Honeymoon Day 3: Steins Pillar Trail

There are a ton of hiking trails near Wildcat Campground, and we meant to check them all out, but we ended up only getting one of them in: Steins Pillar trail. Steins Pillar is an awesome sight that you can see from the road to Wildcat Campground. It’s a huge pillar of stone rising from the ground. The pillar is the tube of what was once a volcano that used to sit there. When travelling to Wildcat Campground, you can check out Steins Pillar one of two ways: you can take the winding road up to the hiking trail, or you can continue on for just a bit more to look at it from the view point. I forgot to document the information at the viewpoint, but apparently Steins is a misspelling of the last name of the man who discovered the pillar.

The trail itself is a 4-mile hike round trip—although we only managed about 3 of it. It starts by going uphill pretty steep until reaching the top of a rise. There’s a beautiful view of the surrounding area, in addition to a few of the Cascades peaking over the horizon. When we got to the top of the rise, I shouted in success that I was King of

the Mountain. Alas, that was only the beginning of our little adventure.

What followed was a series of switchbacks that led us from hilltop to hilltop—with no sign of the pillar in sight. We had no idea how long it would take us, but we kept at it—promising each other that if there was no sign of the pillar, we’d head back.

We finally reached a part of the hike where the trail headed sharply downhill. We briefly considered heading back at this point. We had no idea how much longer it would take. However, we stubbornly decided to stick with it for a few minutes more.

We headed down the hillside, and as we rounded the corner, we made the most delightful discovery of the whole hike. It wasn’t Stein’s Pillar; it was a signpost. Up until this point, the only signage we had seen was the signpost at the head of the trail—denoting the trail’s name and number. This sign, however, directed us to the left—to the Stein’s Pillar viewpoint. The trail also continued forward towards Stein’s Pillar itself.

We headed to the viewpoint, and the hike was totally worth the view. We could see Stein’s Pillar from behind—a totally different view than the one from the road below. Sarah and I stopped for a short

break to rest, rehydrate, and refuel our bodies. We took several pictures, including an elk print that Sarah discovered.

We debated whether or not to continue the rest of the way to Stein’s Pillar, but decided in the end to call this a win and head back to camp. The hike back up the hill towards the switchbacks was rough, and there were times I didn’t think I’d make it, but we managed to walk the long trek back to the car. From there, we drove back to Wildcat Campground.