3.5 hr
Overview
There are many roads to Monte Carlo: this approach begins from Buck Creek in the Washington Department of Natural Resource’s Buck Creek Area west of the White Salmon River. You’ll ascend Penny Ridge, making use of the Buck Creek Trail and then old jeep tracks, to reach the summit of Monte Carlo, at the eastern horn of the U-shaped Monte Cristo Range (Little Huckleberry Mountain is the western horn). Although only a few old growth trees remain in this heavily logged area, it is a paradise for wildflower enthusiasts: there are no vast, color-saturated meadows for the photographing hordes, but an impressive variety of species survives on these slopes due to the microhabitats of the east/west transition zone and the changes in elevation. A series of meadows interspersed with small copses of montane woodland run along Monte Carlo’s level one-mile summit, which offers view west and eventually north to the massive snow-covered hump of Mount Adams. Note that if you want to cut out the lower reaches of this hike, a shorter excursion of 9.8 miles round-trip begins at the McIlroy Saddle Trailhead. Walk right to the lower entrance of the parking lot and then onto Road B1000. Hike about 150 yards down the road and look for the trail to resume uphill to the left, several yards before you would reach a dirt track (B1200) leading off B1000. Ascend on a bracken-lined tread under Douglas-firs and oaks and switchback. The trail traverses through deer brush, thimbleberry, and snowberry. Drop briefly into a small gully and rise again under Douglas-firs and maples with an Oregon grape carpet. Come to the junction with the Buck Creek Trail, which leads up Penny Ridge to Monte Carlo. Go left at the junction on an old road bed overhung with brush. Head up through oak woodland on a grassy tread with deer brush blooming in blue puffs in late spring. There are lots of ticks in this area. The path levels in a lovely oak forest and then heads up again. Cross a trickling brook and head into Douglas-fir/big-leaf maple woods. The trail sw
Trail Stats
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1053 m
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Photos
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