Buck Peak from Indian Mountain Hike

Overview

For those seeking Buck Peak , the highest point in Multnomah County, as a destination, this is the shortest route (see also the Buck Peak from Lolo Pass Hike and the Buck Peak from Lost Lake Hike ). The only caveat would be the long drive on narrow roads, with the last 2.7 miles requiring some clearance to get over water bars. However, Buck Peak is not particularly the star of the hike as this stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail offers great views to the Eagle Creek Gorge, the Washington stratovolcanoes, Gorge prominences such as Tanner Butte , and the north face of Mount Hood . In early summer, the wildflowers put on a show in the woods and hanging meadows. Walk past the green and red gate to the nose of Indian Mountain ’s north ridge (you can look back to the summit of Indian Mountain ). Lupine blooms along the roadside. You’ll reach a rough track that leads up to the left below a radio relay station. Take the trail to the right leading down (the Indian Mountain Trail). Already views open up to Chindere Mountain , the Benson Plateau , the Eagle Creek Gorge and the scars of the 2017 fire, Table Mountain and Greenleaf Peak , and Mount Saint Helens , Mount Rainier , and Mount Adams beyond. The two Soda Peaks are to the left of Mount Saint Helens . Mount Defiance is visible to the east. The trail descends a rocky heath, where mats of penstemon, common juniper, and mountain spiraea only grow a couple of inches tall, kept in check by the often cold and fierce winds. A wind shelter by the trail seems an appropriate construction. At the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail , a large cairn supports a post with several signs. The PCT heads southwest across open talus slopes where pikas squeak alarm calls. Stunted subalpine firs and mountain hemlocks survive here. Tanner Butte and Eagle Butte frame the forested bowl that contains the headwaters of Eagle Creek. Look also for an unnamed waterfall on a tributary of Eagle Creek. Farther west is the distinctive summit of Larch Mountain . You’ll enter a shady montane forest o

Trail Stats

Photos

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The route of the Pacific Crest Trail to Buck peak from the north (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo/TF Outdoors

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View to Lost Lake and Mt. Hood from Buck Peak (bobcat)

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Avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum) , Pacific Crest Trail (bobcat)

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Buck Peak ahead, Pacific Crest Trail (bobcat)

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Clodius parnassian (Parnassius clodius) , Pacific Crest Trail (bobcat)

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View to Tanner Butte from the Pacific Crest Trail (bobcat)

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