This 0.3-mile spur led out to a rocky viewpoint above the Clark Creek Canyon.

Elk Mountain in the foreground with Lookout Mountain (post) behind to the right.

Arrowleaf buckwheat

Heather skipped the spur so after checking out the view I returned to the Bear Grass trail and followed it another 1.2-miles back to Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge.

The Umbrella Falls Cutoff Trail split off from the Bear Grass Trail and would have taken us back to Umbrella Falls, but we had agreed to meet up back at the lodge so we stuck to the Bear Grass Trail.

Trail sign at the junction with the Bear Grass Cutoff.

Pink monkeyflower

California tortoiseshell

Speedwell

It took a minute to locate Heather but once we’d reunited we headed back through the parking lot and returned to our car.

My mileage was 11.1 with a full mile of that attributed to parking at the gate and visiting Umbrella Falls. Total elevation gain was close to 2300′.

The green track is from our 2013 hike.

We were impressed with the trail system that Mt. Hood Meadows has developed and really enjoyed our hike here. There are a number of potential loops using the various trails and we look forward to returning and checking out more of them. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wizard Way

Tags Bear Grass Cutoff, Bear Grass Trail, hiking, Lower Wizard Way, Middle Wizard Way, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood Meadows, Mt. Hood Meadows Lodge, Oregon, Picnic Rocks Spur, Stadium Loop Trail, timberline trail, Umbrella Falls, Umbrella Falls Trail, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Boy Scout Ridge – 10/06/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 7, 2024
No Comments on Boy Scout Ridge – 10/06/2024

We try and get to the Mt. Hood Wilderness at least once a year and this year’s visit kicked off our October hikes. The one area where we hadn’t really been on the mountain was the SE side along the White River. The Pacific Crest Trail climbs on the mountain on that side crossing Highway 35 near Barlow Pass and following Boy Scout Ridge joining the Timberline Trail in approximately 3.75 miles and continuing on to Timberline Lodge. We weren’t planning on going quite as far as Timberline Lodge this time, but we were planning on a loop in the middle of the hike utilizing the Yellowjacket Ski Trail and Upper White River Trail.

It was a little wet, and 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) when arrived at the nearly empty Barlow Pass Trailhead.
We had also parked here in 2021 for our Barlow Butte hike (post).

The PCT passes just east of the parking area and can be accessed behind the signboard near a picnic table or as it crosses the Barlow Wagon Road which is where we hopped on this time.

We followed the trail for a quarter mile through forest before joining an old roadbed where we turned right to reach the Highway 35 crossing.

On the far side of the highway the trail climbed gradually through a nice forest arriving at the Yellowjacket Trail junction in just under 2-miles.
The colors of Fall.

Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain (post) catching the morning Sun.

Mt. Hood teased an appearance a couple of times along the lower portion of the PCT. It was enough to see that there was a dusting of fresh snow on the mountain.

The signed junction with the Yellowjacket Trail.

We turned right onto the Yellowjacket Trail and followed the faint tread nearly a mile down to the White River.

The wet brush had me whishing I’d worn boots.

The Yellowjacket Trail passing a small meadow.

Makeshift footbridge along the trail.

The trail came to a muddy track used to access a set of powerlines where we turned right. We followed the muddy track downhill and crossed the South Fork Mineral Creek on a metal bridge.

We stayed on this roadbed until we reached a road junction at the river where we turned left. Here we had a pretty good view of the mountain.

New snow on Mt. Hood.

The roadbed followed a levee along the river’s debris plain providing spectacular views.

The valley is the result of an eruption around 250 years ago.

Pacific lupine

At the end of the levee the route climbed a moraine then continued its gradual ascent to the Timberline Trail.

Dark-eyed junco. There was a good variety of birds along the moraine, but this was the only one that sat still long enough to have its picture taken.

Frost on a log. It was really nice to be hiking in the crisp cool air.

Boy Scout Ridge from the moraine.

The unsigned junction with the Timberline Trail.

We turned left on the Timberline Trail and made a fairly steep 0.4-mile climb to Pacific Crest Trail at a junction in a meadow.
Mt. Hood from the junction.

Sign for the PCT nearly absorbed by the tree.

Lupine (broadleaf?)

A few remaining blooms on the goldenrod.

Signpost at the PCT junction ahead.

We turned right on the PCT heading for a viewpoint described on Oregonhikers.org. It was a scenic three quarters of a mile to the viewpoint. Along the way we spotted a coyote hunting in the meadows below the trail.

The coyote with Mt. Hood looming behind.

Mt. Jefferson to the south with the Three Sisters behind to the left.

The Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson

The round peak along the far ridge is Gunsight Butte (post) and Bonney Butte (post) is along the broad rise to its right.

We’d lost sight of the coyote until it ran across the trail not too far in front of us.

More lupine

A few remaining aster blossoms in the foreground.

Timberline Lodge across the Salmon River Canyon.

Looking back down the White River Valley. Barlow Ridge is the near hump on the right.

Another look at Timberline Lodge.

Despite all the cars at the lodge we would only encounter a half dozen other trail users until we were back at the Barlow Pass Trailhead.

Small waterfall below the ridge.

Heather stopped at the viewpoint, which was at a high point above the waterfall. I continued on a short distance just to make sure that was indeed the viewpoint described in the Oregonhikers Field Guide.
I turned around here where the Timberline Trail headed across the Salmon River drainage. The Silcox Hut is straight ahead on the side of the mountain.

Looking back at the high point where Heather had stopped.

I headed back to Heather and after a short break we started back down the PCT.
Mt. Hood’s summit.

