Saturday, May 20, 2023
We saw a report that the wildflowers on Bald Butte were looking good, so we decided to make this our hike today.
Deb joined us for this hike. It was nice to catch up with her while Greg frequently hung behind and photographed every wildflower we passed.
Towards the beginning of the hike the trail switchbacks up an open meadow area with wildflower and great views of Mt. Hood:
Then the trail heads back into the trees as it continues climbing up. The shade was welcome since the day was warming up quick:
We reached Surveyor’s Ridge and headed north towards Bald Butte. We saw some nice flowering currant:
The trail passes under these big power lines, then climbs up a steep road:
As we made the final push towards the summit we started passing a whole bunch of wildflowers, especially balsamroot. We’ve done this hike several times before and never seen the flowers look this nice here:
Almost there:
From the summit there is a great view of Mt. Hood and of Mt. St. Helens:
There was a fire lookout up here long ago and we found some old metal cable that still remains:
There isn’t much in the way of shade up there, so we kind of snuggled up against a shrub to take advantage of its scant shade on this hot day. We saw numerous dirt bikes and ATVs pass through. I thought they weren’t allowed on this trail and when I asked the Mt. Hood National Forest via email they responded: “OHV’s are only allowed to ride in designated OHV areas such as La Dee Flats, McCubbins Gulch and Rock Creek OHV.”
We took a break, admired the view, then headed back down:
Anytime we entered a patch of shade was a welcome relief!
Descending the Oak Ridge Trail we had a view back to Bald Butte (summit on the left):
Gaia stats: 8.6 miles, 2,400′ elevation gain
