Hike 34: Bachelor Mountain via Bugaboo Ridge

Distance: 8 miles out and back

Elevation Gain: 1,844 feet

Trailhead elevation: 4,160 feet

Trail high point: 5,946 feet

Season: June - October

Best: July

Permit: none needed

On the traditional lands of: the Molalla people

GPS Track: Gaia

Directions:

• From Salem, drive OR 22 east approximately 49 miles to Detroit.

• From Detroit, drive south 16 miles to Marion Forks.

• Continue past Marion Forks another 1.5 miles to a junction with FR 2234 on your right. There isn’t really a sign so you’ll have to watch closely.

• Turn right here and immediately cross the North Santiam River on a concrete bridge.

• Continue uphill about 2.5 miles to a confusing junction with several side roads on your left at a curve. There are two side roads here, one of which has a gate.

• Stay on the main road (FR 2234) here and drive another 0.5 mile to a junction with another side road on your left.

• The trailhead is 100 yards down this road on your right but the best place to park is right at the junction.

Hike: Little-known and seldom-traveled, the Bugaboo Ridge Trail is for the adventurous. This is not to say that it’s extremely difficult, or hard to follow, or anything like that –it’s just that the Bugaboo Ridge Trail feels wild in a way that the shorter, more popular Bachelor Mountain Trail does not. You are unlikely to meet anybody on this trail until you near the summit, and the views and wildflower meadows are superior to that of the more well-known approach to Bachelor Mountain. But you have to earn it, as the way is steep and brushy.

Begin your hike in a lush old-growth forest as the trail climbs gradually at first. You will soon leave the forest, instead trading woods for an open, bushy ridge that is a remnant of the 1970 Buck Mountain fire. After a little under a mile, the trail crosses a gravel road and then returns to the forest as the climbing continues. Soon the trail becomes brushy as you enter a meadow that is completely overgrown, as bracken fern and several species of wildflowers overhang the trail. It is here that you will meet the Bruno Meadows Trail, yet another approach to Bachelor Mountain. Keep straight here and climb out of this meadow into a series of exceptional flower gardens as the trail skirts through an open forest. Here you have excellent views out to Mount Jefferson, looming across the canyon to the east.

The best part comes next, as the Bugaboo Ridge Trail curves around an open ridge end, amidst hanging gardens and absolutely spectacular views that stretch all the way south to the Three Sisters and points further south. Beyond this point, brush encroaches on the trail but this section is mercifully short. Just a little bit later, you’ll meet the well-maintained Bachelor Mountain Trail, at which point you turn right and hike 0.7 mile to the summit. The views here are incredible, but especially great is the view to Mount Jefferson, just seven miles to the east. Return the way you came or arrange a shuttle with the other Bachelor Mountain Trail, described in Hike 33.