The waterfall looking pretty small far below the mountain.

It took us a moment to decide what the dark rounded peak straight ahead in the distance was. We eventually correctly identified it as Black Butte (post).

Olallie Butte (post) in front of Mt. Jefferson.

Birds on mountain ash.

The Timberline Trail junction.

We stayed straight on the PCT leaving the Timberline Trail and descending through the mountain forest past the Yellowjacket Ski Trail and back to Highway 35.
Beargrass meadow, there hadn’t been any blooms this year.

Lousewort

It was nearly 2-miles between the Timberline and Yellowjacket trail junctions.

We were shocked to see a bunchberry that still had some petals, even if they were in sad shape.

Mushrooms and fungi are not surprising this time of year.

Highway 35

We had no problem dashing across the highway and then made our way back to the now nearly full Barlow Pass Trailhead.
Arriving at the Barlow Road.

The hike came in just over 11-miles for me with close to 2000′ of elevation gain. Stopping at the viewpoint would have put the hike around 10.7-miles.

This was a great Fall hike. The views were amazing, and the cool temperatures helped it from getting too hot during the exposed climb. It was also really nice to get a track on the map to fill in the blank area around Mt. Hood.
Our various hikes around the mountain. There are still a few areas where we could add a track or two. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Boy Scout Ridge

Tags Barlow Road, coyote, hiking, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood National Forest, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail. Barlow Pass Trailhead, PCT, Timberline Lodge, timberline trail, Upper White River Trail, White River

Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Post author By yunckrunner
Post date June 1, 2023
2 Comments on Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Knowing that trails would be busy over the holiday weekend we looked for an option that might provide some solitude and turned to another Matt Reeder hike at BLM managed Criterion Tract (BLM map). Reeder features this hike in his “PDX Hiking 365” guidebook and lists April as the best time to visit. His reasoning is that April to early May is the usually the peak wildflower blooms. With this years blooms running a couple of weeks late we hoped that Memorial Day weekend wouldn’t be too late. I couldn’t find any information other than the map linked above on the BLM website but in addition to Reeder’s entry there is a route featured in the Oregonhikers.org field guide and Sullivan features a route starting along the Deschutes River in his 2022 “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” guidebook (not the edition we are using for our quest of his featured hikes).

While there are several possible access points we started at the Criterion North Trailhead.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from the trailhead which is the high point of the hike.

Mt. Hood

The “trails” here consist of old jeep tracks that are closed to motorized use (other than BLM administrators) and not maintained so some have become faint. We passed through a green gate and onto what the Oregonhikers.org map shows as Criterion Crest Road.
Cattle sometimes graze in the area and the combination of their hooves with the unmaintained roads makes for some pretty rough surfaces.

Reeder has you follow this road for nearly four miles before turning downhill through a gate at a faint 4-way junction. He doesn’t mention any other markers along the way but the road passes under a set of power lines, followed by another gate, then the power lines again, a third gate, and passes an abandoned trailer before reaching the 4-way junction. Mountain views stretched from Mt. Bachelor to the South to Mt. Adams in Washington to the North. We saw plenty of wildflowers and a lot of birds as well as deer and elk sign, but we didn’t see any hooved mammals (including cows thankfully).

Rough-eyelashweed. There was a lot of this blooming along the road.

A couple of lomatiums.

Howell’s milkvetch

Idaho milkvetch

Western meadowlark

A buckwheat

Carey’s balsamroot

Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Lupine

Bumble bee on Howell’s milkvetch

Lark sparrow

We spent a lot of time heading toward Mt. Hood.

Sparrow?

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood

We were a little too late for the large-head clover.

Western meadowlark giving a performance.

The third gate with Mt. Hood in the distance.

Yarrow

Phlox

The Deschutes River winding through the valley below.

Rough eyelashweed and lupine with Mt. Hood behind.

Caterpillar

Lupine with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Horned lark

Mt. Jefferson behind the abandoned trailer.

Mt. Jefferson was hidden at times but this gap in the hills provided a nice view.

Oregon sunshine

Skipper

Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (post) behind the lupine.

A small watering hole.

Leaning toward an Acmon blue but not sure.

Another in the Lycaenidae family.

Large marble on a fiddleneck.

The fourth gate at the 4-way junction.

Mourning dove

We took a short break by the gate before passing through. As we descended on the jeep track we came to a split where the clearer track curved to the left while a faint track headed straight downhill through a field of balsamroot. Reeder’s map showed his route was along the fainter track so we stayed straight.
The more “obvious” jeep track curving left.

The fainter track angling slightly right.

We were a couple of weeks late for the peak balsamroot bloom, but there were enough remaining blooms/petals to color the hillside yellow.

Ochre ringlet on rougheyelashweed.

We soon rejoined the other jeep track where we turned right.

The terrain had leveled out and we continued on the track watching for Stag Point, a knoll with a post on top, which was Reeder’s turn around point.
Zerene fritillary

Zerene fritillary on salsify

We thought we spied the post and used the camera to zoom in and confirm.

This was the only knoll with a juniper as well as the post.

Largeflower hawksbeard

Paintbrush

To reach Stag Point we had to go cross country, so we looked for the most gradual looking climb.

Mt. Hood from Stag Point.

The Deschutes River from Stag Point.

The view was good from Stag Point, but we were hoping to see more of the river and decided to do a little more cross country exploring by heading SE along the rim from Stag Point to a promising looking rock outcrop.
Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from Stag Point.

Looking back over the route we’d come down.

Ladybug and an Oregon swallowtail.

Desert yellow fleabane

Heading out to the rock outcrop.

