Mazamas — For the Love of Mountains
You can start this loop at either the Elk Creek Trailhead or the Kings Mountain Trailhead and you can go clockwise or counter-clockwise (although counter-clockwise is more popular as it has you ascending Elk Mountain as opposed to descending it). To save the 3.5 mile Wilson River Trail return, you could do a car shuttle.
The trail is is steep and rugged in many spots. The trail off the summit of Elk Mountain is a bit exposed and can be challenging in winter conditions. Along the traverse to Kings Mountain there is a fixed line in one place to protect on particularly exposed section.
This trail is not for the beginner hiker.
Activity Notes
Hike Description:
We will leave from the King Mt. trailhead. We will start with 3 miles of flat hiking to get to the Elk Mt TH. From the Elk Mt. TH, we walk north to the beginning of the traverse, which heads abruptly up, steeply to the summit of Elk Mt. The trail continues west down a rocky scramble, makes a few switchbacks and heads in a northerly direction until the trail starts to resemble an overgrown road heading west. Continue on this old road to an intersection. Stay to the left heading in an approximate SW direction. The old road will come to an end and turn into a scrambly trail that is full of exposed traverses and steep switchback heading in a southerly direction all the way to the summit of Kings Mtn. Head back to the trailhead on the Kings Mtn trail.
Here is the link to the OregonHikers.org hike description which has a lot of detail about the specifics of the hike: Elk Mountain-Kings Mountain Loop Hike - Hiking in Portland, Oregon and Washington (oregonhikers.org).
