Eightmile Creek Loop Hike

Overview

This hike provides a moderate loop using the slopes above Eightmile Creek in the Barlow District of the Mt. Hood National Forest. It is recommended for its hydric (wet) and xeric (dry) flower meadows from June to mid-July especially. A highlight of the hike are the vistas from Fivemile Ridge and a visit to the Fivemile Butte Lookout tower. From the trailhead parking area, head left about 80 yards to the Bottle Prairie-Knebal Springs Trail South Junction. Go right on the Bottle Prairie Trail. To your left, you will see the lush Bottle Prairie meadow with flowery swaths of arrow-leaf groundsel, white false hellebore, upland larkspur, swamp buttercup, tawny horkelia, etc. You will rise in woods of Engelmann spruce, grand fir, Douglas-fir, western larch, and ponderosa pine. The trail enters a sunny xeric meadow and reaches the Bottle Prairie-Eightmile Creek Loop Trail Junction. An optional extension here, taking about five minutes, is to continue below a replanted clearcut to the turnoff for Perry Point. From the point, blooming with balsamroot in late spring, there are views to Flag Point, Tygh Ridge, and the rolling countryside of the Columbia Plateau. The crow's nest lookout platform here has decayed away, but look for the remains of a ladder leading up a Douglas-fir. Return to the Bottle Prairie-Eightmile Creek Loop Trail Junction and go left. The trail rises in a meadow and then drops through a carpet of vanilla leaf to Rail Hollow Road. Cross the road and continue towards the prominence of Fivemile Butte. The trail traverses below this western end of Fivemile Ridge, but it is a short scramble up a slope of loose platy andesite to get views of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens. The trail continues to rise in ponderosa parkland with some views south. At a junction, go left to visit the Fivemile Butte Lookout tower. A lookout was first erected here in 1934, with the current version being constructed in 1956. You cannot go inside as the lookout is rented throughout the year, but the

Trail Stats

Photos

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400px-EightmileCreekMap

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160px-Rosy_pussytoes

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250px-Eightmile_Creek

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250px-Xeric_meadow

Fivemile_Lookout

Fivemile_Lookout

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