Not to be confused with Bald Mountain, which is also located in Mt Hood but on the north west side, Bald Butte is one of the high points on a small ridge on the east side of the Hood river basin. I didn’t know anything about the existence of this trail until I went to a presentation about a new hiking book at the Mazama Climbing Center. In that presentation I learned about this usually missed hike which, according to the author, can challenge Dog Mountain when it comes to wildflowers with the advantage of very little or no people. That by itself was reason enough for me to go explore the area. Getting to the trail is fairly easy and even though it has very few parking spots, it’s not much of a concern as not too many people go there. The trail starts going thru some heavy bush but quickly gets to an open spot that gives you a taste of what’s to come. From the trail you can clearly see Parkdale, the upper Hood River Valley and obviously the northeaster side of Mt Hood. The view at this point is pretty spectacular. Continuing up, the trail leaves the heavy and uninteresting bushes and becomes a more open trail with wildflowers and low bushes. Most of the trail faces south but every so often it will pass the ridge to the other side where Bald Butte becomes clearly visible. Once you think you’re done huffing and puffing, you get to a T junction with the Surveyor Ridge trail. As planned, we turned left here and headed towards Bald Butte. About half way there, we came to an opening where an access road reaches the ridge. We learned that this entry point is normally used by mountain bikers and motocross bikers to access the same trail. Also, from this point, the trail becomes a service road that reaches the power line. From the distance you start hearing the buzzing of the electrical lines which only grows louder as you get closer. Right under the towers, there’s a small open area that looks like a parking lot with very nice view of the valley and Hood. From that point, the trail goes up again and leaves the power lines behind. Towards the end, the trail comes to an opening with probably the best view. As you look up towards your destination, you see the road, and a field covered in yellow wildflowers resembling those manicured background pictures we have on our computers. The trail doesn’t end at the summit of Bald Butte but this is a very good destination for views. From what we could see, you can continue forward dropping sharply to regain elevation at the other side. After a nice lunch with a view, we headed back and once we got to the T junction, we decided to explore the other side for a bit. For the most part it was not very interesting as the trail was navigating thru a dense forested area. Once we reached a butte with no name, we noticed a user trail towards the west to what seemed to be another view point. We followed that path and got to a small open area with some rock formations and steep drops. Views from this point where just as good as those from the trail. We took a second short break and then headed back down the way we came.
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