Sunday, October 3, 2021
My foot was hurting after yesterday’s hike but it was too beautiful of a day to not go for a hike. So I chose something short and not far from home and settled on Barlow Butte.
I parked at Barlow Pass and headed downhill on Road 3530, which follows the route of the old Barlow Road:
I left the road and started down the Barlow Butte Trail, immediately hitting a stretch of many downed trees:
Weirdly it looked like the Forest Service had been through and cut the logs, but they had not removed the cut segments off of the trail:
Once I got through that obstacle course I continued on, soon reaching the Mt. Hood Wilderness boundary:
It’s a steep climb up through the trees, and there were more downed trees to deal with. Finally the trail broke out of the trees as it approached the summit:
Looking southeast from here:
The summit is a pleasant spot, but has no views, which I knew from a past visit:
Nearby is the old fire lookout site:
Last time I was up here I couldn’t find any evidence of the lookout. This time I found one of the tie-down points in the brush:
Just a little ways past that spot you can see Mt. Hood in-between tree branches:
I headed down from the summit then turned and followed the trail along Barlow Ridge. I got a view of Mt. Jefferson:
I had a view of the bald spot of Palmateer Point, where Greg and I hiked a few weeks ago:
When the trail is in the trees it’s pretty faint. I don’t think it gets much use:
I reached a large rock outcropping that was my turnaround point. There’s a view of Mt. Hood here, although it’s quickly becoming covered by trees:
I retraced my steps back along the ridge to an open rocky area where I could sit and soak up the sun. No Mt. Hood view here, but this was the view looking east:
I saw no one else on the trail all day!
Gaia stats: 4.2 miles, 1,380′ elevation gain
