Salmon Butte
Difficult
11.2 miles round trip
3170 feet elevation gain
Open mid-May to mid-November
Use: hikers, horses
Rhododendrons grow 15 feet tall along the trail to Salmon Butte, a lookout site smack in the midst of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. Even if you miss the rhodies’ flower show in June, consider taking this remarkably well-graded trail for the summit’s view across the Salmon River Canyon to Mt. Hood.
Drive Highway...
...
Melted glass and rusty nails are all that remain of the lookout tower that burned here. Mt. Hood looms above Devils Peak’s green ridge, with snowy Mt. Adams, faint Mt. Rainier, and flat St. Helens to the left. On the southern horizon is Mt. Jefferson, with all Three Sisters peering over his right shoulder.
This chapter taken from 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington.