Salmon Mountain Hike

Overview

The hike to Salmon Mountain takes advantages of high ridges in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and, at several viewpoints, offers vistas to Cascade volcanoes and the pristine valleys of the South Fork Salmon River and Cheeney Creek. From the Old Baldy (Twin Springs) Trailhead on FR 4610 (Abbott Road), enter the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and take a right on the Plaza Trail. The path heads along a relatively level tread across The Plaza, a flat area on the high ridge where the Eagle Creek, Roaring River, and Salmon River drainages meet. Keep your eyes open for the stone fireplace of the old Plaza Guard Station (erected c. 1910). The trail drops in silver fir, noble fir and mountain hemlock forest and begins to traverse along a steep-sided ridge. Look to the right for a spur leading up to Sheepshead Rock, the high point of the hike and a good destination in and of itself. Vistas from here extend to Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, and Mount Hood. Past Sheepshead Rock, the trail drops in four switchbacks, rises to the ridge again, and then and makes a lengthy traverse in shady woods of silver fir, noble fir, mountain hemlock, western hemlock, and Douglas-fir. There are a number of boggy seeps to cross, all cloaked by dense patches of Sitka alder, devil’s club, salmonberry, false bugbane, and thimbleberry. These lush thickets support various species of moisture-loving wildflowers. The trail continues to the Plaza-Salmon Mountain Trail Junction. Head up this trail to the crest and bear left on the ridge, entering rhododendron thickets. The trail generally keeps to the ridge for this section, undulating with the topography before dropping off the crest to the left (A false trail continues along the ridge a short way). At this point the trail tread deteriorates considerably, passing along a steep, unstable slope. You will need to push your way through more rhododendrons to regain the ridge. Turn right for a short cross-country section up the edge of a steep dry meadow to the site of the Salmon Mountain Looko

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