I spent a day hiking a couple of trails from the Buck Creek Trailhead on the west side of the North Fork Umatilla Wilderness east of Pendleton.
I had hiked the Ninemile Ridge Trail a couple of times before, but the last time was on a blazing summer day when I could inhale five or six grasshoppers if I opened my mouth. This springtime excursion was much more positive. There were two school buses at the trailhead when I arrived, but their occupants were returning from short hikes in time for a mid-morning snack, and I met only two other hikers while on the trail. The Ninemile Ridge Trail switchbacks up a grassy slope studded with ponderosa pines, crosses a couple of wooded creek drainages, and makes several lengthy traverses before hitting the ridge itself.
The trail then keeps to the crest of the ridge. Wildflowers were at their prime, most spectacularly clarkia, paintbrush, mule’s ears, balsamroot, lupine, larkspur, and desert parsley. The views stretched across the Buck Creek valley to Buck Mountain as well as north to Grouse Mountain. A bear had been digging up onion bulbs on the rocky spine of the ridge, leaving large divots and a massive pile of scat. There’s a wide meadow frequented by elk at the false summit, and a more substantial cairn at the true summit about 200 yards away. From here, I could see the continuation of the trail along the open ridge, but decided to descend to take up another exploration.
Back at the trailhead, I headed up along the creek on the Buck Creek Trail (The third trail here is the Buck Mountain Trail, and you could make a 13-mile loop using these two trails if you can find the tread). According to the Forest Service, the Buck Creek Trail crossed and recrossed the creek 30 times (!), but a number of years ago, perhaps in the ‘90s or early 2000s, it was rerouted to stay above the north bank of the creek. The path continues through brush but sometimes emerges on grass slopes. At one point, I noted a basalt dike above the trail. The trail ends where it crosses the creek to join the Lake Creek Trail about 3 ½ miles in, but I didn’t get that far. Fallen trees and increasing brush, including some of the prickly kind, made me decide to turn around about 3 miles in and head back to set up camp.