Bluff Mountain
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes including this location:
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 45.74228, -122.19107
- Elevation: 3928 feet
Description
Bluff Mountain is a partially exposed peak near Silver Star Mountain in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington. It's named for the bluffs on its southern face, hidden to most hikers in the area. There is no 'trail' per se to the top of Bluff Mountain, but the areas surrounding it are so exposed, and offer such great views on their own, that summiting Bluff Mountain itself could be left to the peak-baggers and list-crossers. On a clear day, you'll see Mount Saint Helens and Rainier to the north, Mount Adams to the east, Hood to the southeast and a hint of Mount Jefferson, seemingly directly south.
In the spring, this whole area is abundant with wildflowers, and especially rich in bear-grass blooms if you get your timing right! Look for huckleberries all over this mountain in the early fall.
This whole area is sometimes referred to as the Yacolt Burn, after a devastating wildfire in 1902. The intense heat left little in the way of living remains. Trees still struggle to return now, over a hundred years later.
The Chinook Trail Organization has incorporated a number of trails in the area, with the eventual hope of connecting points west, like Lucia Falls and beyond to Lake Vancouver, with points east on the Columbia River Gorge, including Three Corner Rock, Table Mountain and as far east as Coyote Wall. Some of the plans got stalled in red-tape when the USGS refused trail building in a seven mile stretch near the Washougal River in Skamania County.
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