Miles: 2.4 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1061ft/1919ft
Map: Green Trails No. 428s Columbia River Gorge West
Favorite Eats After Hike: Crush Cider, Walking Man Brewery, Backwoods Brewery, Thunder Island Brewing, Cascade Locks Ale House, Farm Stand Natural Foods, Dick’s Primal Burger, Back To Eden Bakery, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike details:
A popular trail with the locals, this steep treat leads to views of the Columbia Gorge from a sacred spirit quest site. Care must be taken to respect the sacred stone formations, but it is possible to stay on established trail and view the surrounding scenery. Most of the hike is in the forest on a well maintained trail and the summit is aptly named, prepare to hold on to your hats.
My trip reports:
6/27/2020, my GAIA
We made another one-day run down to the Gorge with a short hike on Wind Mountain and some time on the sunny patio at Crush Cider.
To spice things up a bit and avoid as many people as we could, we opted to take the OLD trail up and new trail down. The original trail (bootpath) leads from the upper large parking lot over a berm (that just looks like where you might use the “facilities”), through some brush and onto a steep, loose trail straight up the side of the mountain.
The trail is not hard to follow visually but there are not a lot of solid hand holds as you gain roughly 900 feet in just under .5 miles. Definitely done with a lighter pack on for balance.
There were several side trails to viewpoints but we just headed for the top. The trail meets the new one where the first “Notice” sign is and then continues to the summit. We obviously saw no one going up, had the summit to ourselves for about 10 minutes and passed close to 40 people on our descent.
Going down the old trail is possible and clearly would see less folks but time wise would probably take longer!
12/29/2019, my GAIA
This was our third hike for the weekend and it turned out to be quite a surprise. We had wondered as we drove past Wind Mountain a few times on Saturday if it was possible to hike it so we set out in search of a trailhead. There was not much here on WTA, I am guessing that is intentional. More on that later.
It wasn’t hard to find the trailhead, there were signs once we turned on Wind Mountain Road. Like it says in trail descriptions on other hiking websites, there was a large parking lot first and then a few pullouts next to the small trail marker further down the road. We were the first to arrive and head up at 10am but we were not expecting other people with the warning here of the trail being unmaintained and suggestions of hiking somewhere else.
Not but a minute later, we could see a Prius pull into the pullout behind us and soon we paused to let a trail runner by. Hmmm, the locals are still using the trail? Can’t be in that bad of shape…
And it wasn’t. The trail was in great shape but a few logs down over it, nothing you couldn’t hop over. The trail consisted of long swooping switchbacks and a steeper than average grade and a few turns over talus field.
At 10:38 we reached the US Forest boundary and an expected sign about the area being sacred. In a few more minutes we reached a newer looking kiosk explaining the historic significance and where to stay on the trail and avoid the built structures believed to be built for spirit quests.
We didn’t last long at the top because Wind Mountain lives up to its name and we avoided walking on the stacked rocks. The view down into the Gorge was beautiful but not that much more grandiose than say Lyle Cherry Orchard where we were the day before. And you spend most of your time here in the trees.
What surprised us the most was how many people we encountered on the way down. Families with babies and children, large groups, dogs, etc. We might have been on Tiger or Rattlesnake for all we knew. Seems like everyone was coming to Wind that morning. There are still quite a few people using the trail and maybe it is being suggested to tourists? It is definitely being maintained by someone.
Back at the parking lot, there were 10 cars: 8 from OR, 1 from WA and 1 from CA. Online, there are quite a few websites recommending the hike. My guess is that Wind Mountain was taking the brunt of trail closures on the Oregon side these last two years and the idea was to “hide” it a bit from the WA side. Just know if you go that you will not have solitude and to respect the mountain top. And hikes like Lyle Cherry Orchard have more views for your buck.
Also, our new favorite place to stop is in Hood River, Crush Cider Cafe. 20 cider taps and delicious tacos!
Directions: The trailhead is off SR 14 just east of the town of Carson. Signed for Wind Mountain Road, follow the signs for the Wind Mountain Trail as the road swoops around the base of the mountain. The road will appear to end at a gravel parking lot but does continue down the other side to a few small pullouts where the trail starts.
For more hikes in the area, visit my Southwest Washington & Columbia Gorge page. Falls Creek Falls up Panther Creek Road is one of my favorites!
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