Elk Cove-Pinnacle Ridge Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Elk Cove Trailhead
- End point: Elk Cove
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 9.8 miles
- Elevation gain: 2690 feet
- High point: 5,835 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: July through October
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: Only on the Timberline Trail section
Contents |
Description
The Elk Cove Trail is the longest approach trail to the Timberline Trail on the north side of Mount Hood. However, combined with the Pinnacle Ridge Trail, it offers the opportunity for a good day loop with a short bushwhack at the end. The area was thoroughly burned in the 2011 Dollar Lake Fire. The forest along both of these trails suffered crown fire for most of each trail’s length. That means there’s little shade, but there are more views (Mount Hood will be in sight for most of the hike), and you’ll be able to observe the recovery process from a severe forest fire.
Those doing the loop have several options for connecting the two trailheads: (1) arrange a car shuttle, with car parked at both trailheads; (2) walk the 1 ¾ miles down FR 2840 to the Elk Cove Trailhead at the end of the hike; (3) deposit a bicycle at the Pinnacle Ridge Trailhead; (4) bushwhack the 250 yards down to the lower section of FR 2840.
The first 1 ¼ miles of the Elk Cove Trail follows decommissioned Road 6840-650 to the former trailhead. Past the trailhead signs, you’ll step over a berm to cross Pinnacle Creek, which is usually a rock hop by mid-summer (the bridge here was destroyed a number of years ago). Then follow the road bed, which is being crowded by slide alder on this lower section. Up to the right are the snag-populated slopes of the Dollar Lake Burn. Where culverts were removed, you’ll need to make little dips. The road makes a sharp turn to the right and now young lodgepole pine and manzanita bushes grow on the verge. Views open up west to Vista Ridge and both Owl Point and Katsuk Point are visible. The Pinnacle, which you’ll pass on the descent, stands out on Pinnacle Ridge, across the valley of Pinnacle Creek.
The route leaves the road at some downed trees and passes a trail sign. Switchback up five times in a shady patch of Douglas-firs that experienced no crown fire, and then traverse up onto the crest of the ridge, which was thoroughly burned. A variety of sun-loving plants have colonized the burn here, including Scouler’s willow, bracken, western larch, lodgepole pine, chinquapin, and snow brush. Most of these will disappear when a dense canopy reestablishes itself in a few decades. Hike in and out of crown fire zones on the flank of the ridge, getting a clear view up to Mount Hood at times. Higher up, you can see east to the Mill Creek Buttes and Shellrock Mountain on Surveyors Ridge. Huckleberry, fireweed, and bear-grass flourish among the lodgepole pines here. Get another open view of Mount Hood before dropping to a saddle and then rising again. Now there are closer views of The Pinnacle to the west and the Hood River Valley to the east, while down to the left is the wide valley bottom of the Coe Branch.
A short spur leads left to a rocky outcropping popularly known as Inspiration Point: this used to be the best platform for open views on the trail before the 2011 fire. Down in the valley below, the Coe Branch and Compass Creek come together, and you can see Canon Ball Falls, also known as Lower Compass Creek Falls. After the viewpoint, you’ll drop to another saddle and then wend your way upward again, swishing through patches of huckleberry and bear-grass. Young noble firs and mountain hemlocks have taken hold here: in 40 years or so, they will form the canopy. The forest of white tree skeletons is carpeted with fireweed in an area of intense burn, and then the trail drops for a crossing of Cove Creek, which blooms with monkey flower into September.
From the creek, the trail follows an old watercourse, or dry gully, and passes a campsite. Cross and recross what is now a shallow draw, passing another campsite, and pass into a stand of unburned mountain hemlock. There are more trailside camps near a sedge spring, which dries up in mid-summer, and hike up a lush meadow. A longer spur leads down to the left to a secluded campsite. Finally, you’ll reach the junction with the Timberline Trail in the parkland of Elk Cove itself. Subalpine firs and mountain hemlocks form tree islands, and clumps of mountain ash glow with red-orange pomes (berries) in late summer.
