I went the easy way, from the north, which whittles this hike down to less than 3 miles one way with around 1200 feet of elevation gain. Directions are in the field guide and also in Sullivan’s NW Oregon guidebook. There’s nothing easy about the drive though, the last eight miles is certainly one of the rougher stretches of road I’ve ever encountered. Nevertheless the Subaru made it through OK.
The wind was just whipping at the trailhead so I was a bit apprehensive as I set off on this hike knowing that Silver Star’s open slopes and ridgelines are very exposed. I was looking forward to a relaxing late summer stroll after all and not a battering trek through a wind tunnel! But I’d come this far so I thought I’d just get started and see how things went. Originally I had planned to hike south on “Ed’s Trail”, but with the wind being out of the east I decided to hike the old road to the summit instead as that route would be less exposed to the gusty winds. As I made my way up it remained pretty breezy but never got as bad as I had expected.
The sky was hazy, but early on there was a decent view of Mt. Hood…
And a nice view north to St. Helens and Ranier…
And on up we climb toward the summit…
Along the way I couldn’t help but munch lots of the tasty thimbleberries and huckleberries that lined the trail.
Before long we reached the open summit area…
It was breezy at the summit but not nearly as bad as I expected. View SE toward Mt. Hood…
Looking northeast toward Mt. Ranier…
View of the true summit and St. Helens from the southern false summit …
Rugged Sturgeon Rock to the west…
It was just 63 degrees up here today, so we really beat the heat quite nicely. Near the summit I was surprised to see a young couple riding down on an ATV. Does anyone know if they’re legal up here? That’s a shame if they are. Otherwise though we saw very few people all day.
On the way down, a look back at a jagged false summit…
Really a great little hike on a breezy but otherwise perfect September afternoon!
Gordon