Mt. Hood and Stag Point from the outcrop.

A better view of the Deschutes.

Mt. Hood beyond the cliffs.

A buckwheat

Satisfied now with the view we took a short break on the outcrop before heading back. We made our way back to the jeep track by angling back toward the rim where we’d descended. Once we’d reached the track we simply followed it back uphill to the gate at the 4-way junction.
Stink bug

Silverleaf phacelia

Back on the jeep track.

Lupine and balsamroot

The cows had really chewed this section of the jeep track up.

The gate ahead.

Horned lark guarding the gate.

After passing through the gate we retraced our route back to the trailhead. Butterflies were now out in force and we spotted a couple of lizards.
Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte

Grand collomia

Time for some sun.

A butterfly and fly.

Three butterflies and a fly.

Busy bee

This swallowtail was a little rough around the edges.

Another horned lark on lookout.

Nothing brings fritillary butterflies together like a good pile of scat.

We had been trying to figure out where the Oregonhikers loop had veered off Criterion Road and as we were discussing it on the way back it donned on us that it must follow the powerlines for a short distance. Neither of us had noticed another jeep track leading off around the powerlines but it made sense because there is almost always an access road below lines. Sure enough when we arrived at the power lines there was a jeep track clear as day.
Another option for another time. We were just happy to have solved that mystery.

The Radio Towers on the hill were right next to the trailhead.

The Three Sisters (from this angle it looks like two)

Three butterflies and a beetle on buckwheat.

Another mystery was where did the trail from the South Trailhead (just on the other side of the radio towers) connect. We’d missed the track on the right on our first pass, another question answered.

Lizard with half a tail at the trailhead.

This mountain bluebird was acting odd when we arrived at the gate. It was flying back and forth with something in its mouth. (Mt. Adams is in the background.)

It turned out to be a grasshopper that it was waiting to feed its young who were apparently in a nest in some nearby rocks.

After we passed by we heard the chicks calling and watched it fly into the rocks with their meal.

This turned out to be an excellent choice for the holiday weekend. We only encountered one other person, a trail runner we passed on our way back to the 4-way junction from Stag Point. The late wildflower season played to our advantage and the weather was good. It can get really hot and/or really windy there but on this day a reasonable breeze kept the temperature down without blowing us around. The rough tread was really the only downside to the hike, but that wasn’t too bad overall.

Our hike came in at 10.6 miles with roughly 700′ of elevation gain.

We definitely plan on returning to try Sullivan’s route from below someday and possibly trying to follow the Oregonhikers loop sometime as well. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Criterion Tract

Tags balsamroot, blm, Criterion North Trailhead, Criterion Ranch, Criterion Tract, Deschutes River, hiking, horned lark, lark sparrow, lupine, mountain view, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Stag Point, Western Meadowlark

Hiking Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2021 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 31, 2021
No Comments on The Hikes of 2021 – A Look Back

It’s hard to believe another year has passed but here we are once again looking back on 12 months worth of hikes. While 2021 was an improvement over 2020 in almost every way it still had its share of ups and downs including losing our remaining cat Hazel in June and my Grandmother in October. While the challenge of finding places to hike due to COVID in 2020 were no more, the same couldn’t be said for COVID itself and it seems like it will be around for awhile. Wildfires once again were a large factor in deciding on our destinations, another issue that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Despite these issues we had some great hikes in 2021. I slipped an extra three hikes in during the month of April to wind up hiking on 58 days for a total of 641.5 miles while Heather got 55 days in and 614.7 miles. Forty of the hikes were entirely new to us while only one, Tumalo Mountain (post), was an complete repeat. We had done that one over after failing to catch the sunrise on our first try and boy was it worth it.

Our first and final hikes of the year were on converted railroads.
Banks-Vernonia State Trail in January. (post)

Row River Trail in December. (post)

Over the course of the year we managed to complete several of our long term hiking goals. A trip to Cottonwood Canyon State Park in May marked our first hike in Gilliam County which is the last of Oregon’s 36 counties that we had not hiked in.
John Day River from the Lost Corral Trail

Trips in June and July took us to the final four of the 46 designated wilderness areas (open to visitors) that we had yet to visit in Oregon. In all we spent twenty-one days hiking in 15 different designated wilderness areas.
Ninemile Ridge in the North Fork Umatilla Wilderness in June. (post)

Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in July. (post)

Black Canyon Wilderness in July. (post)

Monument Rock Wilderness in July. (post)

By the end of July we had also completed our goal of hiking at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast” guidebook and in August we did the same with his “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington” guidebook.
Ledbetter Point, the last of the hikes from the coast book. (post)

Badger Lake, the last hike from the northwestern book. (post)

Finishing those two books in addition to the central Cascades book we completed last year (post) left just the eastern and southern books. We checked off 14 featured hikes from the eastern book but were unfortunately unable to make any headway on the southern book due to the wildfires and persistent smoke that plagued southern Oregon and northern California for much of the hiking season.

