Abercrombie Mountain Trail

From Eastern Washington’s second-highest peak, the former home to Eastern Washington’s second-highest lookout, take in hundreds of square miles of rolling forested terrain, from the Canadian Purcells to the Columbia Plateau.

This moderately strenuous, 7.3-mile hike rewards fit hikers with horizon-spanning views—the Cascades, British Columbia’s Rossland Range and Idaho’s Selkirks—from Eastern Washington’s second-highest (by a mere foot) peak. Abercrombie Mountain and its neighbor to the north, Hooknose Mountain, crown more than 30,000 acres of unspoiled terrain that has been proposed for wilderness designation.

Three trails gain the summit of Abercrombie; the eponymous trail is the most popular and scenic. Follow the Abercrombie Trail, an old roadbed, as it climbs through scrubby alder. At 1.4 miles, intersect with the North Fork Silver Creek Trail in dense lodgepole forest. Turn left and climb steadily through open forests of whitebark pine and Douglas-fir before entering the first of many flower-filled meadows. At 3 miles, the trail intersects with the Flume Creek Trail, which approaches Abercrombie from the east. Bear left and make the final quarter-mile push to the rocky summit.

On top, envy the view from the “office” of the U.S. Forest Service employees who manned the lookout that used to stand here, remains of which can be found amongst the rocks. Built in 1952 as one of hundreds of lookouts that capped nearly every prominent peak in the Inland Northwest, the Abercrombie Lookout lasted only a decade before being demolished in the 1960s. Since then, intrepid hikers have built a rock shelter to take its place. On clear days, the Columbia Plateau shimmers to the south; to the west, the grass-clad Kettle Range dominates; to the east, the wet Selkirks; loom; and in the far distance, the Rocky Mountains lie.