Wapaloosie Mountain hike

Following a lifelong wonderlust

Round trip: 6 miles

Elevation gain: 2,000 feet

Difficulty: (4/5) Moderately difficult

Trailhead: On Albion Hill Road (FR 2030), 3.3 miles from its junction with SR 20 (4 miles east of Sherman Pass)

One of the highest summits on the Kettle Crest, 7,018-foot Wapaloosie Mountain offers extensive views and some of the finest alpine meadows in the Columbia Highlands. Thanks to a southeastern exposure, the trail melts out by late spring. This trail traverses one of the region’s most dramatic plant communities: slopes of sagebrush interspersed with groves of pine and fir.

Hike Wapaloosie early in the season to experience its bounty of blossoms. As soon as the snow melts, arrowleaf balsamroot speckles the mountainside bright yellow. Arnica, yellow violet, and mountain dandelion follow. Alpine lupine eventually takes over, punctuating the soft greens and yellows of the sedges and grasses with shades of violet. 

Start through a uniform stand of lodgepole pine, the quintessential interior-montane forest. In a mile, break out of the canopy to begin your odyssey across Wapaloosie’s sprawling meadows. Views are far-reaching, ranging from British Columbia’s Rossland Range to the Abercrombie-Hooknose highlands. Mack and King Mountains stand out like emerald sentinels, guarding the eastern flank of the Kettle Crest.

Aster, lupine, fireweed, yarrow, and paintbrush create a mosaic of colors across the meadows. Buckwheat, hawkweed, rabbit brush, and spirea crowd the sagebrush that creeps toward the summit.

Reach the Kettle Crest Trail in 2.75 miles. Venture along the crest through an open forest of whitebark pine and subalpine fir, or take a side trip with an easy ten-minute ascent from the junction through more meadows to Wapaloosie’s broad and open summit.

© 2007. Text reprinted with permission of the publisher from Columbia Highlands: Exploring Washington’s Last Frontier by Craig Romano, The Mountaineers, Seattle.