Silver Star-Chinook Trail Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Grouse Vista Trailhead
- End points: Silver Star Mountain and Hidden Falls
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 13.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 2985 feet
- High point: 4,375 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: Late spring into fall
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: On the Grouse Vista Trail
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Hike Description
This long loop has you using the most popular trailhead for Silver Star Mountain to get to the summit, but from that point on you’ll be on trails that are much less used and offer great variety. You’ll get more vistas to the snow-capped volcanoes to the north; hike in open, brilliantly flowered meadows in spring and summer; enjoy stretches of cool forest; and view a 90-foot waterfall. The loop includes a descent on the Chinook Trail, part of a developing pan-Gorge trail system, and a 6 ½ mile return on a section of the Tarbell Trail, which has seen a lot of clearcutting in the past 15 years.
Cross the road from the parking pullout and begin hiking up the Grouse Vista Trail, like most of the trails on Silver Star an old jeep road. Also like most of these trails, the tread is often composed of loose rock. You’ll soon pass the Grouse Vista-Tarbell Trail Junction (your return point), and continue ascending in Douglas-fir/hemlock forest with an understory of vine maple, salal, fairy lantern, and sword fern. A small spring flows over the trail, and soon silver and noble firs enter the forest mix. Just before the trail levels, you’ll pass two impressive silver firs next to the tread. Hike along in a lush corridor of mountain ash, huckleberry, and thimbleberry where tiger lilies, paintbrush, lovage, and lupine bloom in summer. A view opens up to the the summit of Silver Star Mountain. Sturgeon Rock stands out on the ridge above the deep Rock Creek drainage. These open slopes were denuded by the vast and intense Yacolt Burn of 1902, and a few whitened snags from that fire still stand out. On the ridge above you, you can make out the crags of Pyramid Rock. Then you’ll pass through a shady copse of silver and noble fir before passing the Grouse Vista-Pyramid Rock Trail Junction, which gives access to the saddle below Pyramid Rock.
Looking back, you can now see back to Larch Mountain and the extended Rock Creek valley. The trail passes below Pyramid Rock's boulder slope and begins to rise gently. In summer, the yellow-blooming invasive smooth hawksbeard blankets these slopes. You’ll continue to get good views of Sturgeon Rock and Silver Star 2. Then the trail ducks into a corridor of Sitka alder before starting a steep rise on a rubbly track through silver and noble fir woods. Keep straight on the Silver Star Trail when you pass the unmarked Silver Star-Grouse Vista Trail Junction. After more steep trail hiking, finally make a level traverse through wildflowers with views to Larch Mountain and the Fourth Plains beyond. The trail then rises into woods again, reaching a four-way junction with the Indian Pits Trail #180E heading up to the right and the old Sturgeon Rock Trail dropping down to the left. Keeping straight, you’ll soon reach another junction with its signature, ever-growing rockpile/cairn.
Turn right, and pass a campsite on the left (there’s a connector to the Bluff Mountain Trail from here) before leaving the sheltering noble fir forest and emerging into an open meadow of bear-grass, huckleberry, spiraea, lupine, and bistort. At a saddle, you’ll see the lower summit of Silver Star 2 to your right and the rocky prominence of Silver Star Mountain to the left. The spectacular ridge that conveys the Bluff Mountain Trail past Little Baldy stretches to the east. Mount Adams is on the eastern horizon, with Mount Rainier to the far left and Mount Hood to the far right. Once on the summit of Silver Star Mountain itself, which more than likely will have other occupants, you’ll note the concrete platform from the former lookout. Looking north, you can see up Silver Star’s north ridge and the route of Ed’s Trail. Mount Saint Helens forms a spectacular backdrop. Far to the south, Mount Jefferson should be visible on any clear day.
Return to the junction with the rockpile, and make a right. In short order, you’ll arrive at a five-way junction, with the Sturgeon Rock Trail coming in on the left and the Bluff Mountain Trail and Ed’s Trail joining on the right. The Silver Star Trail now follows a wildflower corridor hemmed in by firs, but a gap in the trees offers a view along the Little Baldy – Bluff Mountain ridge. Soon enough, you’re out on the open ridge, with Sturgeon Rock behind and Mount Saint Helens straight ahead! A spur right gives you a clifftop view that also includes Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, with the deep and rugged valley of Star Creek below. These bear-grass meadows bloom exuberantly with wildflowers in spring and summer. Down to the left is the Coyote Creek drainage. The trail descends past rocky outcrops and above a noble fir wood. You’ll pass a campsite and jeep track on the left and then come to an unmarked four-way junction.