Our northern most hike was at the aforementioned Ledbetter Point while our southern most hike was on the Oregon Redwoods Trail near the California border (post).
Redwoods

The western most hike was, as usual, along the Oregon Coast at Cape Argo State Park. (post)

This marked the first time 3 hikes from the same guidebook marked the furthest in different directions. For obvious reasons the eastern most hike was not from the coast book but from the eastern book. That was our hike on the Wenaha River Trail. (post)

As we have done the last couple of years we plan on putting together 2021 wildlife and wildflower posts but we’ll leave you with a few of our favorite sights throughout the year. For the most part the weather was good but wildfire smoke often impacted views.
Falls Creek – February

Cascade Head from God’s Thumb – March

Columbia River from Mitchell Point – March

Mt. Hood from Sevenmile Hill – March

Dalles Mountain Ranch – April

Mt. Adams from Grayback Mountain – May

Navigating a downed tree along the Pawn Old Growth Trail – May

Rogue River Trail – May

Golden Falls – May

Lenticular cloud over Mt. Hood from Surveyor’s Ridge – May

Whychus Canyon – May

Deschutes River – May

Whychus Creek Overlook – May

Forest on Mary’s Peak – June

North Fork Umatilla River – June

Tower Mountain Lookout – June

Malheur River – June

Meadow on Round Mountain – June

Santiam Lake – July

Three Fingered Jack from Lower Berley Lake (and a butterfly photobomb) – July

The Husband and Three Sisters from Substitute Point – July

Ochoco
Mountain Trail – July

Red Sun through wildfire smoke from the Monument Rock Wilderness – July

Canyon Mountain Trail, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness – July

Aldrich Mountains – July

Mt. Mitchell summit on a rare poor weather day – August

Mt. Bachelor – August

Cottonwood Camp, Big Indian Gorge in the Steens Mountain Wilderness – August

Wildhorse Lake, Steens Mountain Wilderness – August

Evening at the Steens Mountain Resort – August

Little Blitzen Gorge – August

Riddle Ranch – August

Morning in the Pueblo Mountains – August

Oregon Desert Trail, Pueblo Mountains – August

Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake – August

Harmony Falls – August

Loowit Falls – August

Mt. St. Helens from Norway Pass – August

Mt. Hood from the PCT in the Indian Heaven Wilderness – September

Mt. Adams and Soda Peaks Lake, Trapper Creek Wilderness – September

Jubilee Lake – September

Rough Fork Trail, Blue Mountains – September

Heritage Landing Trail, Deschutes River – September

McDonald-Dunn Forest – October

Cascade Mountains from the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness – October

Three Fingered Jack from Round Lake – October

Mt. Hood from the Flag Point Lookout

Mt. Hood from Lookout Mountain – October

Silver Falls State Park – October

Laurel Hill Wagon Chute – October

Barlow Ridge, Mt. Hood Wilderness – October

Fern Ridge Wildlife Area – November

Here’s to an even better 2022. Happy New Year and Happy Trails!

Tags Black Canyon Wilderness, Deschutes River, Devil's Staircase Wilderness, hiking, Monument Rock Wilderness, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, Oregon, Washington, Wilderness Areas, William L Sullivan

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Laurel Hill Wagon Chute and Barlow Ridge Loop – 10/30/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 4, 2021
2 Comments on Laurel Hill Wagon Chute and Barlow Ridge Loop – 10/30/2021

We ended our hiking season with a bang, a pair of stops along the Barlow Wagon Road with an off-trail adventure, great views and beautiful weather. Created in 1846 the “Barlow Road” provided an alternate route along the Oregon Trail which previously ended at The Dalles where emigrates were forced to find passage down the Columbia River. The 80 mile road led from The Dalles to Oregon City crossing several rivers and the Cascade crest along the way. The wagons also had to navigate Laurel Hill’s steep descent and our first stop of the day was to visit the Laurel Hill Wagon Chute, the steepest drop along the road.

We parked at the small pullout along Highway 26 that serves as the Laurel Hill Trailhead.
Mt. Hood from the trailhead.

We followed the trail uphill on stairs to an abandoned section of the Mt. Hood Highway then turned right to find the bottom of the rocky chute.

The wagon chute.

A trail to the right of the chute led uphill to a 4-way junction where we turned left and followed this path a short distance to the top of the chute.

The left at the 4-way junction.

Looking down the chute.

After reading the sign near the chute and trying to picture actually lowering a wagon down the chute we returned to the old highway walking a short distance past the chute to a viewpoint above Highway 26.

Sunlight starting to hit the SE side of Mt. Hood.

Ravens photo bombing a close up of the mountain.

We backtracked from the viewpoint and descended down the stairs to our car.

We then drove east through Government Camp to Highway 35 before turning right onto FR 3531 at a pointer for Barlow Road and the Pacific Crest Trail. After 0.2 miles we parked at the Barlow Pass Trailhead/Sno-Park. Both the Barlow Wagon Road and the Pacific Crest Trail pass through the trailhead. After parking we headed to a picnic table and sign boards on the south side of the parking area.

The PCT was on our right heading south toward Twin Lakes (post) while the Barlow Wagon Road lay straight ahead.

We followed the wagon road for approximately a tenth of a mile before it joined FR 3530 (Barlow Road).
A portion of the original Barlow Wagon Road.

Barlow Road (FR 3530)

Just 40 yards after joining FR 3530 the Barlow Butte Trail veered downhill at a signpost.

The trail was still following the route of the wagon road as it passed through a forest that was hit hard by last Winter’s storms.

At the half mile mark we came to a junction with the Barlow Creek/Devil’s Half Acre Trail in a small meadow.

Following pointers for the Barlow Butte Trail and Mineral Springs Ski Trail we turned left here.

The trail began a gradual 0.4 mile climb to another junction where the Barlow Butte and Mineral Springs Ski Trail parted ways.

We made a hard right here sticking to the Barlow Butte Trail which quickly entered the Mt. Hood Wilderness.
Wilderness sign along the Barlow Butte Trail.

It was a mile from the junction where the Mineral Springs Ski Trail parted ways to the next junction. The trail climbed gradually at first but soon steepened as it began a series of switchbacks.

Getting steeper.

This was the worst of the blow down we had to navigate on this section.

