Archer Mountain Loop Hike

Overview

Archer Mountain is the westernmost of a quartet of similarly formed basalt prominences on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, the others being Hamilton Mountain, Table Mountain, and Greenleaf Peak. All are the result of layers of Columbia River Basalts backflowing up creek valleys. Softer strata between them are now highly eroded into expansive bowls or deep creek valleys. The mountain was named after Finch R. Archer, an Englishman who was granted title to 178 acres at the foot of the mountain in 1901. Archer homesteaded on the west side of Archer Creek. He had been special agent to the Quinault Indian Reservation and was later appointed as Warden of the infamous McNeil Island Penitentiary in Puget Sound. Archer Mountain was dragged out of obscurity when embers from the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire jumped the river and created the only part of that burn on the Washington side. The rough trail system suffered as a result, but due to the efforts of a cadre of diligent volunteers, it has become more simplified and much easier to follow. This area is divided between two jurisdictional bodies: the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ Columbia Falls Natural Area Preserve. The preserve, which covers the upper cliffs and reaches of High Valley, as well as Archer Falls, is off limits to the public (although none of the "Trail Closed" signs remain); it protects two threatened plants, four sensitive plant species, and the rare Larch Mountain salamander. However, Archer Mountain's summit, the cliffs facing the Columbia River, and the lower entrance to High Valley are all part of the National Forest, and a network of volunteer maintained trails will take you to these destinations from the south. From the trailhead at the end of Smith-Cripe Road, walk up the road bed (Forest Road 1853), and pass around a gate above a forest of secondary-growth Douglas-fir. After walking through the west side of an open field, you'll approach a thicket where the track splits below a th

Trail Stats

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