Finding wildflowers in the Ochocos

Published 3:15 am Thursday, July 3, 2025

Lookout Mountain perfect for a long summer day

With daylight stretching from 5:30 a.m. to 8:50 p.m., give or take, it’s time for a mountain ramble.

The highest and best use of this time (in this author’s humble opinion) is to head to a place known for its midsummer wildflower display.

The Lookout Mountain Short Loop Trail in the Ochoco National Forest fits the bill. Peak wildflower bloom on Lookout Mountain typically lasts from late May through June into late July, and, as this trail winds through several distinct types of habitat, the range of grasses and wildflowers is impressive.

In the initial lower-elevation, shaded woodlands, you’ll encounter dainty flowers like claspleaf twisted-stalk, star-flowered false Solomon’s seal, and spotted fritillary. Rumor has it that morel mushrooms can be found here, too.

A bit higher in elevation, there are meadows of green false hellebore, colored with larkspur, columbine, forget-me-not, aster, erigeron, scarlet gilia, and many more. The trail is also a great place to see the large, exquisite blooms of the Brown’s peony.

Lookout Mountain’s summit (6,992 feet) invites lingering. It is not one of those tight and jagged summits that you reach and quickly retreat from. Instead, this Ochoco high point is a broad sagebrush plateau which could comfortably seat any number of summit pilgrims. It’s a place to have a leisurely snack, look out over the wide panoramic views, and botanize — by pulling out a trusted field guide, or by pointing your phone at species you don’t quite recognize and summoning the plant’s name from the near reaches of AI. That’s how I learned that sky pilot — a low-growing Phacelia species with spiky purple flowers — grows here, among and alongside lupine, paintbrush, buckwheat and penstemon.

From the summit back to the trailhead, you’ll experience the botanic

This Ochoco high point is a broad sagebrush plateau which could comfortably seat any number of summit pilgrims. (Lace Thornberg/Central Oregon LandWatch)

al journey in reverse, or as writer Gretel Ehrlich has so eloquently put it: “To rise above treeline is to go above thought, and after, the descent back into bird song, bog orchids, willows and firs is to sink into the preliterate parts of ourselves.”

Beyond the peak bloom, expansive views, and long-lingering daylight, there is yet another reason to make your way into the high country this summer: to see what’s at stake.

Lookout Mountain is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and, as the agency bends to comply with Executive Order 14192 — “Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation” — this special place and many others like it will be increasingly threatened by logging and development.

On June 23, at a Western Governors Association conference, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Rollins announced that the agency, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, would be rescinding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The roadless rule has offered protection from roading and logging to 58.5 million acres of vital wildlands nationwide since it went into effect in 2001. The rule covers 2 million acres in Oregon, including Lookout Mountain.

Hiking on Lookout Mountain in Ochoco National Forest. (Lace Thornberg/Central Oregon LandWatch)

In the Ochocos, just 7% of the forest is beyond a half-mile from a road, which makes it all the more important to keep large roadless areas like Lookout Mountain intact. Watch Central Oregon LandWatch’s Take Action page for updates about the roadless rule and other moves by the current administration which will impact public lands in our region.

As you immerse yourself in midsummer’s generous beauty, let it rekindle your resolve to preserve our shared natural heritage.

At a glance

Where: Lookout Mountain Short Loop Trail, Ochoco National Forest

Length: 7.1 miles

Best season: Midsummer

What to expect: Wildflowers, panoramic views, possible morels