Length
Elevation Gain
Highest Point
Follow this trail at your own risk. High winds, exposed ridgelines, and a steep climb make this a difficult hike, but the same features that make it a challenge also provide its most noteworthy aspects.
The climb to the open ridgeline offers commanding views of the entire wind facility and miles beyond to the Cascades in the west and the Columbia Basin to the east. If you want to experience Wild Horse winds at their full potential, this ridgeline is the place to do it. Winds of 117 mph have been clocked on Whiskey Dick Mountain.
If getting blown off the mountain is not your idea of fun, try this on a calm day. In the spring you can find phlox, hedgehog cacti, and buckwheat blooming profusely on the mountainside. Check out the 2,406 sharp solar panels near the summit, which provide 500 kw of power. Feel free to look around but please do not touch the solar panels.
To begin, follow the gravel trail that winds its way between the solar panels and the blade behind the REC. From here follow the gravel trail until it makes a sharp left. Bear right, leaving the gravel and walk parallel to Beacon Ridge Road — there is little to no trail here. Once you reach the maintenance road, cross the behind the gate and take the abandoned jeep road along the fence line.
Do not walk along the closed access roadways, as they pass too close to the turbines. From here the trail makes short work of the hill, heading straight up. Travel the rolling ridge to the solar array. If you continue on behind the solar you can follow a primitive road to the summit of Whiskey Dick Mountain in around one-half of a mile.
Trailhead
