Mount Defiance

To celebrate MLK day on January 20th, 2025, I hiked Mount Defiance on the Columbia River. A brutal incline, with only a couple of good views, but still worth it to put in the effort. I only did an out-and-back hike, so it was defiance all the way. Had I done the loop instead, it would have taken so much time that by the time I would have gotten past Starvation Ridge, I would have ended in darkness, but I didn’t want to push the metaphor that far.

Here is one of the better viewpoints, along some cliffs just before a talus field, where you make your choice between going up to the summit, crossing over to the Starvation Creek Ridge, or heading back down.

Along here is a huge talus field. I imagine there’s several pikas chilling out in their dens under the snow. My first time coming up here with snow around a year ago, I turned around here after some lunch. I was in slightly better shape this time, and continued to the summit!

Half the summit view itself is a bit underwhelming due to all the antennae equipment that hums, but there are some great views of Mount Hood in the other half. Technically you can go slightly south of the summit to a trail where you can’t hear the equipment hum and get an awesome Hood view, but this time I didn’t want to plow through a few feet of unbroken snow to find that spot, so I just ate a bit and mostly failed to get a Mt. Hood cloud timelapse, until my camera slowly tipped over.

Now on the way back down past a burnt section, with Mt. Adams hiding a bit behind the trunks.

A great bonus about this trail is the several waterfalls along the trail after you get past the treacherous steep switchbacks from the ridge. During the hot summer, it’s a huge relief to come across a cold shower like this. In winter, you have to be careful not to slip on ice!