mradventure - Jun 18, 2007 8:06 pm Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2007
Day of the Crazy 8
Went to hike on the mt. Defiance trail not expecting to make it to the top, and my 8 yr old son proved me wrong. He hiked all the way up and down in 8 hrs. About 1/2 way up he wanted to turn around but he decided to eat lunch at the summit. The weather was windy and chilly, cloudy with some sun. Happy Father's Day to me. He told me his even bigger goal is to climb all the mountains with me.
outdoorgirl - Apr 23, 2007 12:49 am Date Climbed: Apr 22, 2007
A Beautiful Day!
All dressed for a rain shower, the day turned out beautiful! Nice forest walk up Starvation Ridge, a scramble to Warren lake for lunch, and back down the Mt. Defiance Trail to pass by some great waterfalls. Deep, melting snow toward the top, holes in the boulder field! Great hike. :)
Levi - Feb 28, 2007 1:55 am Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2007
Winter Ascent
Climbed Mt. Defiance Trail. Started at 7am. Snow almost all the way up. When in the boulder field the snow was about knee deep. We met a guy who knew where to go and break most of the trail or us. We reached the road at about 2:30pm. Though only a quarter mile from the summit we decided to turn around due to time. Back to car at 5:30pm. Great hike and good warm up.
Pawkala - Oct 11, 2006 3:39 am Date Climbed: Oct 7, 2006
Good Workout
Climbed from the parking lot to summit via Defiance trail in 3 hrs. It as limited view from the top but cleared up on the way down. Took the Starvation Ridge trail down and it took almost as long. NOT RECOMMENDED. There are many less switchbacks so going down is harder. It is a very neat trail and I think it would be better to go up starvation ridge and come down defiance. Good Workout.
awilsondc - Aug 8, 2006 11:22 pm Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2006
Route Climbed: Starvation Ridge Up, Defiance Trail Down
Yuck! Don't try this hike when hung over! Ok, it wasn't really that bad, but honestly I didn't really like the trip. It was nice to have done the gorge's highest, but the summit was a dissapointment. You work so hard to get to the top, and when you get there you are greeted by a vandalized radio tower along with other buildings, miscelaneous trash, and a road. I guess the views of the cascade volcanos were good......
Aeldrin - Apr 24, 2006 2:46 am Date Climbed: Apr 29, 2004
Route Climbed: North Trail
A nice day up on the mountain. Climbed as part of the conditioning series for the Mazamas AYM. Tried to go down the south route, but there was so much snow that we gave up, turned around, and descended on the north route.
Route finding up Starvation Ridge in the winter without GPS can be difficult. I bet you'd have made it up the Defiance trail.
jimsiff - Feb 27, 2006 7:45 pm Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2006
Defiance Trail up and down
2/25/06 - A great day in the gorge. Hit snow at ~2500', with 500' of melted and refrozen Cascade cement. Wish I brought Yak Trax. Snow got better above 3000'. Snowshoed from the Wilderness boundary to the summit, making first tracks for the weekend. It was very windy across the rock field. Beautiful view of Hood and St. Helens from the top, but Adams was covered from the waist up. Saw two other parties while on the way down today.
Levi - Feb 26, 2006 6:40 pm Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2006
Route: Starvation Ridge
2/25/06 Started hiking at 6:00am. Once we hit a little snow at 2500'. We could not find the trail at 3500' so we turned around at 9:30am. Back to the car at 1:30pm
5/04/05 Started at 8:00am up Mt. Defiance trail. Made the summit at 12:30pm. went down Starvation Ridge and had really bad knee problems. Got back to the car at like 8:00pm.
I've climbed this mountain twice, both times going up the north Mount Defiance trail and coming down the same way. It took me over 9 hours up and back which makes for a long day and a long time on your feet. Slow and steady still gets to the top, but my sister went without me once and climbed it in 5 1/2 hours up and back, she's amazing. Beautiful views, some snow still at the top.
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail Up/Down Date Climbed: December 3, 2005
Heavy snow from about 1000' on up. Snowshoes necessary. Route finding wasn't too difficult (look for the green spraypaint on some trees. This was hard! I only made it to about 4000ft (Mitchell Trail intersection) after 6 hours. Made camp. Descended the next morning in two hours--THAT was fun. Breaking trail on the way up was not a lot of fun, but a good workout.
