Lookout Mountain Short Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Mother Lode Mine Trailhead
- End point: Lookout Mountain
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 7.1 miles
- Elevation gain: 1350 feet
- High point: 6,926 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Mid-June - October; accessible from sno-park in winter at the Round Mountain South Trailhead
- Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
The Ochoco Mountains' highest peak, Lookout Mountain, has a wide, rolling summit plateau with high desert meadows, islands of forest, and lots of views. In June and July, the meadows display a rich assortment of wildflowers. There's a lot of wildlife. This area melts out much earlier than the alpine areas of the Cascades, so it's an accessible elevation hike in late spring and early summer. The Ochocos are also sunnier and drier than the Cascades - just watch the thunderstorm forecast. This page describes the most popular loop on Lookout Mountain, which is shared with bikers and horses, but the rules prohibit motorized use. The loop is described in a counter-clockwise direction because this way it's harder to miss an unsigned junction near the trailhead.
Begin at the Mother Lode Mine Trailhead (old topo maps show it as the Independence Mine Trailhead). There are three signed trails starting from this trailhead: look for the Lookout Mountain Trail #804. You'll go slightly downhill through trees for less than 100 yards, and then take a left at a "Y" junction. Before long, you'll see an abandoned cinnabar mine shaft on your left. Look uphill to see the abandoned buildings of the Mother Lode Mine. (These structures are considered unsafe, so the public is advised not to visit the buildings themselves.) The trail then crosses a stream and starts climbing through old stands of subalpine fir.
In the next two miles, you'll be rising in pleasant shade; the forest will be interrupted a couple times with large meadows, which have spectacular flower displays in July. About 2.4 miles from the trailhead, you'll come to the junction with the Mother Lode Mine Trail #808A. Keep right here, still staying on Trail #804. The climb is now almost over as the terrain gradually flattens out, and up on the plateau it gets a lot drier - instead of the green fir forest you've just been through, here you'll mostly see lodgepole pines and junipers interrupted with sagebrush meadows. Look for balsamroot, lupine, larkspur, and scarlet gilia among the sagebrush. Soon after the junction, you'll reach another trail on your left, signed for a snow shelter. This historical, three-walled structure with a stove and wooden roof is just a short way from main trail and worth a visit. There are good places to camp under the trees around the shelter (and of course at the shelter itself, but expect some company), but if you camp, you'll need to bring water with you.
Back on the main trail, you will come to another junction in less than a third of a mile, right in the middle of a large sagebrush meadow. For the summit, keep straight on an unsigned trail and in less than 100 yards the trail will abruptly end at the top of a cliff with incredible views to the west, north, and south. On the windswept lava, there are the old foundations of the former lookout building and a corral. On a good day, you'll see most of the central Cascades' snow-capped volcanoes, including Mount Bachelor, the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood, and Mount Adams, as well as all the smaller summits in between. Looking to the east, you'll get a glimpse of Big Summit Prairie.
After soaking up the views, head south (right if facing away from the cliff edge) on Trail #807A, the Line Butte Tie Trail. You'll descend fairly steeply for 0.6 miles to the next signed junction where you'll continue on Trail #808. The trail goes in and out of forest, passing through false hellebore meadows. In the bottom of a gully, you will cross Brush Creek, the only reliable water source on this loop. The next mile and half after Brush Creek is mostly open terrain, with dry rocky meadows and an impressive variety of wildflowers. Hummingbirds are commonly seen here darting to and fro. There are some good views to the north as you come to the edge of the plateau. Then the trail makes a sharp switchback as it traverses onto a steep, forested mountain side, on which it makes the final descent to the trailhead.
Regulations or restrictions, etc
- No pass needed
- No facilities at the trailhead
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Lookout Mountain Trails (USFS)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Ochoco National Forest & Crooked River National Grassland
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Lookout Mountain Loop
- Lookout Mountain, Ochoco NF
- Lookout Mountain (Central Oregon) 6/7-9/13
- Lookout Mountain - Ochocos 7.21-22.2012
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Lookout Mountain Loop
- Lookout Mountain Conditions(ochoco national forest)
- Lookout Mountain trails Ochoco NF
Guidebooks
- Bend, Overall by Scott Cook
- Day Hiking: Bend & Central Oregon by Brittany Manwill
- 100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon Hiking by Matt Wastradowski
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Craig Hill & Matt Wastradowski
- Hiking Oregon's Geology by Ellen Morris Bishop
- Best Hikes With Dogs: Oregon by Ellen Morris Bishop
- Hiking Central Oregon & Beyond by Virginia Meissner
More Links
- Lookout Mountain Trail (#804) (USFS)
- Independent Mine Trail (#808) (USFS)
- Mother Lode Mine Trailhead (USFS)
- Lookout Mountain + Mother Lode Mine (Outdoor Project)
- "Views, history, and wildflowers" (Central Oregonian)
- Lookout Mountain (Ochocos), Revisited (jessB)
- Lookout Mountain (Ochocos) (jessB)
- Featured Hike: Lookout Mountain (Oregon Wild)
- Lookout Mountain (Ochocos) (Summit Post)
- Wildflowers of Lookout Mountain (Flora Northwest)
- Wildflowers of the Line Butte Trail #807 & Line Butte Tie Trail #807A to South Point (Flora Northwest)
- Lookout Mountain (Ochocos) (Northwest Wildflowers)
- Mercury mining at Lookout Mountain (A.R. Bowman Museum)