Join hike leaders Christoph Stauder and Dave Crout and shepherd Jay Nutt on this magnificent spring hike in the Columbia Hills Natural Preserve Area to Stacker Butte, the windswept, 3,200 ft. high point on a barren ridge at the eastern end of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. Ascend on a wide, graveled service road through one of the finest floral shows in the entire Pacific Northwest.
From the summit gaze into Swale Canyon at your feet; survey the High Prairie in the middle distance; and marvel at snow-capped Mt. Adams (40 miles), Mt. Rainier (85 miles) Mt. Saint Helens (63 miles) on the horizon. From our lunch spot on the western end of the ridge past the last set of antennas identify Klickitat Canyon, Catherine Creek, Dog Mountain, Mt. Defiance, Mt. Margaret, the Goat Rocks Wilderness and the Simcoe Mountains. The magnificent views from the top of Stacker Butte don’t stop here. You’ll also see Mt. Hood (37 miles), Mt. Jefferson (80 miles) and—on a clear day—the Three Sisters (113 miles) and Blue Mountains (125 miles), visible as a faint line on the eastern horizon.
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