Nearing the junction.

A small rock cairn marked the junction where a spur trail led left up to the old lookout site on Barlow Butte.

We turned left on the spur trail which began with a great view to the NE of the Badger Creek Wilderness including Lookout Mountain and Gunsight Butte (post)

It was a little chilly with temps in the mid 30’s combined with a stiff breeze adding to the wind chill.

On the right of the far ridge is Bonney Butte (post).

The summit of Barlow Butte is overgrown now with trees but just downhill from the former lookout site was a small rock outcrop with a view of Mt. Hood.

Remains from the lookout.

The Oregon Hikers Field Guide mentions a better viewpoint on yet another rock outcrop below this one but we didn’t scramble down to it. Instead we planned on visiting a couple of other viewpoints on the Barlow Butte Trail further along Barlow Ridge. So after a short break trying to use the trees to block the wind we headed back down to the Barlow Butte Trail and turned left (downhill) at the small rock cairn. The trail passed through a stand of trees before popping out on a rocky spine.
Barlow Butte and the top of Mt. Hood.

Frog Lake Buttes (post) is the hump in the center.

Western larches

Mt. Jefferson behind some clouds.

Sisi Butte (double humps) and Bachelor Mountain (post).

The rocks were a little frosty in spots so we had to watch our footing, especially dropping off the rocks back into the forest.

This is a good point to mention that the Oregon Hikers Field Guide has you turn back here for their Barlow Butte Hike but there is a second hike in the guide, the Barlow Ridge Loop which describes a possible 10.5 mile loop. This hike is listed as a “lost” hike due to the Forest Service having abandoned the trail along the remainder of Barlow Ridge. The Barlow Butte Trail at one time followed the ridge to its end and descended to Klingers Camp. We were keeping the loop option open but were planning on turning back possibly at the high point of the trail.

The next marker along Barlow Ridge was Lambert Rock which we reached a half mile from the small rock cairn on Barlow Butte.

It’s possible to carefully scramble up this rock past a memorial plaque for Dr. Richard Carlyle Lambert who perished while hiking in Utah.

The view of Mt. Hood was spectacular from the rock but the stiff breeze and cold air made for a short stay.
Barlow Butte to the left of Mt. Hood.

If not for the clouds to the south the Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson would have also been visible from the rock.
Mt. Jefferson still behind some clouds.

Beyond Lambert Rock the trail dropped a bit into a saddle where another small rock cairn marked an unofficial cutoff trail to the left that leads downhill to FR 3560.

We continued to the right on the Barlow Butte Trail and 0.4 miles from Lambert Rock detoured to the right to what we hoped might be another viewpoint. Trees blocked the view north to Mt. Hood and east to Lookout Mountain. Again there would have been a decent view of Mt. Jefferson from this spot but we did have a good view west to Tom Dick and Harry Mountain above Mirror Lake (post)

Parts of Mt. Jefferson peaking through the clouds.

Tom Dick and Harry Mountain (with the rock fields near the top).

We continued on following the increasingly faint trail another third of a mile to it’s high point and another great view of Mt. Hood. While the trail was faint there were often cairns, blazes or diamonds marking the correct path.
Small cairns in a meadow.

One of the aforementioned diamonds.

Approaching the high point.

Clouds were starting to pass over Lookout Mountain at this point.

Mt. Hood from the high point of Barlow Ridge.

Up to this point the trail had been fairly easy to follow and there hadn’t been much blow down over it so we decided to continue along the ridge at least to the point where it started to steepen on it’s way down to Klingers Camp. For the next three quarters of a mile the trail was still visible at times and the occasional marker let us know we were still on the right course.
Carin in the trees ahead.

Elk or deer tracks leading the way.

Another section of frost.

We took this as a blaze.

That blaze led to this large cairn.

Things were starting to get interesting here.

Stopped here to listen for pikas, no luck though.

This could be trail.

Still on the right track, note the folded trail sign on the tree at center.

We lost the trail for good in a small beargrass meadow which was my fault. While I had brought a topographic map that showed where the trail was supposed to be I was navigating primarily based off of what I remembered reading from the Oregon Hikers field guide. I had remembered most of it well but had forgotten the part where “the trail swings off the ridge to the right….”. All I remembered was that the route eventually dropped steeply down the nose of a ridge. Not realizing it was the nose of a different ridge I kept us following Barlow Ridge for another 0.2 miles.
The small meadow.

Officially off-trail now.

This looked like a place the trail would go.

A final look at Mt. Hood from Barlow Ridge.

Not realizing that we were off the trail alignment we decided that the hiking had been easy enough up until now that we would go ahead and try for the loop. Down we headed looking in vain for any sign of trail. Several times we convinced ourselves that we’d found it, but it turns out if it was anything it was game trails.
This doesn’t look so bad.

One of several big trees we encountered.

Little orange mushrooms, how appropriate for Halloween.

Starting to encounter more debris.

If there had been a trail good luck finding it.

Heather coming down behind me.

We lost over 600′ of elevation in three quarters of a mile and things were only getting steeper. It was at this point that I turned my brain on and pulled the map out of Heather’s pack. I quickly saw what I’d done wrong, we were following the wrong ridge line down and should have been one ridge to the SW. The problem now was there was a stream bed between us. We backtracked up hill a bit and followed a game trail across the trickling stream and attempted to traverse over to the correct ridge.
Pretty decent game trail here.

This section was fun.

A bigger orange mushroom.

We struggled down and across, occasionally having to backtrack or veer uphill to find safer passage.
Uphill on this game trail.

