Pen Point – wanderingyuncks

Tygh Creek Trail – 05/26/2025

After spending a second night in The Dalles it was time to return home, but before we headed to Salem we had one more hike to do in the area. There was one more hike on the east side of the Badger Creek Wilderness featured in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition) guidebook – Tygh Creek. His recommended hike on the trail is a 4-mile out-and-back gaining 1700′. If that sounds steep, it is!

We left The Dalles and drove south on Highway 197 and made our way to the unsigned Tygh Creek Trailhead along Forest Road 27.
The Tygh Creek Trail across FR 27 from the Tygh Creek Trailhead.

The trailhead is just 1.4-miles from the School Canyon Trailhead where we had started our hike two days earlier (post). It is theoretically possible to combine the two trails into a 13.7-mile loop, but the upper portion of the Tygh Creek Trail is reported faint and prone to heavy blow down. Even if the trails were clear we didn’t have time for a long hike today, so the 4-mile option was perfect.

For the first half mile the trail did a little up and down along Tygh Creek.

The only two trees down that needed to be climbed under/over.

Tygh Creek

At the half mile mark the trail left the creek and began the steep climb to the ridge above.

Heather had opted to not tackle the climb after already having done two challenging hikes this weekend so I had left the car before her and was on my own heading uphill when I spotted something moving in the forest ahead. I noticed the black first but then saw white as well and realized it was a skunk on the trail ahead.
Distance + low light + moving animal = blurry photo.

The skunk had been at the far end of this section of trail which was lined with lupine.

I stopped and watched the skunk head uphill until it was out of sight and then proceeded carefully not wanting to wind up smelling of skunk for the entire ride home. (I’m sure Heather would not have appreciated that either.) It was a good thing I was being cautious because after a short distance I noticed the skunk in some brush just off the trail.

The little stinker had a pretty cute face.

We stared at each other for a minute, and I politely requested it move along. When that didn’t work I left the trail in an attempt to swing out wide and pick up the trail further uphill. My moving again prompted the skunk to run off deeper into the forest with its tail in “firing position”. I hoped it wasn’t randomly spraying the air which might still get me but fortunately the safety was kept on and I was in the clear to continue the hike.

Reeder mentioned the middle third of the 0.9-mile climb as being “some of the steepest, dustiest trail in the Badger Creek Wilderness.” From the sample of trails we’ve hiked in this wilderness I’d agree with that statement. The first and final third were no picnic either. There were however great views and a lot of wildflowers to look at as I slowly trudged uphill.
The trail is to the right in this photo.

Paintbrush, balsamroot, and a strawberry blossom.

Ball Point

Rough eyelashweed

When a trail looks steep in a photo that tells you something.

More paintbrush and balsamroot.

Townsend’s solitaire

Buckwheat

My goal, the turn around point, was up on the crest of that ridge ahead.

Lupine, balsamroot, and a death camas.

Dogwood tree among the ponderosa pines.

Mahala mat

Getting close to the ridge and still steep.

The trail got less steep near the ridge.

Gordon Butte to the right. Broken Top, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Jefferson would also have been visible if not for the clouds.

Level trail on the ridge!

The hike describes cresting a “small” ridge and finding a user trail on the left that leads to a viewpoint sometimes used as a helispot. I headed out the ridge and quickly realized that my definition of “small” and Reeder’s were not the same.
Looking ahead at the trees atop the “small” ridge.

Sandwort

Oregon sunshine

Wildflowers on the “small” ridge.

Almost to the crest.

While I never actually spotted a use trail it was easy to see the opening where a helicopter could land just to the left of the trail, so I made my way out to the opening.

The clouds here are hiding Mt. Hood which should be visible behind the ridge. What is visible is Flag Point (post) in the middle with the Flag Point Lookout Tower.

Looking toward Mt. Jefferson.

Parts of Mt. Jefferson peeking out through the clouds.

After catching my breath at the viewpoint I began the steep descent back to Tygh Creek. I had been so focused on the climb up that I saw a few flowers that I’d missed on my first pass.
I’d seen a couple whitestem frasera going up but coming down I realized just how many there actually were, although none of the plants were quite blooming yet.

Groundsel

Broken Top and some of the Three Sisters were visible on the way down.

Tam McArthur Rim (post), Broken Top with Green Ridge (post) and Black Butte (post) in front, and parts of the Three Sisters.

I missed this whole patch of silvercrown earlier.

Pine Hollow Reservoir and Central Oregon.

Elkhorn clarkia aka ragged robin.

Threadleaf phacelia

Paintbrush with Ball Point in the background.

Vetch

Penstemon

Bastard toadflax

Buttes in Cental Oregon.

Back in the forest near Tygh Creek.

Tygh Creek

Squirrel

Starflower

Coral fungus

The trailhead in sight.

The hike was just under 4-miles with 1700′ of elevation gain.
The Tygh Creek track along with a portion of Saturday’s hike on the School Canyon Trail at the bottom.

Tackling this hike when my legs were already tired from the previous two days wasn’t ideal, but its length was which allowed us to get home to Salem before 11am. It was a little disappointing not having clearer views from the helispot given the effort to get there, but the wildflowers and views that I did have made for a good hike regardless.

In a crazy twist I posted a few photos on Instagram and Matt Reeder himself commented having also hiked the trail a little later that same morning. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tygh Creek

School Canyon-Little Badger Loop – 05/24/2025

We spent Memorial Day weekend in The Dalles in order to cross a few “to-dos” off our hiking list. Our first stop was a two-for-one hike in the Badger Creek Wilderness. The plan was to make a loop out of the School Canyon and Little Badger Trails which would allow us to cross those trails off the list of hikes we still hadn’t done featured in our Matt Reeder guidebooks (Off the Beaten Trail). The School Canyon Trail is featured in his “PDX Hiking 365” (1st edition) and The Little Badger Trail is covered in “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition).

