Mt. Hood from Elk Meadows (bobcat)

Newton Creek, a cinch at very low water (bobcat)

The Bluegrass Ridge Trail heading up to Elk Mountain (bobcat)

View to Lookout Mountain from the Elk Mountain vista point (bobcat)

Descending the Bluegrass Tie Trail to Elk Meadows (bobcat)

The route of this hike is shown in red/orange (bobcat) Courtesy: Gaia Topo

• Start point: Elk Meadows Trailhead
• End point: Elk Mountain (near Mount Hood)
• Hike type: Lollipop loop
• Distance: 8.2 miles round-trip
• Elevation gain: 1445 feet
• High point: 5,605 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: Summer into fall
• Family Friendly: No
• Backpackable: Yes
• Crowded: Yes (on Elk Meadows trail); not crowded on Bluegrass Ridge Trail

Description

This moderate day hike gives access some of the most alluring features of Mt. Hood's east side, while staying within very reasonable elevation and distance limits for most hikers. The lookout site, lower down from the summit on Elk Mountain's ridge, was abandoned in the 1940s, but it affords vistas down into the East Fork Hood River valley and south to Mount Jefferson and beyond. From there, you can make a loop around beautiful Elk Meadows and return the way you came via the notorious Newton Creek Crossing.

Note that the Bluegrass Ridge Trail up to Elk Mountain may be overgrown with huckleberry bushes, and there will probably be a couple downed trees. Beyond Elk Mountain, the Bluegrass Ridge Trail was logged out in 2023. The Bluegrass Tie Trail, abandoned for years after the 2006 Bluegrass Ridge Fire, was entirely logged out in August 2023 by a crosscut team from Trailkeepers of Oregon.

The Elk Meadows Trail begins in mountain hemlock forest, the hemlocks complemented by silver fir, Douglas-fir, noble fir, Engelmann spruce and western white pine. There’s a huckleberry understory that invites plunder in late summer. Cross one firebreak and then another one. There’s an unmarked trail junction, with a trail leading left to a parking area for the Meadows Nordic Center. Reach the Elk Meadows-Umbrella Falls Trail Junction, and keep straight. Drop to cross Clark Creek on its handrailed footbridge after passing the Elk Meadows-Clark Creek Trail Junction on the right. Before the bridge, there’s a Wilderness permit box.

After crossing the bridge, the trail heads up a bank and enters the Mt. Hood Wilderness. The path levels and drops to cross two small creeks before heading gradually upward. Cross a creek on a footbridge and then, on a level section, reach the Elk Meadows-Newton Creek Trail Junction. The trail rises and then drops into the Newton Creek channel. A plank or a couple of carefully placed logs usually affords a decent crossing of Newton Creek; otherwise, especially early in the season, you will have to pick your way across. Cairns may mark the route to the trail on the opposite bank. The dusty trail switchbacks up, passing over many lush seeps and small brooks. Switchback again, and note the many large old-growth Douglas-firs on this steep hillside. You'll pass through thimbleberry thickets with active mountain beaver warrens. Switchback five more times into drier woods with a bracken and bear-grass understory. There are two more switchbacks before the trail then winds gradually up under mountain hemlock, silver fir, and subalpine fir. The tread levels and meets the four-way Elk Meadows-Bluegrass Ridge-Gnarl Ridge Trail Junction. To the left is the Gnarl Ridge Trail #652. To the right is the Blue Grass Ridge Trail #647.

Turn right onto the latter trail. It's a gradual ascent in mountain hemlock/silver fir woods with a bear-grass, huckleberry, and grouse berry understory to the Bluegrass Ridge-Elk Mountain Vista Trail Junction. Keep right here. The Elk Mountain Trail drops through bear-grass and huckleberry with the southern edge of the 2006 Bluegrass Ridge Burn on the left. Rise to the site of the old lookout site here and get views south to Bonney Butte and Mount Jefferson and across to Lookout Mountain and Gunsight Butte. There are few lookout relics still about, and a single rusting bed frame is becoming part of the shrubbery below the rock outcropping.