Thickets of brush kept us from getting all the way over to the ridge we needed so we just kept going downhill knowing that we would eventually run into one of the forest roads at the bottom.

More steep fun.

We eventually made it to flat ground in a forest of young trees and ferns.

We could tell using our GPS that despite all of that we were only about two tenths of a mile from Klingers Camp. We were even closer to FR 240 and being tired of off-trail travel we headed straight for the road.
Look Ma a road!

We turned right on this road and followed it to a junction with Barlow Road.
It doesn’t look that steep from down here.

Barlow Road.

We turned right onto Barlow Road and followed it 150 yards to Klingers Camp.

After visiting the camp we continued on Barlow Road for five miles back to the Barlow Pass Trailhead. Along the way two pickups drove past us in the other direction. At the 1.6 mile mark we passed the Grindstone Campground and near the 4 mile mark the entrance to the Devil’s Half Acre Campground.

Western larches above Barlow Road.

Grindstone Campground

Barlow Creek

Crossing Barlow Creek near Devil’s Half Acre Meadow.

Clouds on top of Mt. Hood towering over the trees.

Barlow Road at the campground.

Devil’s Half Acre Meadow.

We could have taken the Devil’s Half Acre Trail from the campground to the Barlow Butte Trail but we weren’t sure what the condition was and the Field Guide didn’t mention taking it so we played it safe and trudged up the road.
Finally back to where we’d left the road in the morning.

Arriving back at the Barlow Pass Trailhead

Before we attempted the crazy loop we had planned on also making the 2.2 mile round trip hike to the Pioneer Woman’s Grave on the other side of Barlow Pass and then stopping at the Castle Canyon Trail for a final short hike. Neither of us had any interest in making another stop at this point but we were interested in the grave site. Unfortunately Heather’s plantar was acting up. Surprisingly, given the lack of good ideas we’d displayed so far, we came up with a alternate plan. Heather would drive to the Pioneer Woman’s Grave Trailhead while I hiked the Barlow Wagon Road to it. The trailhead is located right next to the grave site so Heather didn’t have to worry about her plantar and now I only needed to hike a little over a mile downhill.
The first other people (not counting the two drivers in the pickups) that we’d seen all day.

I hustled down the wagon road stopping along the way at another nice Mt. Hood viewpoint.

I did take the time to walk down the road 60 yards to the East Fork Salmon River to check out some stonework and wagon ruts left by the emigrants.
East Fork Salmon River

The 10.5 mile loop hike turned into 12 miles due to our being off course and wandering around trying to figure out where we were going so my day wound up being just under 14 miles total with approximately 3100′ of elevation gain. Heather got all the elevation gain with 1.2 miles less traveled. I probably wouldn’t try that loop again but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t kind of curious what it would be like to actually follow the field guide correctly. Happy Trails!

Loop is in blue with the Pioneer Woman’s Grave in orange.

For reference here is where the trail is shown on the map we were carrying and here is a link to the map in the field guide.

Flickr: Laurel Hill Wagon Chute and Barlow Ridge Loop

Badger Creek Area Hiking Oregon Trip report

Fret Creek to Flag Point and Lookout Mountain – 10/16/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 21, 2021
5 Comments on Fret Creek to Flag Point and Lookout Mountain – 10/16/2021

**Unfortunately the Flag Point Lookout burned in the 2026 Grasshopper Fire**

For the second weekend in a row we abandoned plans for a night in the tent in favor of day hike. Similar to the weekend before the forecast for was for a mostly sunny and warm Saturday followed by rain and/or snow moving in Saturday night through the end of the weekend. We decided on the Fret Creek Trail in the Badger Creek Wilderness. Our plan was to take that trail to the Divide Trail and visit the Flag Point Lookout to the east followed by Lookout Mountain to the west. While we had been to Lookout Mountain twice before (2014, 2019) we had not visited the Flag Point Lookout nor had we hiked the lower portion of the Fret Creek Trail. We were hoping to get some good views and see some of the areas Western Larch trees as they began to turn color.

The Fret Creek Trail starts between Fifteen Mile Campground (post) and Fret Creek along Forest Road 2730 across from a trailhead sign at a pullout on the left.

A few larches along Road 2730

Fret Creek Trail across from the pullout.

For the first third of a mile the trail climbed fairly steeply above Fret Creek.
Entering the Badger Creek Wilderness.

The trail eventually leveled off crossing Fret Creek several times before once again launching steeply uphill before arriving at Oval Lake just under 2 miles from the trailhead.

Starting to climb again.

Sign for Oval Lake.

The small lake is just off the trail but has several campsites in the surrounding forest.

We’d visited the lake briefly in 2014 during our first ever backpacking trip and it looked quite a bit like we’d remember but with less water given the time of year.
June 28, 2014

After checking out the lake we continued climbing on the Fret Creek Trail for 0.2 more miles to its end at the Divide Trail.
A bit of snow left from the recent snowfall.

The Divide Trail.

We turned left on the Divide Trail and climbed for 0.3 miles to a ridge crest where we took a side trail out to Palisade Point. This rock outcrop has a nice view south across the Badger Creek Wilderness to Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters.

Some snow near a switchback along the trail.

Mt. Adams starting to peak over a ridge to the north.

Mt. Adams with some larch trees in the foreground.

Lookout Mountain from the Divide Trail (The bare peak in between the two bare snags. Just to the right of the left snag.)

Side trail to Palisade Point.

Broken Top, The Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack (just the very top), Mt. Jefferson, and Olallie Butte (post) were visible in the distance.

Mt. Jefferson with the tip of Three Fingered Jack to the left and Olallie Butte to the right.