The two trailheads are 3.5 road miles apart but only about a half mile separates them in a direct line. Both Reeder and the entry in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide mention avoiding the longer road walk by cutting cross country suggesting slightly different routes and having differing opinions on difficulty. Based on the two hike descriptions and a recent discussion in the Oregon Hikers Forum it appeared to me that the “best” solution was to bushwack downhill from Forest Road 27 to the Little Badger Trailhead roughly a half mile from the School Canyon Trailhead. I arrived at this conclusion based on our belief that going down is easier than climbing up and by comparing Google Earth imagery with a topographic map. I was looking for the least steep looking open hillside which would limit the number of downed trees we might encounter. Prior to leaving I added waypoints to our GPS units to mark where I thought we should leave the road and one at the Little Badger Trailhead so we could easily see what we were aiming for.

We left Salem extra early and arrived at the School Canyon Trailhead about a quarter after seven.

From the trailhead we headed left (SE) on FR 27 until we reached the waypoint I had created then looked for an open spot to start the cross-country portion of the hike.

We headed off through the trees here.

After passing through a small stand of trees the views opened up to the SW where Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte stood out on the horizon.

Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (post).

Gordon Butte in the foreground.

Our route steepened as we headed downhill among a number of different wildflowers.
Balsamroot and oak trees.

Buckwheat and balsamroot

Whitestem frasera with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Rough eyelashweed

Paintbrush

We picked up a faint path, not sure if it was a game or use trail.

As we neared the Little Badger Trailhead we entered another stand of trees.

Lupine and ponderosa pines.

We popped out of the trees on FR 2710 less than 20 yards from the Little Badger Trail.

The trailhead is on the opposite side of FR 2710 from the trail.

Sign at the start of the Little Badger Trail.

After the half mile road walk and 0.6-miles cross country we were now on official trail and quickly entered the Badger Creek Wilderness.
Badger Creek Wilderness sign next to Little Badger Creek.

For the first two miles the trail stuck closely to the creek.

Groundsel

Woodland stars

Little Badger Creek

Fairy slipper

The trail then climbed a little higher on the hillside as it continued further into the wilderness.

American vetch

Bastard toadflax

Duskywing on sagebrush false dandelion.

Balsamroot

Bee coming in for a landing on phacelia.

Sticky cinquefoil

Western wood-pewee

Madia

Brown elfin (and another pollinator) on Oregon sunshine.

Starflower

Mahala mat along the trail.

Duskywing on blue-eyed Mary

Largeleaf sandwort along the trail.

Skunk cabbage

Red-flowering currant

Duskywing on arnica

Silvercrown

Oregon grape

Last of the trillium.

Plumed solomonseal

The trail had begun a descent back to the creek at the 3-mile mark and just under 4-miles from the trailhead we arrived at the site of the former Kinzel Mine Cabin.

What’s left of the cabin.

Little Badger Creek at the cabin site.

We took a brief break at the cabin to prepare for the nearly 900′ climb to reach the School Canyon Trail. After the break we walked past the cabin remains and forked left to visit the old Kinzel Mine.
Anemone

There was a short climb before reaching the spur trail.

Spur trail to the mine.

The old mine. We did not go in as wildlife do sometimes use it for shelter.

Ballhead waterleaf near the mine.

After visiting the mine we returned to the main trail and began the steep 0.7-mile climb to the School Canyon Trail. This was a challengingly steep ascent, but there were plenty of wildflowers, wildlife, and views to distract us.

Western tanager

A stand of oaks ahead.

Balsamroot along the trail.

Paintbrush

Buckwheat

Juniper trees

Threadleaf phacelia

Signpost ahead for the trail junction.

We took a much-needed break at the junction before detouring left (west) on the School Canyon Trail for a tenth of a mile to a spur trail on the left that led to a Helispot Viewpoint where there were several rock pinnacles.

Wildflowers along the trail.

The spur trail on the left to the Helispot.

Penstemon

Pine Hollow Reservoir in Central Oregon.

We returned to the junction after visiting the helispot and followed the School Canyon Trail as it gradually descended to a ridge below Ball Point.

Woodland star

This was the most significant obstacle we had to navigate on the entire loop.

Yarrow

A dogwood on top of the rocks and penstemon below.

First view of Ball Point.

Penstemon

From the ridge we could faintly make out Broken Top and the Three Sisters.

The Three Sisters on the right and Broken Top with Tam McArthur Rim (post) to the left.

Pen Point across the Tygh Creek Valley.

The trail left the ridge and traversed the hillside around Ball Point.
Passing through the 2009 Ball Point Fire scar.

Pen Point toward the center and the taller Hootnanny Point to the right.

Death camas

View east as we came around Ball Point.

Desert yellow fleabane.

Prairie smoke aka Old Man’s Whiskers

On the far side of Ball Point the trail descended fairly steeply along a ridge covered in wildflowers and a view of Mt. Jefferson.

Heather coming down the ridge.

I think this is a western racer.

The trail dropped off the ridge and descended just over a mile to the trailhead. The wildflowers and views were nice along this entire stretch.
Looking up at the ridge.

A clarkia

Lewis’ woodpecker

Lizard

On last view of Mt. Jefferson

Ball Point

Butterfly on whitestem frasera

Signs at the trailhead.

The loop ended up being 9.9-miles with 2150′ of elevation gain.
Orange is the road + cross country portion.

We really enjoyed the variety this hike provided, and we only saw two other hikers all day. The climb from the cabin site to the School Canyon trail was tough but we were glad to have tackled it. We checked in to our room in The Dalles and after having dinner and picking up some snacks for the room we turned in so we could get another early start the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: School Canyon-Little Badger Loop