June 9, 2019

Today we returned to Grassy Knoll, a great early summer hike with views and wildflowers. A new sign has been installed at the trailhead:

There is a nice patch of wildflowers right at the trailhead:

There is a very nice viewpoint one mile in with Mt. Adams being the star of the show here:

Red Mountain Lookout:

Gifford Peak:

Penstemon like to grow here:

We continued north, passing yet more wildflowers:

Then we had our first view of Grassy Knoll:

This is always such a lovely spot, where the trail emerges from the trees into a beautiful patch of wildflowers with a view of Mt. Hood:

More flowers as the trail continues:

We sat on the summit for awhile and enjoyed the view of Mt. Hood. We had the place all to ourselves:

There is a partial view of Mt. Adams up here:

View to the west:

Three Corner Rock:

Cool clouds overhead:

We continued up the trail a bit to another nice patch of flowers before turning around:

We got back to the trailhead at 3pm, having only seen three people the entire day!

Before heading home we stopped to check out the Giant Trees of Lost Creek (articles here, here, and here) and the trail that Russ Jolly built there:

Cedar and doug fir growing together:

Notches had been cut out of fallen trees to create passage:

Natural log bridge over a creek:

We didn’t have time to explore the whole loop, but we’ll be back. Very cool spot!

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Greg and I hiked up Silver Star last weekend via the Grouse Vista Trailhead. Mom and Dad wanted to see the grand wildflower display on Silver Star Mountain. They don’t hike at all anymore and they wouldn’t have been able to handle the rough trail from Grouse Vista, so we knew we had to take them to the north side, even though the road is utter crap.

On Sunday Karl, Deb, Dad, Mom, and I piled into Karl’s truck and drove up there. Road 4109 is even worse than last year. I got my Outback up that road last year, but I probably wouldn’t have made it up this year. This is what the road looks like now, as photographed on our way down. This is the worst of the ditches:

Nice driving, Karl! We made it! There was only one other truck there when we arrived at 8:30.

Unfortunately we were very much in the clouds with no views:

We headed up the trail:

There were wildflowers all over the place:

Visibility was very limited:

The vegetation was sopping wet (we ran into some backpackers who said it rained pretty much all night), which had some beautiful effects:

We turned off of the old road and headed up Ed’s Trail. We were lucky to be here during a good beargrass year:

The wildflower show continued:

I love this part, where the trail crosses a huge meadow:

We cut over to the old road from Ed’s Trail in order to avoid some scrambling sections coming on Ed’s Trail:

Shortly after that we stopped for a break on some rocks above Ed’s Trail, which you see at the bottom of this photo:

Then we continued hiking the old road towards the summit:

Almost to the summit! (Notice the two switchback-cutters popping out onto the trail up there):

We made it! The “views” were pretty cloudy:

Here’s Karl looking out over Star Creek. Normally you’d be able to see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams out there, but not today:

We followed the old road all the way back to the car, hiking past thousands more wildflowers:

Sturgeon Rock:

On the way down the clouds lifted a bit, but not enough for us to see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams

As we neared the end, though, a bit of Mt. St. Helens came out:

Mt. Hood hiding in the clouds:

Mom wasn’t a fan of these really rocky sections, but she and Dad did great!

We got back to the trailhead at 2:30 and then we bumped our way down the road. There were seven cars parked along the road, having bailed on their way up when it got too rough. Some of the cars were partially blocking the road.

We stopped in Battleground at Double Mountain Brewing for some post-hike food and beer:

I could have done without the clouds, but the flowers were beautiful. So glad we were able to get Mom and Dad up there to see them. Great day!

Video:

June 24, 2018

The first time I visited Silver Star Mountain in 2006 I went with my sister and we took our Dad’s pickup because the road was described as being pretty rough. Back then we drove Road 41 and Road 4109 from Sunset Campground and it was a bit of an adventure, with rough potholed roads.

I’ve been back numerous times since then, eventually switching to a slightly different route via Road 1100 (much better road) that connected up with Road 4109 for the last 2.7 miles. Those last 2.7 miles have been getting worse and worse over the years, and after driving it last year in our Outback, Greg and I vowed we’d never drive that road again. (I actually traveled on that road the next weekend, but not in my car.)

So Greg and I headed to the Grouse Vista Trailhead today to hike up that way (here is a description of the hike). The road access is much better. We got up very early to avoid the crowds and the heat and started hiking at 7:30am. The trail is an old road and it starts out steeply, climbing up through the trees. Large rocks litter the old roadbed.

This cute rabbit was on the trail ahead of us. He held still for a surprisingly long time before finally hopping away.

After gaining 600′ in three-quarters of a mile the trail leveled out a bit for awhile:

Around the one-mile mark we emerged out into some open areas and we could see ahead to Sturgeon Rock (left of center):

Looking back down the trail:

Ugly clearcuts:

Then we were back in the trees:

And back into the open. The wildflowers were nice on this stretch:

The steep rockiness continued. This trail is in very bad condition.

After 3.1 miles and 1700′ elevation gain we reached the junction with the summit spur trail. Last push to the summit!

We lucked into a clear day with views of the Cascade volcanoes. Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier:

Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams:

Mt. Hood:

Sturgeon Rock with yucky haze on the horizon beyond:

After leaving the summit we took the side trail towards the Indian Pits hoping to see beargrass, but there wasn’t much there so we didn’t go all the way. Mt. Hood loomed in the distance:

Back on the main route we descended back to our car, passing numerous people heading up. It was really warming up by this point and I was glad to be going down, not up. Here’s a shot looking back up the trail (that’s Sturgeon Rock in the background):

We got back to the car at 1:30. The final mile was pretty grueling. It was impossible to maintain any rhythm on the descent because of all the rocks on the trail. I had to pick my way along, navigating the rocky obstacle course. It was as mentally challenging as it was physically exhausting since I had to concentrate on every step so that I didn’t fall on the rocky trail.

Although this route has better road access, the trail doesn’t even compare to the route on the north side, which is MUCH more scenic, with way more views and flowers. But of course that trailhead requires driving on a wretched road.

Here’s video of our hike: