TrailsNW
North Oregon Cascades

Badger Creek

Length: 12 miles
Low Point: 2200'
High Point: 4472'
Season: Spring/Summer/Fall
Scenery: 3.5/5

Difficulty: 3.5/5

Submitted by: Forrest

Directions

From The Dalles, drive south on Highway 197 to the town of Tygh Valley. Turn right onto Wamic Market Rd. and drive to Wamic. From Wamic, turn onto Rock Creek Dam Road and drive to Rock Creek Resevoir, turning onto Road 4810 for two miles. Turn right onto Road 4811 for 1.5 miles. Turn right onto Road 2710, and follow for 1.5 miles to Bonney Crossing.

Trail Description

The Badger Creek Trail starts out where the desert sagebrush of the east, meets the forests of the Cascades. The trail gives the hiker a great variety of landscapes while following Badger Creek. Ambitious hikers can hike the twelve miles to Badger Lake. We only were able to get out a few miles because we felt like exploring the rocky canyon walls surrounding the creek. We hiked the trail in the middle of winter and I thought it was a great hike, worthy of a return trip. We did run into snow during our December trip, so have a backup hike planned if this should become too snowy during the winters. For those who seek solitude, you really cansinglequotet beat this trail during the dead of winter. The trail is also supposed to be pretty amazing during the spring and summer months, when carpets of wildflowers populate the canyon.

Comments

This was my first backpacking trip in over 25 years. Though it was early February, the weather was great and the trail reasonably easy to hike despite the some snowy spots, and lots of fallen trees across the trail. We hiked two hours up and camped in a nice flat area. It was a great weekend, and I hope to get out often over the coming months and years.
2011-02-06 19:17:11
This is a nice trail, we walked out it on sunny June afternoon. Wildflowers were out, creek was running nicely. There also seems to be nice campsites along the creek about every mile for at least the first few miles of the trail.
2008-06-09 21:20:58
We hiked this trail at the beginning summer. At that point in time, it was a nice trail. Nothing too spectacular or too scenic, just a nice hike through the woods with a beautiful creek. There were a few wildflowers out, but we were a couple weeks too late for the Balsamroot blooming.
2004-07-31 09:47:39

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