Mt. Hood peaking up over the rocks.

Panoramic view with Badger Creeks valley below.

Rocks below Palisade Point.

After the stop at Palisade Point we continued east along the ridge for 1.2 miles losing a little over 300′ to Flag Point Lookout Road (NF 200). Occasional views opened up along the way.
We ran into this jumble of downed trees shortly after leaving Palisade Point but fortunately it was the worst of the obstacles.

Flag Point Lookout from the trail.

A small meadow that was full of flowers a couple of months ago.

A stand of larches.

A better view of Mt. Hood.

Zoomed in.

Looking back through larches at a Badger Creek Wilderness sign near Road 200.

Looking back at the Divide Trail.

We had been to this junction on our 2014 backpacking trip where we turned off the Divide Trail here onto the Badger Creek Cutoff Trail to hike down to Badger Creek. This time we took Road 200 which led to the Flag Point Lookout in 0.8 miles.
Road 200

Chipmunk

Nearing the lookout.

The lookout is staffed in the Summer and used to be available as a rental during the Winter but the Forest Service discontinued that a few years ago.

A gate blocks access to the platform and tower but climbing the stairs below the gate provided for some more excellent views.
Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams to the north.

Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, and Olallie Butte

View east to the hills above the Columbia River.

We spent quite a while admiring the views and then more time attempting to spot one of the pikas that we could hear in the rock field below the lookout. Alas none of the little rock rabbits wanted to make an appearance but several robins did.

We headed back to the Divide Trail and stayed straight at the junction with the Fret Creek Trail. It was just 1.6 miles to Lookout Mountain and on such a beautiful day we couldn’t pass up the chance of another spectacular view.
Passing the Fret Creek Trail.

We did need to gain almost 800′ of elevation to reach Lookout Mountain which at times was a fairly steep climb.

Another viewpoint along the way where Badger Lake was visible.

Badger Lake

We had seen our first fellow hikers on our return from Flag Point and now we were seeing more of them as well as a little more snow.

The final pitch to the summit, there is at least one hiker visible up top.

Looking back to Flag Point.

Looking NE toward The Dalles and the Columbia River.

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams

View south past Badger Lake to Mt. Jefferson.

After another nice break we headed back, but just under half a mile from the summit we turned right on a side path to what Sullivan labels the Helispot. Several campsites were located here and yet another amazing view.
Flag Point from the Helispot.

And of course Mt. Hood again.

After exploring the Helispot area we hopped back onto the Divide Trail and returned to the Fret Creek Trail. We made a final quick stop at Oval Lake before returning to our car and heading home.

Fret Creek from the road near the trailhead.

The hike was just over 13 miles with approximately 2800′ of elevation gain. A number of shorter options could be done and longer trips are also possible with the numerous trails in the Badger Creek Wilderness.

It was great to see the mountains with fresh snow and nice to have some snow on the ground after the dry Spring and Summer. They are calling for a La Nina Winter which could mean plenty of precipitation. After this year we would welcome it. Hopefully it will be in the form of snow for the mountains and not rain though. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fret Creek to Flag Point

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Divide Trail, Fifteen Mile Campground, Flag Point, Flag Point Lookout, Fret Creek, Fret Creek Trail, Helispot, hiking, Larch, lookout mountain, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, Oval Lake, Palisade Point

Badger Creek Area Hiking Oregon Trip report

Surveryor’s Ridge – 05/22/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 24, 2021
4 Comments on Surveryor’s Ridge – 05/22/2021

For the first time in 2021 we were forced to change plans having to delay our hike at the Ridgefiled Wildlife Refuge until the Kiwa trail reopens. (Nesting sandhill cranes have temporarily closed access as of this writing.) Since Ridgefield was out we looked at our schedule late May 2022 and decided to move up a hike on the Surveryor’s Ridge Trail. We had previously hiked portions of the 16.4 mile long trail as part of our Bald Butte (post) and Dog River Trail (post) hikes. For this visit we planned on hiking the center section of trail to visit Shellrock Mountain and Yellowjacket Point.

There are several possible trailheads for the Surveyor’s Ridge Trail and the Oregon Hikers Field Guide suggests starting at the Shellrock Mountain Trailhead for a 7.9 mile hike. We decided to be a bit different though and chose to park further south along the Forest Road 17 in a large gravel pullout at a spur road on the left. (Coming from FR 44/Dufur Road it is 1.4 miles after turning off of Brooks Meadow Road.)
Mt. Hood partly obscured by clouds from the parking area.

There were three reasons we chose this starting point. First it meant 2.5 miles less driving on gravel roads. Second if you’re visiting both Shellrock Mountain and Yellowjacket Point from the Shellrock Mountain Trailhead you wind up going to one then back past the trailhead to the other because the trailhead is in between the two. The final reason was this way we would get to experience more of the trail (although the tradeoff is an extra 5 miles of hiking round trip).

We followed the spur road downhill just over a hundred yards to the Surveyor’s Ridge Trail crossing.
The signpost is laying on the ground.

We weren’t really sure what to expect out of the trail. It is popular with mountain bikers (we saw maybe a dozen or so on the day) so it is well maintained but we weren’t sure what kind of views it might offer except for at Shellrock Mountain and Yellowjacket Point.

We were pleasantly surprised when just a third of a mile in we came to an opening with a view of Mt. Hood to the west.

The forecast for the day was mostly sunny skies in the morning with a 20% chance of showers developing after Noon. Our drive to the trailhead had been through low clouds/fog with no view of Mt. Hood to speak of so even seeing this much of the mountain was exciting plus a nice lenticular cloud was developing up top.

