Starvation Ridge Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Starvation Creek Trailhead
- End point: Warren Lake
- Trail log: Trail Log
- Hike type:Out and back
- Distance: 9.9 miles
- Elevation gain: 4085 feet
- High point: 3,845 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: May through October
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: No
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Hike Description
The Starvation Ridge Trail is one of the most relentless hikes around: it climbs 3,800 feet in less than three miles. To make matters even more interesting, the climbing isn't consistent. The trail builders seemed determined to stay directly on top of the ridge, creating pleasant, level ridge-top sections and knee-breaking climbs where the ridge gets steeper. Much of the hike is in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. At the beginning, you are rewarded by clifftop vistas from powerline pylon perches. Higher up, open talus slopes offer views to Mount Adams. You'll segue seamlessly with the Mitchell Point Trail and arrive at your destination - little Warren Lake with its several campsites. Note that as of July 2018, the Starvation Ridge Cutoff Trail #414B, a shortcut to Starvation Ridge, has been closed due to a dangerous slide.
Begin hiking west next to the freeway on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. Get views to the the twin microdioritic intrusions of Shellrock Mountain and Wind Mountain as well as Dog Mountain right across the river. After you enter shady maple woods, look down to see markers dedicating this restored section of the Historic Columbia River Highway. Then pass the Historic Columbia River Highway-Starvation Ridge Cutoff Trail Junction, the latter trail closed since 2018 due to safety issues. In spring, candy flower blooms profusely alongside the paved surface. You'll reach two-tiered, 220-foot Cabin Creek Falls, where a huge fallen basalt boulder creates an almost hidden amphitheater. The waterfall sprays directly into this hidden area.
The Historic Columbia River Highway heads back out to the freeway under a Douglas-fir/big-leaf maple canopy. At an open area, arrive at the Historic Columbia River Highway-Mount Defiance Trail Junction. Turn left on a paved trail that passes through a circular picnic area. The Mount Defiance Trail picks up its normal tread here, and 95-foot Hole in the Wall Falls can be viewed from the picnic circle. This waterfall is an unusual manmade affair. Highway crews drilled a tunnel through the rock and diverted Warren Creek here in 1938 to resolve issues with the creek undermining the highway. The stream emerges from a lengthy tunnel and immediately tumbles down the cliff, creating the waterfall. After taking the footbridge below Hole in the Wall Falls, you'll begin a modest climb, gaining about 140 feet in elevation. You'll reach the powerline corridor, where there's another trail junction, this time with the Starvation Ridge Trail. Turn left here unless you want to pay a quick visit to the lower tier of Lancaster Falls, just a short way west along the Mount Defiance Trail.
On the lower section of the Starvation Ridge Trail, poison oak crowds and even overhangs the trail in several places. Continue hiking up the powerline corridor, and then pass above the rim of a cliff where lupine, desert parsley, and woolly sunflower bloom. You can look west to get views down to Lindsey Pond and Wind Mountain. The trail then rises up a steep, grassy slope which hosts a display of taper-tip onions in the spring. After passing under stunted oaks, you'll enter lush maple/Douglas-fir forest to cross Warren Creek on a log. Then switchback up twice to traverse an open slope nodding with purple cluster lilies. Dog Mountain looms across the river, and the twin guardians of Shellrock Mountain and Wind Mountain are to the west: you can see where tongues of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire scarred the east face of the former. After switchbacking three times through paintbrush, lupine, cinquefoil, and scattered manzanita bushes, you'll come to a spur leading to a clifftop viewpoint. From here, you can see down to the Starvation Creek Trailhead. It's three more switchbacks to the high point on this traverse under another powerline pylon with another viewpoint. Watch for bald eagles and ospreys soaring below you from this sometimes windy perch.