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: July 17, 2005
Unlike many of the people that hike earlier, the views were excellent with great pictures of St. Helens, Adams, Renier and Hood. Good training hike, but a little scarry going the short route down to the trailhead of Starvation Ridge (loose gravel covered the two foot wide trail with a 150 foot cliff...).
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: 7 June 2005
Very pleasant, steady climb up. This is probably the most elevation I have ever gained on a single ascent, but it wasn't tough. In fact the descent was harder than the ascent.
Good views, but Hood was largely obscured. Spotted three garter snakes early in the ascent.
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail Date Climbed: April 30th, 2005
Had a good day on Mt. Defiance, although not much of a view at all from the top. Really humid day, seemed like I was ascending into the clouds. Felt strong on the ascent, it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes up. Ran down the trail for a total round trip time of 3 hours and 40 minutes.
WARNING - Running down the steeps on this mountain left me limping for 5 days, could hardly climb the stairs in my house afterwards!!
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: Feb 19, 2005
A great day and a great test of my ailing knee (passed with flying colors) on this toughie found in the Columbia River Gorge. Fellow SP'er, Don Nelsen was kind enough to accompany me as I plodded up and down this well known mountain. We hit snow at 2200 feet but other than a little rain at the beginning of the trek, we ended up with very nice weather as we climbed higher. Thanks to Don for a great day and great companionship.
Route Climbed: North route and then back down via Starvation Ridge Date Climbed: February 6, 2005
Hit snow about 1/2 way up. Jeff Lalich, of Beaverton, decided to wear running shoes, shorts, long sleeve T-shirt & brought no hat, no gloves, & very little too eat or drink, except 3 tiny bottles of H2O & 3 Coors lights. I confiscated the Coors lights & downed them with lunch. He hates hiking now as we had told him this would be a quick easy day trip. Hah. They really ought to consider more silvaculture, as there would be more excellent views available. Hard tough hike, but if that poor guy and two dogs made it through the snow so can you. Good luck and don't try to ice skate on the lake or climb the high voltage towers to break 5,000 ft.
Route Climbed: North Trail Date Climbed: August 30, 2004
Nice conditioning hike with some great viewpoints. I pity da fool who doesn't know what poison oak looks like....especially on the Starvation Ridge trail. Up the Defiance trail down Starvation Ridge, 5.5 hours total under time constraints. Just before I left the summit area 3 Bubbas on ATV's road up. One of them said "Whhooo weeee, no that's a climb boys! What?!?! Starvation Ridge trail leads through a nice new logging site, "healthy forest" I dunno? New August snow on Adams down to the "Lunch Counter" (about 9,000 ft.).
Route Climbed: North side trail Date Climbed: July 5th, 2004
I was feeling pretty good the morning of July 5th, '04 and the weather looked great so I though I'd take a stab at Mt. Defiance. This is one of the best workouts in the gorge with about 4900 vertical gain from the Starvation Creek trailhead. Never too crowded on Defiance and today was no exception with only a couple dozen folks on the trail. The usual poison oak was there on the lower third of the trail but easily avoidable using some dilligence and caution. No snow left anywhere and the trail was in as fine a condition as ever - which is to say a bit rough in places but easily navigated.
My first trip up Defiance was during a nearly snowless winter on Jan 15th, 1981. My brother Dave and I summited to find several inches of rime on everything but no snow at all!
Route Climbed: North Trail/ Mt. Defiance Trail Date Climbed: May 22,2004
We got on the trail at 5:30am. Rain, socked in fog, thick mist, with partial reprieves the whole day. Saw two rabbits and beautiful wild flowers. Heard a "ooomb ooomb" noise that we couldn't identify.
Lost the trail at the boulder field and couldn't see the tower due to the fog. A few members of our four person party were chilly like crazy... cotton is a killer... turned for home after hard decision making only a few hundred feet from the top... ouch... saw about eight people on our way back down.
mradventure - Jun 18, 2007 8:06 pm Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2007
Day of the Crazy 8Went to hike on the mt. Defiance trail not expecting to make it to the top, and my 8 yr old son proved me wrong. He hiked all the way up and down in 8 hrs. About 1/2 way up he wanted to turn around but he decided to eat lunch at the summit. The weather was windy and chilly, cloudy with some sun. Happy Father's Day to me. He told me his even bigger goal is to climb all the mountains with me.
outdoorgirl - Apr 23, 2007 12:49 am Date Climbed: Apr 22, 2007
A Beautiful Day!All dressed for a rain shower, the day turned out beautiful! Nice forest walk up Starvation Ridge, a scramble to Warren lake for lunch, and back down the Mt. Defiance Trail to pass by some great waterfalls. Deep, melting snow toward the top, holes in the boulder field! Great hike. :)
Levi - Feb 28, 2007 1:55 am Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2007
Winter AscentClimbed Mt. Defiance Trail. Started at 7am. Snow almost all the way up. When in the boulder field the snow was about knee deep. We met a guy who knew where to go and break most of the trail or us. We reached the road at about 2:30pm. Though only a quarter mile from the summit we decided to turn around due to time. Back to car at 5:30pm. Great hike and good warm up.
Pawkala - Oct 11, 2006 3:39 am Date Climbed: Oct 7, 2006
Good WorkoutClimbed from the parking lot to summit via Defiance trail in 3 hrs. It as limited view from the top but cleared up on the way down. Took the Starvation Ridge trail down and it took almost as long. NOT RECOMMENDED. There are many less switchbacks so going down is harder. It is a very neat trail and I think it would be better to go up starvation ridge and come down defiance. Good Workout.
awilsondc - Aug 8, 2006 11:22 pm Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2006
Route Climbed: Starvation Ridge Up, Defiance Trail DownYuck! Don't try this hike when hung over! Ok, it wasn't really that bad, but honestly I didn't really like the trip. It was nice to have done the gorge's highest, but the summit was a dissapointment. You work so hard to get to the top, and when you get there you are greeted by a vandalized radio tower along with other buildings, miscelaneous trash, and a road. I guess the views of the cascade volcanos were good......
Aeldrin - Apr 24, 2006 2:46 am Date Climbed: Apr 29, 2004
Route Climbed: North TrailA nice day up on the mountain. Climbed as part of the conditioning series for the Mazamas AYM. Tried to go down the south route, but there was so much snow that we gave up, turned around, and descended on the north route.
jimsiff - Feb 27, 2006 7:50 pm
Re: Route: Starvation RidgeRoute finding up Starvation Ridge in the winter without GPS can be difficult. I bet you'd have made it up the Defiance trail.
jimsiff - Feb 27, 2006 7:45 pm Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2006
Defiance Trail up and down2/25/06 - A great day in the gorge. Hit snow at ~2500', with 500' of melted and refrozen Cascade cement. Wish I brought Yak Trax. Snow got better above 3000'. Snowshoed from the Wilderness boundary to the summit, making first tracks for the weekend. It was very windy across the rock field. Beautiful view of Hood and St. Helens from the top, but Adams was covered from the waist up. Saw two other parties while on the way down today.
Levi - Feb 26, 2006 6:40 pm Date Climbed: Feb 25, 2006
Route: Starvation Ridge2/25/06 Started hiking at 6:00am. Once we hit a little snow at 2500'. We could not find the trail at 3500' so we turned around at 9:30am. Back to the car at 1:30pm
5/04/05 Started at 8:00am up Mt. Defiance trail. Made the summit at 12:30pm. went down Starvation Ridge and had really bad knee problems. Got back to the car at like 8:00pm.
LCannon - Feb 23, 2006 6:53 am
Route Climbed: North Trail Date Climbed: 1989-90I've climbed this mountain twice, both times going up the north Mount Defiance trail and coming down the same way. It took me over 9 hours up and back which makes for a long day and a long time on your feet. Slow and steady still gets to the top, but my sister went without me once and climbed it in 5 1/2 hours up and back, she's amazing. Beautiful views, some snow still at the top.
PeterOrth - Dec 5, 2005 12:19 pm
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail Up/Down Date Climbed: December 3, 2005Heavy snow from about 1000' on up. Snowshoes necessary. Route finding wasn't too difficult (look for the green spraypaint on some trees. This was hard! I only made it to about 4000ft (Mitchell Trail intersection) after 6 hours. Made camp. Descended the next morning in two hours--THAT was fun. Breaking trail on the way up was not a lot of fun, but a good workout.
jdstrong - Jul 28, 2005 6:34 pm
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: July 17, 2005Unlike many of the people that hike earlier, the views were excellent with great pictures of St. Helens, Adams, Renier and Hood. Good training hike, but a little scarry going the short route down to the trailhead of Starvation Ridge (loose gravel covered the two foot wide trail with a 150 foot cliff...).
charlatan - Jun 12, 2005 11:31 pm
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: 7 June 2005Very pleasant, steady climb up. This is probably the most elevation I have ever gained on a single ascent, but it wasn't tough. In fact the descent was harder than the ascent.