Turn left here to begin your descent on the Chinook Trail, but take a moment to admire the view across the small cliff-lined bowl that cradles the headwaters of King Creek and the snowy Washington peaks beyond the Tatoosh Hills. Follow the narrow tread of the trail as it passes a viewpoint and then reaches a steep old jeep track. Hike down the track in silver/noble fir forest before picking up the trail again where it peels off to the right. Head around the edge of the King Creek bowl to get more mountain views. Then pass through a sliver of forest before getting more open views towards the Dole Valley. The path crosses the steep jeep road and passes through a vine maple/thimbleberry thicket. At a confusing unmarked junction, make sure you keep left (the trail going right passes across a rocky bald with a view of Mount Saint Helens and eventually reaches a logging road). You’ll pass a couple of national forest boundary markers and get views up to Silver Star’s north ridge, Sturgeon Rock, and Larch Mountain. Cross the old jeep track one more time, and make two switchbacks in shady Douglas-fir woods. After a third switchback, traverse down to a logging road in a clearcut and cross it to reach the Tarbell-Chinook Trail Junction.
Make a left to begin the 6 ½ mile haul back to the Grouse Vista Trailhead. The trail reaches the logging road again: go right about 25 yards to resume the tread. You’re rewarded with a nice duff trail that proceeds through shady forest with an Oregon grape/salal carpet before switchbacking down five times. The woods become lush with lady fern, maidenhair fern, and salmonberry before you cross the substantial footbridge over the North Fork Coyote Creek, where a sign proclaims all the contributors to the project. Then traverse through young Douglas-fir forest, passing the junction with the Appaloosa Trail, to begin a gradual descent with a couple of switchbacks to a bridge over the South Fork Coyote Creek, where you can get a good view up to the 90-foot drop of Hidden Falls where it splashes down a mossy cliff in a cool enclave.
There’s a bench for a respite and the trail continues upstream from the bridge. There’s a one-tent campsite on the left before you cross another footbridge and hike up a slope of trickling seeps to emerge from the shady forest into a clearcut. Switchback up to gain views of Silver Star’s north ridge and the top of Sturgeon Rock peeking up. The trail crosses a decommissioned logging road, and four more switchbacks bring Mount Saint Helens into view once more. Then you’ll enter a patch of forest with larger trees before switchbacking to emerge in a clearcut. Hike up to a logging landing, and bear right for 50 yards to resume the Tarbell and make a couple of switchbacks looking up at the top of Sturgeon Rock. The path now turns in shady silver/noble fir forest with a carpet of oxalis and winds up before dropping gradually. You’ll find yourself above another logging road and will reach an old jeep track where a sign indicates the junction with the Sturgeon Rock Trail
From the junction, the trail switchbacks down to the logging road, where you’ll head straight across an intersection and then cross a road at a landing, getting a full-on view towards Pyramid Rock. The trail switchbacks down past a couple of large boulders and then descends some more to pass the 8.0 mile marker on the Tarbell Trail in a shady stretch of forest. Soon enough, however, you’ll emerge at an extensive clearcut and pass a whimsical piece of logger’s art. There are more great views of Pyramid Rock. Cross a road and switchback down before traversing into shady forest, hiking over two streams before reaching the big footbridge over Rock Creek. There are tumbling falls above and below the bridge.
Now you’re making a gently rising traverse to cross a stream in an alder/devil’s club thicket. Mountain beavers have been busy burrowing along the trail and in places there is overhanging bracken and thimbleberry. An old sign proclaims a view up to Pyramid Rock but there are far better views now back in the clearcuts of the past 15 years. The Tarbell crosses a boulder slope blooming with ocean spray and passes the 10.0 mile marker. The trail continues to undulate slightly, crossing streams under a canopy of alders and soon pass between two big Douglas-firs to arrive at the Grouse Vista-Tarbell Trail Junction. Make a right to hike the short distance down to the trailhead.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Yacolt Burn State Forest Recreation and Trails Map (Washington DNR)
- Washington Department of Natural Resources: The Yacolt Burn State Forest Map
- Green Trails Maps: Bridal Veil, OR #428
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument & Administrative Area
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Gifford Pinchot National Forest
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Regulations or Restrictions, etc.
- Discover Pass required
- Vault toilet, information kiosk
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Silver Star-Chinook Trail Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Silver Star-Chinook Trail Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
More Links
- Trails #180 & #180D Silver Star & Summit (USFS)
- Trail #180B Chinook (USFS)
- Chinook Trail (Washington Trails Association)
- Chinook Trail Association
- Tarbell Trail (Washington Trails Association)
- Silver Star Mountain (Skamania) (Summit Post)
- Silver Star Mountain (Skamania County, Washington) (Wikipedia)
- Silver Star Mountain (Northwest Wildflowers)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)