Buck Point Hike

Overview

The hike to the Buck Point Viewpoint is kind of a bookend the the Wauna Viewpoint Hike. Both start at Eagle Creek Day Use Trailhead, and they both climb to viewpoints of the Columbia River beneath power lines. This hike is convenient as a short excursion for people staying at the Eagle Creek Campground. It's also the beginning of the Ruckel Ridge Loop Hike, which has been closed since the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. Note that the trail is accessed from the campground, but day hikers need to start at the Eagle Creek Day Use Trailhead. You'll start by heading up the paved campground road from the day use trailhead. As the road bends right, you'll see a sign for Gorge Trail 400 on the left. The Gorge Trail rises under a shady canopy of Douglas-fir to the top of a bluff above I-84, and you'll get a view to the fish hatchery below. Then the trail travels next to a protective fence for a ways, with the Eagle Creek Campground on your right. About halfway along the fence, cut in to your right past a campsite to reach the campground road. Head left up around the road. Between Campsites 5 and 6, you'll find a large sign reading "Buck Point Trail #439". Follow the trail to the right (on your left is the campground amphitheater). Almost immediately, you'll enter the burn zone of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. (Fire crews managed to protect the campground itself.) Without a canopy, the undergrowth is now a tangle of fireweed, trailing blackberry, blackcap raspberry, salal, and Oregon grape. At a switchback, you can look up to the west and make out the dark hulk of Wauna Point. Where the powerlines pass below the point, there's a pylon at Wauna Viewpoint. Five more switchbacks take you above a rock outcropping and close to the powerline corridor. You'll see the snowy summit of Mount Adams peeking up to the east. There are views through the conifers and across the river to Table Mountain and Greenleaf Peak. Shrubs like manzanita, hazel, chinquapin, elderberry, buckbrush, and willow are present in the understory. The trail turns i

Trail Stats

Photos

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