Turn right to soon cross Cove Creek, west of which trails lead off to more campsites. The trail begins to rise above pretty Cove Creek in its meadow of false hellebore and groundsel. Looking up the slopes of Mount Hood, you can see the tumbling icefall of the Coe Glacier, while the dark summit ridge of Barrett Spur looms to the glacier’s right. Switchback up to begin a traverse of the northern reaches of Barrett Spur. The trail enters shady montane forest, crosses a meadow, and passes through a tongue of the Dollar Lake Burn. Then you’ll be crossing a talus slope where views extend to Vista Ridge and Katsuk Point, The Pinnacle, Laurance Lake, the Hood River Valley, and Mount Adams. Pikas chirp their alarm calls from their rocky recesses. Where a thicket of young mountain hemlocks crowds the trail to your left, look for the beginning of the unsigned Dollar Lake Trail, which leads only a quarter of a mile up to tiny Dollar Lake (see the Dollar Lake Add-on Hike). After this, you’ll be alternating heather meadows and hemlock woods where avalanche lilies bloom early in the summer. After you cross a rocky gully, you’ll come to the Timberline-Pinnacle Ridge Trail Junction.
Turn right here to begin the return leg of the loop. The Pinnacle Ridge Trail drops down the west side of a heather glade, crosses a stand of mountain hemlock, and reaches a lovely mossy creek, a tributary of the Clear Branch, where monkey flower, arrow-leaf groundsel, subalpine daisy, paintbrush, lupine, and lovage bloom in abundance. From this spot, the path passes over a trickling brook and soon enters the Dollar Lake Burn after another heather meadow. The trail drops down a heather/partridge-foot/avalanche lily draw to arrive at the top of boggy Pinnacle Meadows, where you have a clear view to Mount Adams.
In late summer, the puffy heads of cottongrass sway in a breeze, while a little earlier, the blooms of false asphodel, grass-of-Parnassus, marsh-marigold, and shooting star adorn this mossy area of springs. The main trail gets boggy as it keeps to the west side of the meadow, but there are work arounds to the left. Cross a stream, and then hike along the edge of a boggy meadow, passing through thickets of white rhododendron, spiraea, and blueberry. The Pinnacle now looms close through the trees: if you want to go off-trail to ascend this rockpile, leave the main trail just below Pinnacle Meadows. Below The Pinnacle, the trail descends steeply below a ridge crest through fireweed, pearly everlasting, and bear-grass in a dead forest of scorched snags.
Pass a rock outcropping on the right, and switchback down to dip for a crossing of a trickling creek. Then cross two dry draws before traversing below a jumbled talus field with its resident population of pikas. Soon after this, pass below another outcrop, and cross a one-log footbridge over a small creek. You’re still in a crown fire zone, but young Douglas-firs and mountain hemlocks grow thick in the understory as you descend a ridge crest. Near a stand of unburned trees, there’s a vacant signboard at the boundary of the Mt. Hood Wilderness.
The trail drops across the end of a dozer line that was created during the Dollar Lake Fire. There’s a great view up to Mount Hood from here. Then the trail runs just east of the decommissioned fire break through young willows and lodgepole pines. Recross the dozer line, and enter an unburned forest of Douglas-fir, hemlock, and silver fir with huckleberry and bear-grass in the understory. In no time at all, you’ll be at the Pinnacle Ridge Trailhead.
Those taking the bushwhack option should walk about 250 yards down FR 2840, and then begin to descend the slope in a clearcut or the thinned stand of forest next to it. This takes a little care and time, as the slope is steep and there are numerous downed trees and dead branches as well as young trees growing up. Take care also not to veer too far to the right and the inviting waters of Pinnacle Creek. However, it’s only 250 yards to the lower section of the road, where you can turn right and follow it around to the Elk Cove Trailhead and your vehicle.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Green Trails Maps: Mt Hood, OR #462
- Adventure Maps: Mt. Hood Area
- Adventure Maps: Hood River, Oregon, Trail Map
- Discover Your Northwest: Mt. Hood National Forest North: Trail Map & Hiking Guide
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Hood River Ranger District
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount Hood Wilderness
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount Hood
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Self-issued wilderness permit; wilderness rules apply
- Information kiosk at trailhead
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Elk Cove Pinnacle Ridge Loop
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Elk Cove Pinnacle Ridge Loop
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington by William L. Sullivan
- Hiking Oregon’s Mount Hood & Badger Creek Wilderness by Fred Barstad
- 105 Virtual Hikes of the Mt. Hood National Forest by Northwest Hiker
More Links
- Elk Cove Trail #631 (USFS)
- Timberline National Historic Trail #600 (USFS)
- Pinnacle Ridge Trail #630 (USFS)
- Elk Cove & Pinnacle Ridge (Oregon Adventures)
- Elk Cove (Mt. Hood) (Northwest Wildflowers)
- Pinnacle Ridge (Mt. Hood) (Northwest Wildflowers)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)