Hiking Tumalo Mountain, Oregon

After our long, but spectacular hike of South Sister on Friday, Katie and I decided to take it easy on Saturday with a couple shorter hikes. For our morning hike, we climbed Tumalo Mountain. The trailhead starts at Dutchman Flat SnoPark across from the Mount Bachelor Ski Area off Cascade Lakes Highway. The approximately 1.9 mile (3.8 miles round-trip) Tumalo Mountain trail # 38 climbs over 1,400 feet to the summit. The views of Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters from the top are amazing.

Download route (one-way) in Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format for use with GPS units and mapping programs. Disclaimer.

After spending much of Saturday in the snow, it was nice to begin our hike on bare dirt. We encountered a few snow patches along the way, but the well-worn trail was easily visible.

   

As we climbed out of the forest, Mt. Bachelor came into view. It was gorgeous in the cloudless sky and gave us a taste of what was to come.

   

We reached the top of Tumalo Mountain in one hour. Though not a strenuous hike, the trail makes a steady climb to the top. We encountered many "protected habitat" signs at the top and the path around the summit was clearly bordered with lava rocks, encouraging hikers to remain on the trail and respect the fragile ecosystem.

   

The views from the top of Tumalo Mountain were spectacular. South Sister and Middle Sister as well as Broken Top and Mt. Bachelor were easily visible from the summit. Though there weren't many plants growing, we did see a few small patches of wild flowers.

   

After enjoying the views at the summit, we began our descent. We made it back to the trailhead in about 45 minutes. Though short, this hike is well worth the views it affords on the top. This hike also gave us the opportunity to spot a suitable route to the summit of Mt. Bachelor for our next adventure.