After descending through a dense patch of poison oak, take a trail spur left to another viewpoint. You can see the trailhead below and also get a view across to Dog Mountain. A couple of Douglas maples cling to the cliff, and buckwheat and onion bloom here. The trail makes five short switchbacks down into Douglas-fir/big-leaf maple woods to cross Cabin Creek. Now you'll begin a 650-foot ascent by hiking up to the Starvation Ridge-Starvation Ridge Cutoff Trail Junction (to repeat, the cutoff trail has been closed since 2018). Bear right here to make a couple of switchbacks up through an oak meadow to reach a viewpoint partially blocked by encroaching shrubbery. Five more switchbacks take you to and fro from woodland to hanging meadow. Another four switchbacks land you at a pylon on another steep. grassy slope. Switchback again in Douglas-fir/big-leaf maple forest to reach an open slope with yarrow, balsam root, gilia, wild onion, and lupine. Then three more switchbacks convey you up to a pylon and a great viewpoint. Dog Mountain is broadside on, and you can see west to the twin humps of Shellrock Mountain and Wind Mountain. Note that there's an active osprey nest here, and the parents can be very protective of their young!
From here, continue up the ridge to pass through a wood of stunted oaks and then enter a Douglas-fir forest where poison oak overhangs the trail. At about this point, you're entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness although new signage has not been put up since the boundaries were extended north in 2009. You'll pass above a steep oak meadow with lupine, blue field gilia, and taper-tip onions as springtime blooms. You'll hit short level stretches of trail on this narrow ridge that lead to short steep rises. The trail threads through some venerable Douglas-firs as you ascend. Wind up a narrow crest; a viewpoint on the left offers a vista towards the upper meadows of Dog Mountain as well as Wind Mountain and Mount Saint Helens. You'll come to a talus slope where pikas may squeak at you in alarm. Then keep ascending through a lush thicket above another talus bowl. You'll note paintbrush, alumroot, and heliotrope blooming here in late spring. There's a view of Mount Adams, and you'll pass below a "headless" Douglas-fir whose main branch has taken up the role of new "head" or trunk. After making a long traverse, the trail ascends eight switchbacks. Then the path traverses steeply up under large Douglas-firs above the headwaters bowl of Starvation Creek. You'll cross a steep talus slope that offers an outstanding view to Mount Adams. You'll leave the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness where you enter a partial clearcut. After passing through a vine maple thicket, you'll come to the signposted Starvation Ridge-Mitchell Point Trail Junction. The western vestige of the Mt. Mitchell Trail disappears into the young conifers, but soon winds up at an abandoned logging road which connects with the roads and trails at the Post Canyon Mountain Bike Trail system.
You're now on the Mitchell Point Trail. As you head up, look back to get a view of Mount Adams and the summit of Mount Rainier. The clearcut is fast regenerating with young Douglas-firs and noble firs. Bear-grass blooms here in late spring. The trail winds up into unlogged forest where tall Douglas-firs shade the route. You'll see the end of a logging road down to your left and pass through a vine maple thicket. The gradient of the route eases as you hike above the rim of the bowl that feeds Warren Creek to get a view up to the summit of Mount Defiance. Note a selectively logged forest to your left as you descend gently to the Mitchell Point-Warren Lake Trail Junction. To the left, you can see the bollards at the old trailhead for Warren Lake; the new trailhead is about 0.4 miles south of the junction.
You should head right from the junction to reenter wilderness and make a level traverse through vanilla leaf, bunchberry, and arnica. After descending past a campsite, hike through a lush understory of huckleberry, arnica, and Oregon grape. You'll arrive at the shore of Warren Lake, where there are several campsites.
If you're staying the night, you can make a short loop from here to the summit of Mount Defiance. Day hikers who want to summit Mount Defiance should follow the Mount Defiance-Starvation Ridge Loop Hike.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Starvation Ridge Trail #414 (USFS)
- Mitchell Point Trail #417 (USFS)
- Green Trails Maps: Hood River, OR #430
- Green Trails Maps: Columbia River Gorge - West #428S
- Geo-Graphics: Trails of the Columbia Gorge
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management: Columbia River Gorge
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Hood River Ranger District
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Hood National Forest
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Regulations or restrictions, etc
- Restrooms and picnic area at trailhead
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Starvation Ridge Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Starvation Ridge Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Hiking the Columbia River Gorge by Russ Schneider; revised by Jim Yuskavitch
- 70 Virtual Hikes of the Columbia River Gorge by Northwest Hiker
- 35 Hiking Trails: Columbia River Gorge by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
More Links
- Starvation Ridge Trail (#414) (USFS)
- Mitchell Point Trail #417 (USFS)
- Warren Lake Hike (Northwest Hiker)
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)