{"id":405,"date":"2016-06-11T17:44:51","date_gmt":"2016-06-11T17:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eyehike.com\/2016\/elk-mountain-kings-mountain-loop-or\/"},"modified":"2020-06-22T11:58:45","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T18:58:45","slug":"elk-mountain-kings-mountain-loop-or","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyehike.com\/2016\/elk-mountain-kings-mountain-loop-or\/","title":{"rendered":"Elk Mountain – Kings Mountain Loop, OR"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"PDF<\/span><\/a>\"image_print\"Print<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Vicinity Location: <\/strong>About
\n40 miles west of Portland, OR.
\n
\nDirections: <\/strong><\/strong>From Portland, take Highway 26 west for about 20 miles. Take the left exit for Hwy 6 towards Banks, Tillamook, and Forest Grove. This road is also known as the Wilson River Highway.<\/p>\n

For the Elk Mountain trailhead:
\nContinue on Highway 6 for 23.5 miles from the junction Hwy 26 and Hwy 6 and make a right just after milepost 28 and drive on a dirt road about .3 mile and pull into the first or second parking lot at Elk Creek Campground.<\/p>\n

For the King\u2019s Mountain trailhead: Continue on Highway 6 for 26.5 miles from the junction Hwy 26 and Hwy 6 to about milepost 25 and make a right into the parking lot for King\u2019s Mountain Trail.<\/p>\n

No permits are required.<\/p>\n

There is an outhouse at both Elk Mountain and Kings Mountain trailheads.<\/p>\n

Trail:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Elk Mountain Trail, King\u2019s Mountain Trail, and Wilson River Trail.<\/p>\n

There is at least one geocache along this trail at: N 45\u00b0 36.653 W 123\u00b0 31.040 Info at Geocaching.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Trail Maps:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Topo Map<\/a>, State of Oregon Map<\/a>, Download Garmin .gpx file<\/a><\/p>\n

Length and Elevation:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>11 miles round trip. Elevation gain of 3,471 feet and loss of 1,400 feet to
\nthe summit of King\u2019s Mountain. Elevation gain of 4,100 feet and loss of 4,100
\nfeet roundtrip. Elevation at the trailhead is 1,000 feet, highest point is at
\n3,226 feet. Lowest elevation is 830 feet.<\/p>\n

Review: <\/strong>June 5, 2011.
\nWalk along the trail on an steady uphill grade for the first .1 mile to a
\njunction in a small saddle. Look for the trail to the right that heads fairly
\nsteeply uphill. If you pass the saddle and start descending, you have missed
\nthe junction. There are some viewpoints just within the first mile as the trail
\nclimbs and climbs with short sections where the trail loses elevation. The trail
\nbecomes rougher and rockier underfoot. About 1.5 miles from the trailhead the
\ntrail passes through a nice open forest There are lovely patches of violets and
\ntrillium on the trail in the spring.<\/p>\n

After 1.7 miles the trail drops down off the summit of Elk Mountain
\nthen starts climbing again. About 3 miles from the trailhead is a little ridge
\nthe trail traverses. About this time you may be wondering if you\u2019re lost but a
\nlittle farther is the trail junction for the loop back to Elk Creek Campground.
\nYou\u2019ll know when you get to this trail junction; you can\u2019t miss it. Turn left
\nat the junction to continue to King\u2019s Mountain.<\/p>\n

The hike comes out to a nice viewpoint. From here the trail drops down on the
\nleft and goes underneath the viewpoint to pass beneath the base of the cliffs
\nwith the trail rapidly going up and down 50 to 100 feet at a time. Finally you
\nreach a series of several switchbacks leading to a ridge just below King\u2019s
\nMountain. From the ridge the trail drops down, crosses a small saddle and passes
\nthrough sloping meadows and trees to the summit of King\u2019s Mountain.<\/p>\n

The top of King\u2019s Mountain has spectacular views of the surrounding peaks and
\nvalleys. From the mostly forested summit the trail drops fairly steeply for
\nabout a mile and enters a relatively flat area. This is a beautiful forest with
\nand emerald carpet of Sour Apple and other wildflowers. Off to the right you
\ncan hear a creek flowing down to the Wilson
\nRiver.<\/p>\n

Near the highway is a 4-way trail junction. Turn left onto the Wilson River Trail
\nand walk through the low elevation forest. Because of the plentiful fall and
\nwinter rains, moss adorns the older trees and the leaves of Vine Maple provide
\na colorful attraction in spring and fall. If you need a restroom, walk out to
\nthe Kings Mountain Trailhead which is about .2 mile from the junction.<\/p>\n

The trail gently gains elevation which makes the trail popular for mountain
\nbikes. The trail comes into a large meadow. Driving down the highway, you would
\nnever know there is a large meadow like this in the valley because of the steep
\nmountainsides and nearby river. The alders growing around the edges make a
\npleasant setting for the meadow and the trail skirts the meadow\u2019s edge. The
\nmeadow drains at the east end and the trail crosses a log over the outlet
\nstream. It is interesting how the stream is wearing away the dirt and makes a
\nsmall waterfall, like a micro-Niagara.<\/p>\n

The trail steadily gains elevation then drops down a bit and crosses on a
\nsingle log bridge over a Dog Creek. From the creek, the trail switchbacks
\nfairly steeply up the hillside back to the saddle at the first trail junction.
\nFrom here drop back down the steady grade back to the trailhead.<\/p>\n

This is a hard hike with steep ascents and descents. Don’t take small children
\non this loop hike. This loop hike is definitely not for dogs. Consider other
\nhikes in rainy weather because this trail has steep sections and sections where
\nthe tread slopes steeply to the side and is quite slippery when wet.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the photos!
\nGallery Pics<\/a>
\nSwitchback Steve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hard hike best done in drier weather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dayhikes","tag-waterfall"],"yoast_head":"\nElk Mountain - Kings Mountain Loop, OR - Eyehike - Your Guide to Hiking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elk Mountain - Kings Mountain Loop, OR - Eyehike - Your Guide to Hiking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A hard hike best done in drier weather.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.eyehike.com\/2016\/elk-mountain-kings-mountain-loop-or\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eyehike - 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