Wildcat Mt. Hike in the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness

10.1 miles of hiking • 2250' elevation gain •

It's been years since we've been to this trail and we decided to go there despite the cloudy weather. The Google directions to this TH were excellent and the road is paved all the way until the parking lot, which was gravel. We were the only car there, and we saw NO hikers the entire day! Truly a perfect Wilderness experience!!!

This TH was rerouted and is very nice. It really bothered me that a target range was setup, and went directly across the trail as it wound around the target area several times. These people have absolutely no respect for anything, and are obviously oblivious that they are shooting right into a trail. I'll be calling the Clackamas County Sheriff to report this negligent behavior!

There are some rock outcroppings a short distance in that has a great view of the surrounding wilderness, but we only had a cloudy view for a short time. We could have taken the cutoff to Mcintyre Ridge, but there would have been no view of Mt. Hood. So we continued on along the ridge and further into the Wilderness. There is also a cutoff that takes you to Huckleberry Mt. I would love to hike point to point from the Wildcat Mt. TH to the Wildwood area on Hwy 26, as this would be too long of an out and back for me.

About 4.5 miles out there is a campsite, and a sign pointing to water. I'm assuming there is a spring near the campsite? The only interesting observation about the trail is that there is a huge amount of snags, and this trail would be dangerous in heavy winds. Thankfully, there wasn't much wind today!

I also noticed on my garmin map that it would be possible to hike from the Wildcat TH to Tumalo Mt., passing by Sheepshead Rock (which by the way is absolutely Awesome for a view of the wilderness and Mt. Hood, and some scrambling)!