Bare Mountain Crater, WA

[cfm]

I have a good sized collection of old guidebooks now. One is called Trips and Trails 2 by Sterling with photos by the Spring brothers , published in 1969. In this lovely old tome, they described a trip to the Bare Mountain Crater that sounds interesting. Recently, I stumbled across Klenke's Summitpost entry for Bare Mountain that prompted me to check it out. Clever puns aside, this place looked like a fun little day trip.

I visited Bare mountain and its crater yesterday. It took just over an hour to get there from inner PDX. I went up the wooded southern slope of the crater on critter trails, and the whole forest smelled of elk musk, droppings everywhere. I slid down into the crater on steep elk trails. No doubt they heard me and feared a gang of Sasquatch were coming and scooted out before I cleared the trees.

There were obvious elk beds in the grassy bottom of the crater,


It's an easy scramble to the two rocky pinnacles. The one on the right is the summit of Bare Mountain.



Here is a view down into the crater from the summit:


Lots of Gentian blooming on the SW outer slope:


The book also suggests a trip into West Crater, which is south of Bare Mountain. It could be that saddle you see in picture #3 above. I'll report back when I visit that one!

[pablo]

Thanks for posting this, I visited the rim of Bare Mountain a couple of years ago but never descended nor did the summit and I've been wanting to go back there and do that. I suppose the crater floor must be very porous otherwise there's be a lake. On older GPNF maps there's a trail along the north side of Bare Mtn. and it would be nice if there were a short trail along here connecting the northern and southern trail systems in the Trapper Creek Wilderness.

Looking at the map, West Crater must be where all the more recent lava flows in the area originate.

--Paul

[Splintercat]

Thanks, CFM - is this part of the Indian Heaven volcanic complex?

-Tom

[pablo]

Attached is a snippet from a 1963 GPNF Map showing the extensive system of trails in the area. Outside the Wilderness logging roads certainly have taken their toll. Also, I grabbed a chunk from the USGS quad in TODO that shows a #165 trail going to West Crater from NFD 34 but I see no mention of this trail in the GPNF trail index.

The summitpost link you gave provided a nice description of the area and the geology.

I'd really like to know what those lava fields look like on either side of West Crater.

Cfm, are there other items of interest to us off trails fans in the book you mention?

--Paul

[fettster]

What a fun little trip. Unlike East Crater in Indian Heaven that's cool you can actually see into the crater. It sounds like you drove up alongside the crater and just bushwhacked to the top?

[cfm]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I was off...hiking the Elkhorns! TR later.

Tom, I don't know about the volcanic origins other than Klenke's info.

Fettster, yes the best route is to drive to the SW side of the crater and scramble up an open slope, then travel around the rim to get to the summit, or bomb down through the trees to get to the bottom.

Pablo, interesting map showing the trail to West Crater originating across from the Soda Lake trail ( Called Lost Lake on your map and in my guide book). Yes you would enjoy paging through this book. It doesn't have alot of hikes- it's more of a family camping, viewpoint and driving guide, but it does have some gems. It is WA only and there are just a few sections that focus on SW washington, including Mowich Butte!