Mt. Adams Horse Camp, Washington

Although I have camped on the north side of Mt. Adams a couple of times, I had not yet been to the lower elevation camp on the south side.

On the Round the Mountain Trail.

I arrived on the Tuesday after the 4th of July weekend. As I was getting my horse tacked up a guy that was camping there wandered over and said hi. He had been there since Saturday and I asked him if it had been busy over the long weekend, and he said no. During the rest of the four days, there were only a few other campers that came and went.

Mt. Adams Horse Camp is located not far from the town of Trout Lake, Washington. It has 12 spots, all with fire rings, picnic tables and high lines. Half of the spots are in the trees, the other half are out in the open. If it were to get really busy, there is also a huge meadow that can be used for dispersed camping. There are two manure bins, a bathroom, garbage cans, and a water trough for stock. The bathroom was missing toilet paper while I was there, until the last day, when someone finally came through and stocked it.
It is a $5.00 per night camping fee. At the pay station there are paper maps you can take with you and this ended up being an invaluable asset, as I was able to plan ahead and make some nice long loop rides. Update: As of 2022, the pay station is sealed up and they want you to pay at the ranger station in Trout Lake.

Mt. Adams Horse Camp.

Water trough at Mt. Adams Horse Camp.

On my first day I started out on the Buck Creek Trail and although there is a nice 10ish mile forested loop you can do, I chose to extend my day by taking the Morrison Creek Trail over to the Crofton Ridge Trail which is through a burn area. Then I rode down a gravel road to get back to the trail system, all together this ended up being a six hour ride. Heading back down FS Rd 8040 I got some nice views of Mt. Adams.
I stopped to check out the Wicky Creek Shelter, which is one of the fancier shelters I have ever seen, with three separate "rooms" and a bathroom nearby.

The meadow beside Mt. Adams Horse Camp.

On the Buck Creek Trail.

On the Buck Creek Trail.

Filling out our permit on the Crofton Ridge Trail.

Although the trails that are closest to camp are very well used, it is obvious that the trails that run higher up by the mountain don't get much horse traffic, but I was happy to find them cleared and maintained.

On the Crofton Ridge Trail.

The Wicky Creek shelter.

The second day was the nicest as far as weather, with lots of sun and blue skies so I made my way up the Wicky Creek Trail and then back onto the gravel road again, although this time finding a short cut on another smaller dirt road to cut off some time, and eventually I made my way to the Shorthorn Trailhead which leaves from Morrison Creek Forest Camp. My plan was to go as far as I could up this trail not knowing about trail condition or snow levels. Since I had tried to ride up to higher elevations from Keenes Horse Camp a few years back in late July and was not able to get very far due to snow, I was not actually expecting to make much headway in early July....BUT it was cleared and snow free and after climbing up into the alpine, I eventually made it onto the Round the Mountain Trail. I continued along this trail crossing several ravines and getting some amazing views not just of Mt. Adams towering above me, but also over to Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens.

Riding up FS Rd 8040 towards Mt. Adams.

Getting up into the alpine on the Shorthorn Trail.

Flowers on the Shorthorn Trail.

Crossing a ravine on the Shorthorn Trail.

Arriving at the Round the Mountain Trail.

Views from the Round the Mountain Trail.

Views from the Round the Mountain Trail.

On the Round the Mountain Trail.

It's always so hard for me to decide when to turn around when I am in this kind of country, since I am in my happy place, but of course I still had to go all the way back down, so reluctantly I made the decision once I had been riding about 4 hours, making this ride an 8 hour day all together. It is possible to trailer up to a parking area just before the trailhead which would cut off half the time.

Taking a quick break on the way back, at Morrison Creek Forest Camp.

On my way back about two miles from camp there was suddenly a lot of crashing in the bushes and then it abruptly stopped. I looked over and saw some foliage moving. I thought that was strange, since if it were deer or elk, once they start to leave the area, they tend to keep going, so I was wondering what had happened, had an animal injured itself? So I rode a few feet closer to get a better look and found out it was a bear! He took the opportunity at that point to leave the vicinity. I don't see bear very often, and actually in the ten years of owning my current horse, this was the first time seeing one while riding her.

On my third day, I did a 7 hour ride by taking the Big Tree Trail over to another secondary gravel road which I followed until I got to the Snipes Mountain Trailhead. This starts out in a very recent burn area (from 2015). There is a run off creek which was dry, but is impossible to cross by horse at this time, due to the steep drop off, so I went back to the road to get around it, and then bushwhacked back to the trail. This switchbacks uphill gradually beside the AG Aiken Lava Bed and once it gets higher it levels out and into a not quite as recent burn area with tons of flowers and lots of little aspens starting to grow. I made it to the junction with the Pineway Trail, my original plan had been to make a large loop again, but unfortunately the trail went from cleared to not cleared at this point, and so I had to turn around.

Riding through a burn area on the Snipes Mt. Trail.

On the Snipes Mt. Trail.

On the way back instead of going back the exact same way, I detoured onto the Gotchen Creek Trail and followed it back over towards camp via the Morrison Creek Trail, having the map made it easy to switch up plans and figure out an alternate route. Although all the trails are well marked, there are a lot of them through the forest that sometimes will just say "trail"on them and although I had no issues navigating the area, I did run into a couple of people on horseback who were trying to figure out which trail they were actually on.

The Morrison Creek Trail.

On the Morrison Creek Trail.

It started to rain literally the minute I got back, and I spent most of the evening in my LQ trailer thanking my lucky stars I am no longer a tent camper. Not a whole lot of excitement happened while I was in camp during the evenings, the few people there, just kept to themselves.

The last day I just did a short ride of about 3 hours leaving camp from the trail that is called the Lower Loop, which drops downhill then levels out for awhile before climbing back up. After finishing that, I did one more small loop on another section of the Big Tree Trail. At one point my horse and I spotted three young bucks wandering through the trees, they had not seen us, so we stood perfectly still as they got closer. Finally my horse swished her tail which alerted them to our presence, at which point they all scattered at warp speed in three different directions.
A short time later a momma deer bolted off to my right. Since it is that time of year, I checked the area where she had just been, and sure enough she had left behind her fawn. I stopped briefly to get a picture of the little cutie and then continued on.

Awwww!

I then drove myself and my tired pony home, very satisfied with my trip. I sure do love exploring new country!


GPS COORDINATES TO MT ADAMS