43

BUCK PEAK

ELEVATION: 4751 ft, with 1600 ft vertical gain

DISTANCE: 5½ mi up, 11 mi round-trip

DURATION: 2½ hours up, 4½–5 hours round-trip

DIFFICULTY: Strenuous. Longer, steady easy grade, narrow, overgrown, signed, snow lingers into July

TRIP REPORT: A favorite route of the few possible to the highest point in Multnomah County, which is funny because very few of the county’s 800,000 residents would know this fact or its location just NW of Mount Hood! Lost Lake Resort and Campground is privately owned and an $8 day use fee can be paid at the entrance station on the way in (if open) or at the Lost Lake General Store. There is no fee at Huckleberry Mountain Trail TH closest to Buck Peak. Restrooms are located throughout the resort and nearby campgrounds, but not the Skyline TH, S day use TH, or Huckleberry Mountain Trail TH. And FYI: This Huckleberry Mountain Trail does not go to Huckleberry Mountain.

TRAILHEAD: Huckleberry Mountain Trail TH or S day use TH. For both THs, check the Trip Report and see hike 42 for directions past the resort’s entrance station for S day use TH. For Huckleberry Mountain Trail TH from the entrance station, turn left on Jones Creek Road keeping S for 1 mi as the pavement narrows and you pass between the horse camp and group camping area. Continue ¼ mi narrowing, turn right before the road blockage on gravel FR-620 (unsigned) ¼ mi to the TH on the right and park in the few small pullouts on either side without blocking the road (easy, mostly paved, ½ hour from Hood River; 85 mi, 2 hours from Portland).

ROUTE: From the S day use TH, continue S from the end of the parking loop on the trail briefly and turn right down to Lakeshore Trail 656. Turn left (S) a mile along the beautiful lake over boardwalks through the woods to the signed junction for Huckleberry Mountain Trail 617 on the left. For Buck Peak, take Trail 617 less than ¼ mi up past a small tarn on the right to the primary TH (and spur path 30 ft left to FR-620). Continue right (left from the primary TH) at the signage (“Lakeshore Trail ¼ mi and Attention Hikers…”) up 30 ft more to another sign correctly indicating PCT 2000 is 1¾ mi away.

Snapshot of Mount Hood past nearby Sentinel Peak from Lost Lake.

Work gradually up the narrow trail through dense fir, hemlock, and cedar to the PCT. Follow a traverse after 2 quick switchbacks along a fairly steep slope without much flora. Well after the third switchback, and more than ½ mi from the primary TH, is a decent look out of the tight trees to Lost Lake, Lost Lake Butte, and Mount Hood. Next is a wooden sign on a tree that is the 1 mi marker. The forest becomes a bit lusher with a few rhododendrons as you can see Mount Hood between the big old trees on an easier traverse SW across little creeks to the end of the trail.

Beautiful from Buck Peak over Bull Run Lake to Oregon’s tallest mountain.

Turn right (NW, sign for Huckleberry Mountain Trail 617/Lost Lake “2 mi” and Buck Peak Trail 615) onto the PCT up almost ¼ mi to a small sign on a tree left for Salvation Spring camping area 100 ft down the spur path to the right. Stay left ¾ mi on the PCT up 4 switchbacks to a saddle between Preacher’s Peak and the rockier Devil’s Pulpit. Soon after the tree-covered saddle you will have a great look at Mount Adams far behind Lost Lake. Continue down easier about ½ mi to a rock outcrop on the left; some people scramble briefly to find rare views SW into the Bull Run Watershed and Bull Run Lake. Hike NW without difficulty or much elevation change almost 2 mi more (below and E of the ridgeline at times) to the turnoff for Buck Peak Trail 615. Halfway to the turnoff is a good shot of Buck Peak with Mount St. Helens in the background. Then you see the top of Mount Hood and Mount Adams behind Mount Defiance, all of which improve from the summit.

Leave the PCT far above and just E of Blue Lake bearing right for the overgrown signed path (“Buck Peak”) winding up N slightly steeper ½ mi to Buck Peak (huckleberries in late August). See all of the above plus Mount Jefferson and Mount Rainier on a clear day from the tiny top; have a nice picnic within the wildflowers near the old lookout foundation before returning without difficulty to the TH or Lost Lake.