Return to the Bluegrass Ridge-Elk Mountain Vista Trail Junction and go right on the Bluegrass Ridge Trail. Unburned mountain hemlock forest survives on the left and stark snags from the 2006 burn stand out on the right. You'll get some views to the right of Lookout Mountain, Gumjuwac Saddle, and Gunsight Butte. Pass over one rise and, just as you begin to ascend the high point on Bluegrass Ridge, you'll find the obscure junction with the Bluegrass Tie Trail, marked only by a cairn. If you cross over to the east side of the ridge, you've gone too far. (To add another viewpoint to the hike, continue from the junction on the Bluegrass Ridge Trail up the grassy ridge to an andesite outcropping that affords splendid views down to Elk Meadows and across to Mount Hood as well as east to Surveyors Ridge.)

Go left here, and begin a steep descent in a forest of snags cluttered with deadfall. The trail was logged out in 2023, and the tread, though rough, should be obvious. The trail may be churned up by elk tracks, the latter mammal far outnumbering any humans who may venture here. In summer, fireweed, pearly everlasting, lupine, penstemon, and goldenrod add color to the sere slope. At the bottom of the ridge, you'll enter unburned forest and arrive at the Elk Meadows-Bluegrass Tie Trail Junction, where you should turn right to complete a circumnavigation of Elk Meadows.

The trail drops along the edge of Elk Meadows to the Elk Meadows-Elk Meadows Perimeter North Trail Junction. Go left and, in 25 yards, come to another junction. To visit the Elk Meadows Shelter, turn left here to pass a large meadow blooming with asters and groundsel, cross Cold Spring Creek on a broken footbridge, and keep left to reach the Elk Meadows Shelter and campsite in a copse of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. Enjoy the great view of Mount Hood here across the expanse of Elk Meadows. A sign warns hikers not to walk on the meadows.

Head back to the main trail and go left. Cross a creek on a rickety footbridge, and pass a couple more campsites off the trail. The trail rises in woods, and you come to the Gnarl Ridge Tie-Elk Meadows Perimeter Trail Junction. Keep left on the Perimeter Trail. Note the mountain beaver activity here, too, where this mammal is at the easternmost point of its range. Where you can see across the meadows, you can appreciate the vast extent of the 2006 Bluegrass Ridge Burn. The trail levels and reaches the Elk Meadows-Elk Meadows Perimeter South Trail Junction. Go right here to the Elk Meadows-Bluegrass Ridge-Gnarl Ridge Trail Junction, and head home.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Pass) required
• Self-issued wilderness permit; wilderness rules apply

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Green Trails Maps: Mt. Hood, OR #462
• Adventure Maps: Mt. Hood Area
• Adventure Maps: Hood River, Oregon, Trail Map
• Adventure Maps: 44 Trails Area plus the best of the G.P.N.F.
• Geo-Graphics: Mount Hood Wilderness Map
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Hood National Forest
• 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

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Elk Mountain-Elk Meadows Loop Hike

• Elk Mountain-Elk Meadows Loop 8-18-23
• Elk Meadows and Mountain via Bluegrass
• Elk Mountain - Elk Meadows Loop
• Elk Mt. and Bluegrass Ridge
• Elk meadows to elk mt.- bluegrass ridge
• Elk Meadows / Elk Mountain - 10/27/2015
• Elk Meadows and Elk Mountain 7/20/13
• Elk Meadows + beargrass surprise on Elk Mountain - 7/4/13
• Elk Mountain & Elk Meadows Loop - 03/10/2013
• Elk Mountain Bluegrass Ridge 1/15/2012 and revisit 1/22/2012
• Bluegrass Ridge - Elk Meadows - Sahalie Falls Loop 09/25/11

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Elk Mountain-Elk Meadows Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland by Paul Gerald
• 105 Virtual Hikes of the Mt. Hood National Forest by Northwest Hiker
• 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington by William L. Sullivan
• Hiking Oregon's Mount Hood & Badger Creek Wilderness by Fred Barstad

More Links

• Elk Meadows Trail #645 (USFS)
• Bluegrass Ridge Trail #647 (USFS)
• Elk Mountain Vista Trail #647C (USFS)
• Elk Meadows Bluegrass Tie Trail #647B (USFS)
• Elk Meadows + Elk Mountain (I Heart Pacific Northwest)
• Trip Report: Elk Meadows & Elk Mountain (Clever Hiker)

Page Contributors

• bobcat (creator)