Stacker Butte, Sun. Jan 19th 2020
Posted: January 21st, 2020, 3:22 pm
Sunday turned out to be great day for a hike though we had to drive a bit for it.
Stacker Butte is across the Columbia from The Dalles and I'd never hiked it due to how barren and sunburned it looked from afar. However, add a few inches of snow and misty swirling clouds and what might be a boring gravel road hike becomes something else altogether. The clouds parted at about 3,000' and revealed a wonderful blue sky and a four mountain view. Clouds obscured Mt. St. Helens or we would had another to enjoy.
There were deeper drifts in the road cuts and near the communication tower structures but never more than 4 or 5 inches in general. I wore my spikes but didn't need them and Kelly had no problem in only her regular hiking boots.
As we got ready to start back we met mountainkat. Always nice to meet a fellow Portland hiker on the trail. She totally out did us too: She started all the way down on Hwy 14 so must have hiked at least 12 miles RT! Way to go Kathy!!
The map:
5.0 miles, 1200' EG
dn
Stacker Butte is across the Columbia from The Dalles and I'd never hiked it due to how barren and sunburned it looked from afar. However, add a few inches of snow and misty swirling clouds and what might be a boring gravel road hike becomes something else altogether. The clouds parted at about 3,000' and revealed a wonderful blue sky and a four mountain view. Clouds obscured Mt. St. Helens or we would had another to enjoy.
There were deeper drifts in the road cuts and near the communication tower structures but never more than 4 or 5 inches in general. I wore my spikes but didn't need them and Kelly had no problem in only her regular hiking boots.
As we got ready to start back we met mountainkat. Always nice to meet a fellow Portland hiker on the trail. She totally out did us too: She started all the way down on Hwy 14 so must have hiked at least 12 miles RT! Way to go Kathy!!
The map:
5.0 miles, 1200' EG
dn