Over the next two and a quarter miles the trail passed through alternating forest types and several more views of Mt. Hood (and one of Mt. St. Helens). While no snow remained, much of the vegetation was in its early stages although a variety wildflowers were blooming.
Manzanita

Lupine

Mt. Hood again.

Jacob’s ladder

Red-flowering currant

Trillium (can you spot the crab spider?)

Sticky currant

Western larch tree and red-flowering currant on the left.

Larks spur and blue-eyed Mary

Columbine well before blooming.

Anemone

Largeleaf sandwort

Vanilla leaf getting ready to bloom.

Arnica

False solomons seal starting to bloom.

Star-flower false solomons seal prior to blooming.

Ballhead waterleaf

Ponderosa

Scarlet gilia not yet in bloom.

Balsamroot

Hood River Valley and Mt. St. Helens

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Hood

Indian Mountain (post)

Western serviceberry

Fairy bells

Glacier lily

Shellrock Mountain from the trail.

Just to the south of Shellrock Mountain there is a signed spur to the left for “Shellrock Mountain” which does not go to Shellrock Mountain but rather ends after few hundred feet in a small meadow below the mountain. Despite knowing this we ventured out to the meadow just to check it out.

First paintbrush of the day spotted in the little meadow.

The route to the 4449’summit lays .2 miles further north at the crest of the trail where a rough unsigned user trail veers uphill.
User trail to the left.

The faint trail was fairly well flagged and easy enough to follow through the vegetation to the open rocky slope of Shellrock Mountain.

Once we were out in the open we simply headed uphill to the summit where a lookout once sat. The three-hundred and sixty degree view includes Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier in addition to Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens.

Shellrock Badlands Basin, an eroded volcanic formation.

View east into Central Oregon.

Mt. Hood

Mill Creek Buttes with Lookout Mountain and Gunsight Butte (post) behind to the right.

Buckwheat

Bird below Shellrock Mountain.

We took a nice long break at the summit before descending back to the Surveyor’s Ridge Trail where we continued north.

A whole lot of trillium.

Fairy slippers

Approximately .4 miles from the user trail we arrived at the Shellrock Mountain Trailhead.

Sign at the trailhead.

Continuing beyond the trailhead the Surveyor’s Ridge Trail passed above the Shellrock Badlands Basin with views back to Shellrock Mountain and eventually Mt. Hood again.

parsley and popcorn flower.

Lupine

Over the course of the morning the cloud situation improved substantially, enough that when we arrived at a viewpoint 3/4 of a mile from the Shellrock Mountain Trailhead most of the sky around Mt. Hood was blue.

While Mt. Hood wore a lenticular cloud for a hat, my hat wore an inch worm.

I frequently have insects hitching rides, so often that we joke about me being an Uber for bugs.

Beyond this latest viewpoint the trail began a gradual climb to the former site of the Rim Rock Fire Lookout (approx 1.75 miles from the Shellrock Mountain Trailhead).
Rock out cropping in the Rim Rock section of trail.

Tailed kittentails

Western tanager female

Western tanager male

View from a rocky viewpoint just before crossing from the east side of the ridge back to the top.

Phlox

When the trail regained the ridge crest we took a user trail to a viewpoint where Mt. Hood once again dominated the view.

Hood River Valley

Interestingly the improved visibility of Mt. Hood had been countered by a loss of visibility of the Washington Cascades.
Clouds encroaching on Mt. Adams.

Mt. St. Helens

Another unmarked side trail led to the former lookout site.

The other viewpoint had a better view.

Three tenths of a mile from the lookout site we crossed an old roadbed then crossed a second in another .3 miles.
The first roadbed crossing.

Violets

There was a profusion of Red-flowering currant in between the road crossings.

Trail signs at the second road crossing.

Coralroot sprouting

Four tenths of a mile beyond the second road crossing we thought we had reached Yellowjacket Point when we arrived at an open hillside where we followed a faint path out to some rocks.

Balsamroot and paintbrush

Desert parsley

Western stoneseed

Wildflowers on the hillside.

After another long break (and removing two ticks from my pant legs) we started to head back. Something just didn’t seem right though so we checked our location on the GPS and discovered that we hadn’t quite gotten to Yellowjacket Point yet. We turned around and hiked an additional 0.1 miles to a junction where we turned left.
Sign at the junction.

Spur trail to Yellowjacket Point.

We arrived at Yellowjacket Point a tenth of a mile later.

No yellowjackets, just a robin.

Having finally reached Yellowjacket point we could head back. As usual we kept our eyes open for anything we missed on our first pass.
Things like this gooseberry shrub.

Chipmunk

Townsend’s solitare?

The biggest story on our hike back was the deterioration of the view of Mt. Hood. NOAA had not been wrong about the chance of showers in the afternoon and we watched as the clouds moved in. By the time we had arrived back at the car it had indeed started to sprinkle ever so lightly.
12:40pm

12:50pm

1:00pm

1:30pm

2:04pm

Returning to the parking area at 2:11pm

The 12.9 mile hike came with approximately 1800′ of elevation gain. We were really impressed with the variety of scenery and the views on this hike. Despite being a multi-use trail we didn’t see that many other users; a few trail runners, a couple of hikers, and a dozen or so mountain bikers. All in all a great day in the forest. Happy Trails!

Flicker: Surveryor’s Ridge

Tags hiking, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon, Rim Rock, Rim Rock Fire Lookout, Shellrock Mountain, Shellrock Mountain Trailhead, Surveryor's Ridge, Surveryor's Ridge Trail, Trillium, Western Tanager, wildflowers, Yellowjacket Point