Purcell Lookout — Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002

South Cascades > White Pass/Cowlitz River Valley

Purcell Mountain doesn’t get many visitors. Some of the reasons are, 1) Road 63 is a ONE lane road with very few turnouts and you need a high clearance vehicle. 2) Road 057 has been closed, add another half mile to the trip. 3) There is no bridge over Davis Creek and it can only be crossed this time of year when the flow is down. 4) Trail 285 has not been maintained, there are dozens of blow downs. 5) BUGS; this is the worst bug trip I have been on all year; I had to apply several applications of DEET, and that did not stop 10% of the attackers. 6) Mountain Beavers; These critters have undermined much of the upper trail between 4000 to 5000 feet. There are many vertical holes burrowed in the trail and hidden by overgrowth; these holes are potential leg and knee poppers. 7) This is a dry and hot trip, bring about 4 liters of water. No pain, no gain, you say, OK, for those few of you that are still interested, here are the good things. The trail has an easy grade all the way to the top. The first thousand feet is in second growth trees and is well shaded. The last thousand feet is an open slope full of the usual flowers, however, only the last 200 feet is in full bloom this late in the year. Purcell is a former lookout site and has usual grand vista. You can see Rainier, Adams, St Helens, and some peaks in Oregon. The most interesting local sites are views of High Rock and Whalehead Ridge.