A tough, tough hike on Hunchback Mountain beginning at the Zigzag Ranger Station.
Nine miles round-trip and roughly 3,700 feet of cumulative elevation gain.
Some of the stretches are as steep as a cow’s face.
It was a classic conditioning hike, mostly underneath the canopy of a mature hemlock forest.
The Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness is a fun place to visit, but a little hard on the knees.
One of the few open vistas
Fawn Lily
Not much sunlight penetrates the canopy of a mature forest
Calypso Orchid
Salmon River Valley, 2,000 feet below
Paintbrush
Hi John: This has been on my to-do list for the summer. Is it well maintained? Did you go up/down the same trail and have you ever tried it as a car shuttle with some of the other nearby trailheads (as Sullivan describes)?
It’s pretty well maintained but, as one hiker put it, it’s like Ruckel Ridge on steroids.I did it as an out and back from the Zig Zag Ranger Station, stopping at the Great Pyramid. After that the trail drops about 500 feet before continuing south to Devil’s Peak.
A more interesting and varied hike is one that Sullivan describes. It’s a 15.7 mile loop hike from the Salmon River Trail going over Devil’s Peak and returning on the Green Canyon Way.
Although my favorite hike in the area is Huckleberry Mountain via the Bonanza Trail.