1.0 hr
Overview
This fairly short hike is for lookout aficionados and abandoned trail specialists. In fact, there is a short maintained trail up to the remains of the 1929 crow’s nest lookout at Rocky Butte and the views from here are quite expansive. However, to continue west up the slope to Grasshopper Point, you’ll have to use your trail tracking skills to find the abandoned tread of the Rocky Butte Trail #475 as it alternates between old growth forest and clearcut patches. Grasshopper Point had a tower lookout that was destroyed in 1967 and there are no longer great views from the summit as the trees have grown up. A more extensive hike using the Three Mile Trail and forest roads is also described. WARNING: The route past the Rocky Butte Lookout Site is for experienced hikers only. Only shreds of the #475 trail remain: the rest has been obliterated by clearcuts. Follow the directions carefully. Walk up the forested slope from the roadside sign under old growth noble fir, Douglas-fir, grand fir, Engelmann spruce, and ponderosa pine. Veer left on a detour around a large amount of blowdown and then continue up to a penstemon meadow and the weathered outcroppings at Rocky Butte, about half a mile from the trailhead. The lookout here was a crow’s nest atop a 60-foot ponderosa pine. A couple of guy cables are still attached to the tree, and the upper part of the access ladder can be seen as well as a few planks from the crow’s nest itself. Walking out to the viewpoint through a carpet of pinemat manzanita, you can see north to Mount Hood and get a commanding view over the Pine Creek and Badger Creek valleys to the entire Divide Ridge, from Lookout Mountain to Flag Point and Gordon Butte. The dry expanses of central Oregon agricultural lands recede into the distance beyond the valley of the Deschutes River. Look for a 1924 Forest Service benchmark on the rocks. The next part of the journey is on an abandoned trail, so if you are uncomfortable or inexperienced with cross-country travel, enjoy the lookout site and then head ba
Trail Stats
0.0 km
307 m
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0 m
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Photos
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400px-RockyButteGrasshopperPointMap
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250px-Trail_sign%2C_Rocky_Butte_Trail
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