Strawberry Mountain

Sunday, July 10, 2022

Before heading home from our Mt. St. Helens weekend, we decided to do a hike up on Strawberry Mountain, just outside the boundaries of the volcanic monument.

The area is a bit confusing. When most people say they are hiking Strawberry Mountain they mean they are hiking up from the Bear Meadow Viewpoint to the former site of the Strawberry Mountain fire lookout. Strawberry Mountain is actually more like a long ridge with several high points. We opted to skip the lookout site and start from a trailhead on Road 2516 so we could hike north along that ridge.

Road 2516 was slow going with a lot of dips and potholes. Around 4.6 miles in we came across this lingering patch of snow on a slope where the path to the left was pretty muddy, but we were able to get through:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Around 5.4 miles we came to a bigger patch of snow. I wasn’t sure if we could get through this or not so I got out to scope things out:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Just around the corner from that snow patch was this:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Well we’re definitely not driving any further. So we parked alongside the road and walked the last half mile to the trailhead:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We saw this in the snow. Bear print?

Strawberry Mountain Hike

At the trailhead was this old weathered sign about the Strawberry Mountain Lookout. Although most people hike up from Bear Meadow to the south, as I mentioned earlier, you could also hike in from this spot to the north :

Strawberry Mountain Hike

There was a pretty patch of phlox at the trailhead:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We set off up the trail, climbing up through the forest:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

What snow remained was not a problem:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We saw quite a few avalanche lilies, which was a pleasant surprise:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The trees thinned and we started getting some views. Looking east to the Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We reached an unsigned junction with an old skid path. We could see this route on the map and we would end up taking it on the way back since it ended on the road right by the spot where we parked:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We started getting views of Mt. St. Helens and the snowy peaks of the Mt. Margaret Backcountry:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking down onto Ryan Lake:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The topo map labels the 5,739′ forested peak below as Strawberry Mountain:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking east to Mt. Adams:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We completely left the trees behind and entered an open meadow area:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We reached the junction with the Green River Trail and kept going:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking back the way we came:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We started seeing quite a few wildflowers:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

And of course wild strawberry, which one would expect to see on Strawberry Mountain:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The trail curved around the right side of that big rock outcropping:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Then there was more open ridge walking ahead:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking back at the big rock outcropping:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

There was quite a lot of phlox in bloom:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The views were getting better and better. Now we could see Mt. Hood to the south:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams again:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

And Mt. St. Helens:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We continued north just a little bit:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Then we doubled back on a boot path that led up to some rock outcroppings above the trail with great views:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Mt. Rainier:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We sat down for a break, soaking in the awesome views. We had only hiked 2.2 miles from the trailhead and already we gotten a lot of bang for our buck! While Greg worked on identifying wildflowers I walked another 0.2 out to the 5224′ high point beyond the rock outcroppings:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Mt. Hood:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

I could even see distant Mt. Jefferson!

Mt. Jefferson

From above I could look down on the trail below that we had hiked in on, with Mt. St. Helens beyond:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The Goat Rocks:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

The 5739′ peak:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking back toward our spot at the rock outcrops:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Mt. Rainier and some pretty paintbrush:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

View to the east:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Zoomed-in on Burley Mountain lookout with the Goat Rocks behind:

Burley Mountain

We still had a long drive home this afternoon so we reluctantly packed up and headed out. Greg wanted to linger over some wildflowers so I walked north for another 0.1 to see what I could see, but the trail headed into the trees at that point:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Looking south from that point:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Mt. Hood again:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

I rejoined Greg and we headed back the way we came, taking the skid road once we reached that junction:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

While this wasn’t exactly scenic, it was easy walking:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We encountered some snow that was easy enough to navigate:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

Strawberry Mountain Hike

We also encountered an unbelievable amount of trash. Pack it out, people! This is what we picked up just along that one stretch:

Strawberry Mountain Hike

I don’t think this trail sees much use, for some reason. It’s in great shape and the effort-to-reward ratio is pretty awesome. Snowy road notwithstanding, we picked the perfect time to go. The skies were clear and smoke-free, the wildflowers were blooming, and we didn’t experience any bugs.

Gaia stats: 5.4 miles, 680′ elevation gain

Strawberry Mountain Map

Gaia stats: 5.4 miles, 680′

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