Juniper Ridge – Just Peachy

Thursday, June 18, 2026

After finishing up the short Tongue Mountain hike, I took set off to do the Juniper Ridge hike.

Juniper Ridge Trail #261 heads south from Road 2904:

I started climbing immediately. The day was getting warm and I was grateful for the shade of the trees:

The trail was in bad shape thanks to the motorbike use here:

There wasn’t much to see along the way except for a couple different wildflowers:

The trail was steep and rutted and hiking it felt like a slog. Then the mosquitos started getting bad. I was grateful to come to this viewpoint when I was close to Juniper Peak:

More rutted trail:

The steep sections were loose dirt and rocks. Not fun to go up and really not fun to descend later:

Then the trail popped out of the trees at the foot of Juniper Peak:

Wow, the views! Mt. Adams:

Mt. Rainier:

The trail skirts around Juniper Peak:

More views of Mt. Adams (the pointy peak at left has no name):

The Goat Rocks were visible too:

A steep eroded trail heads straight up the southern slope of Juniper Peak:

I decided to skip it and just enjoy the nice garden gardens along the trail just south of Juniper Peak:

There were plenty of wildflowers to see:

And lots of views to soak in. Looking west at McCoy Peak and Mt. St. Helens:

Looking south at Jumbo Peak:

Looking northeast:

Past the rock gardens the trail heads into the trees:

And at the top of the rise is a view of Mt. Adams again, as well as Sunrise Peak (which I would hike tomorrow):

And the “backside” of that pointy unnamed peak:

After lingering for awhile on the ridge I turned and headed back:

North of Juniper Peak was a rise next to the trail with a user trail to the top. I headed up there and got a nice view looking northwest at Burley Mountain: