Badger Creek Backpacking Trip

An early-season backpacking trip in the Badger Creek Wilderness, revisiting a favorite creekside campsite, testing new gear, and enjoying a quiet, relaxed weekend in a low-snow year.

ITINERARY

• day 1 – Badger Creek trailhead to campsite: 5.1 miles, 945 ft. gain, 115 ft. loss
• day 2 – short explorations and hanging out at camp
• day 3 – hike out: 5.1 miles, 115 ft. gain, 945 ft. loss

TRIP PLANNING

• best months: April – June
• location: Southeast of Mount Hood; nearest town: Dufur
• land management: Mount Hood National Forest: Barlow Ranger District
• trail conditions: Badger Creek Trailhead
• hike description: Oregon Hikers
• permits: none required
• trailhead pass: none required

This was my second time backpacking in the Badger Creek Wilderness, returning to a campsite we found on a previous trip — located where Pine Creek flows into Badger Creek. It remains the most scenic site we found along the trail, set right beside the creek with views of two nearby waterfalls. With only our vehicles at the trailhead when we arrived, we felt confident we’d reach the campsite first, and we did.

This is an easy backpacking trip that works well for early-season outings when higher-elevation trails are still snow-covered. Thanks to a very low snow year, the route was already accessible in late April. The trail mostly follows the creek, but in a few sections it climbs high above it before dropping back down, while remaining easy to follow throughout.

Before heading out, I took extra precautions for ticks, which are present in this area. I treated my clothing, hat, and shoes with permethrin and wore pre-treated socks. On this trip, one of my friends had a tick embedded, which later developed into what was treated as a likely case of Lyme disease. Rattlesnakes are also known in the region, though they are unlikely to be active this early in the season with overnight temperatures still low. While we definitely saw the ticks, we did not see any snakes.

I also used this trip to test new gear, including an ultralight backpack — the Outdoor Vitals Carbon Evo Backpack. It performed well and helped keep my total pack weight around 21 pounds, including food and water, along with a few other new items I was evaluating.

After arriving at camp, we stayed put for the remainder of the trip instead of continuing to hike. The hike in had a fair amount of blowdown, and our campsite was littered with debris. One of my friends brought a saw, so we cleaned up the camp area, and also cleared an area of blowdown on the trail near our camp.

It also gave us a lot of firewood for having a campfire. Since it’s already so dry this early in the season, we always made sure to put out our campfire completely by dousing it with water.

Overall, it was a quiet and relaxing trip in a beautiful setting that made it easy to enjoy down time at camp while also dialing in gear for future backpacking trips.