Sunday, April 18, 2021
Today we hiked up Stacker Butte on the Washington side of the Gorge in Columbia Hills State Park. This area is also known as Dalles Mountain Ranch.
It was a gorgeous sunny day and we had views right from the parking area. Mt. Hood:
Mt. Jefferson:
This time of year the wildflower show starts right at the beginning. We’ve been to this spot many times before to see the bloom and this year isn’t the best we’ve seen, but it was still beautiful:
Time to get hiking. The entire route is along a gated road, used only occasionally to service the equipment up on the summit:
The views from the road were great and we could see Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood for much of the hike:
I got a shot of this cute little guy, a white crowned sparrow:
There were a variety of flowers to see along the road. Daggerpod:
Big-head clover:
Phlox:
Those radio towers up ahead look like the summit, but they’re not!
Here is the summit, with a different set of communications equipment:
The wind was blowing HARD up here, but the view was fantastic! Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood:
We could even see the Three Sisters, with The Dalles in the foreground:
To the north we could see the very top of Mt. St. Helens:
And Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, and the Goat Rocks:
Looking down on Swale Canyon where the Klickitat Trail goes. I hiked parts of that trail recently, but didn’t go in far enough to hike the stretch seen here:
We took shelter from the wind behind some kind of large electrical box, eating our snacks and admiring the view. The we hiked back down:
We had seen no one on the way up, but on our way down we passed 30 people hiking up, the most people by far we’ve ever seen on this hike.
Gaia stats: 5.1 miles, 1,100′ elevation gain
