2800 feet elevation gain
Located on the Washington side near Carson, an hour or so from Portland. Kind of a lumpy, nondescript mountain with some bare patches near the top. Not really that remarkable. If you weren’t looking for it or knew what it was, you’d ignore it.
The bare patches are apparently wildflower meadows that bloom in late may, and the hike is very popular. We decided to check it out early morning on memorial day weekend (7am, before the crowd hits). I’ve read so much about this hike but never went, we were excited to see what the fuss was about.
It’s popular for a reason. Hike easily catapulted itself into my top 10 hikes ever. It was incredible. But we had to earn it.
Firstly, it amazes me how popular the hike is considering how difficult the hike was. The climb is roughly 2800 feet, and unless you take the gentler back way, it’s 2800 feet in 3 miles. 3 miles of sheer up. You need to be in shape for this puppy, because it feels worse than it sounds. But the payoff was worth it tenfold.
The trail starts out right next to the river and just goes up. Switchbacks hit you immediately, and they are relentless. After maybe 3/4th of a mile of up, you come to a junction. One side says 2.2 miles to the top and is labeled “more difficult”. The other is 2.6 miles to the top and “less difficult”. There is literally no reason to take the more difficult route unless you want peace and quiet for a mile with no views and a worse climb. The less difficult route is far more scenic and is the route we took. After the junction the trail evens out a little more, but continues climbing. You pass though some nice open canopy areas with big tall trees and little undergrowth, it was very peaceful. After enough of that, you hit the lower viewpoint in a small flower meadow. The view is great and it serves as a great tease, giving you some action and letting you know the hike will get better.
Wind
Mountain’s distinctive cone in the BG, looking west.
From here the trail heads back towards the top, continuing the climb. Always climbing. You follow a ridgeline for a while in a moderate grade until you hit another junction, where the two trails rejoin each other to become one route to the top. And then the real bad stuff hits. The incline up hurts, and even though both of us were prepared for this sucker, it still knocks you out getting up that hill. But it pays off. After some arduous climbing for half a mile, you hit the sweet spot. The trees fall away and you reach the upper meadows. Wildflowers blanket the hillside with incredible density.
From here the trail heads back towards the top, continuing the climb. Always climbing. You follow a ridgeline for a while in a moderate grade until you hit another junction, where the two trails rejoin each other to become one route to the top. And then the real bad stuff hits. The incline up hurts, and even though both of us were prepared for this sucker, it still knocks you out getting up that hill. But it pays off. After some arduous climbing for half a mile, you hit the sweet spot. The trees fall away and you reach the upper meadows. Wildflowers blanket the hillside with incredible density.
The
vistas are great, you reach a lookout point and can see all the way to Hood
River facing east.
Then the final awesome meadow ascent begins
By the way, at this elevation with this exposure, things
start getting chilly. There was still a cloud on the tip of the summit, and we
were heading into it. For the final ascent you climb through the wildflower
meadows totally exposed on the side of the mountain. It feels incredible.
When
we finally reached the summit sadly everything was in fog.
But
after about 15 minutes, we caught a break.
Now began the descent. I had no desire to strain my knees on
the steep hills back down, so we turned it into a loop option. We headed back
down the long way, towards the Augsperger Mtn. trail. It was a slower, longer
descent, but we got more wildflowers and probably the best cliff hiking I’ve
ever experienced.
The
trail down was fairly uneventful once you escape the wildflower meadows. The
grade is mild and you meet all the creaky knees people using the easier path
up. You get occasional views of Wind Mountain, but mostly it’s just a slow
descent. By the time we hit the parking lot we were pretty spent.
Over 200 cars lined the highway when we got in the car at noon. Starting at 8am: good idea.
Final thoughts:
-Steep as hell, be prepared and bring water because ouch
-Final uphill mile is one of the most breathtaking sections of trail I've ever experienced
-Worth it if you hit the wildflower season easily. Haven't hiked it without them yet, might not be as charming. Also would have been awful if we didn't beat the crowd there. It hurts, but the payoff was absolutely fantastic.
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