Every wilderness area has a hidden, hard-to-reach jewel. For Indian Heaven the gem is the crater of E. Crater Mountain, an old shield volcano.

The 32 square-mile Wilderness lies between Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. It contains over 150 lakes and has many open sub-alpine meadows to explore.

I began the hike at the Thomas Lake Trailhead on the west side of Indian Heaven. After hiking several miles to the east, while passing multiple lakes, I followed a faint path across the meadows to Junction Lake and the Pacific Crest Trail.

For more exploration I began bushwhacking up the steep flanks of E. Crater Mountain, fighting chest-high huckleberry bushes, blowdowns and beargrass. After one mile I reached the 5,300-foot crater rim with a magnificent view of Mt. Adams.

But the delight was the crater floor below with a seldom-visited pond (it had dried up this summer). On the descent to the crater, I crossed old elk tracks and spotted their beds on small benches on the steep hillside. The crater floor was very interesting, think of the caldera of a miniature Crater Lake without the Lake. Amazingly enough, there were no signs of other human activity.

I thought to myself, it’s special scenes like this that provide the essence of wilderness hiking.

After exploring the crater for awhile, I hiked over the crater rim, hitting the PCT eventually. From there it was a relatively easy hike southerly to Blue Lake with three more miles back to the trailhead.

Oh, did I mention that ripe huckleberries were everywhere along the trail. I ate so many that my fingers turned purple.

Indian Heaven remains one of the most enjoyable hiking areas near Portland.