Good views, but Hood was largely obscured. Spotted three garter snakes early in the ascent.
leedog12 - Jun 12, 2005 2:41 pm
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance Trail Date Climbed: April 30th, 2005Had a good day on Mt. Defiance, although not much of a view at all from the top. Really humid day, seemed like I was ascending into the clouds. Felt strong on the ascent, it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes up. Ran down the trail for a total round trip time of 3 hours and 40 minutes.
WARNING - Running down the steeps on this mountain left me limping for 5 days, could hardly climb the stairs in my house afterwards!!
DharmaBum1984 - Jun 3, 2005 2:51 am
Route Climbed: North Trail Date Climbed: June 2, 2005Great morning hike. Beautiful trail despite the fact that it connects a freeway with a radio tower. Fog/clouds from 4,000' up, no views.
This mountain didn't seem particularly defiant today.
Dean - Feb 20, 2005 10:49 am
Route Climbed: Mt. Defiance trail up, Starvation Ridge Trail down Date Climbed: Feb 19, 2005A great day and a great test of my ailing knee (passed with flying colors) on this toughie found in the Columbia River Gorge. Fellow SP'er, Don Nelsen was kind enough to accompany me as I plodded up and down this well known mountain. We hit snow at 2200 feet but other than a little rain at the beginning of the trek, we ended up with very nice weather as we climbed higher. Thanks to Don for a great day and great companionship.
fear n loathing - Feb 6, 2005 1:23 am
Route Climbed: North route and then back down via Starvation Ridge Date Climbed: February 6, 2005Hit snow about 1/2 way up. Jeff Lalich, of Beaverton, decided to wear running shoes, shorts, long sleeve T-shirt & brought no hat, no gloves, & very little too eat or drink, except 3 tiny bottles of H2O & 3 Coors lights. I confiscated the Coors lights & downed them with lunch. He hates hiking now as we had told him this would be a quick easy day trip. Hah. They really ought to consider more silvaculture, as there would be more excellent views available. Hard tough hike, but if that poor guy and two dogs made it through the snow so can you. Good luck and don't try to ice skate on the lake or climb the high voltage towers to break 5,000 ft.
Cornvallis - Aug 30, 2004 2:18 am
Route Climbed: North Trail Date Climbed: August 30, 2004Nice conditioning hike with some great viewpoints. I pity da fool who doesn't know what poison oak looks like....especially on the Starvation Ridge trail. Up the Defiance trail down Starvation Ridge, 5.5 hours total under time constraints. Just before I left the summit area 3 Bubbas on ATV's road up. One of them said "Whhooo weeee, no that's a climb boys! What?!?! Starvation Ridge trail leads through a nice new logging site, "healthy forest" I dunno? New August snow on Adams down to the "Lunch Counter" (about 9,000 ft.).
Don Nelsen - Jul 5, 2004 8:17 pm
Route Climbed: North side trail Date Climbed: July 5th, 2004I was feeling pretty good the morning of July 5th, '04 and the weather looked great so I though I'd take a stab at Mt. Defiance. This is one of the best workouts in the gorge with about 4900 vertical gain from the Starvation Creek trailhead. Never too crowded on Defiance and today was no exception with only a couple dozen folks on the trail. The usual poison oak was there on the lower third of the trail but easily avoidable using some dilligence and caution. No snow left anywhere and the trail was in as fine a condition as ever - which is to say a bit rough in places but easily navigated.
My first trip up Defiance was during a nearly snowless winter on Jan 15th, 1981. My brother Dave and I summited to find several inches of rime on everything but no snow at all!
Soup - May 24, 2004 12:10 pm
Route Climbed: North Trail/ Mt. Defiance Trail Date Climbed: May 22,2004We got on the trail at 5:30am. Rain, socked in fog, thick mist, with partial reprieves the whole day. Saw two rabbits and beautiful wild flowers. Heard a "ooomb ooomb" noise that we couldn't identify.
Lost the trail at the boulder field and couldn't see the tower due to the fog. A few members of our four person party were chilly like crazy... cotton is a killer... turned for home after hard decision making only a few hundred feet from the top... ouch... saw about eight people on our way back down.
We'll get 'er done later... on a blue sky day...