Larch Mountain via Tarbell Trail

Decent trail, mostly in the trees with a couple of openings. Dog friendly. This is the route you take when you intended to do Silver Star from Grouse Ridge but neglect to pay attention at the trail head and go the WRONG WAY!!! Silver Star, I’m coming back for you!!!!!

Walking on some logging roads, can seem sketch but it’s good

at first the climb is a bit hard but then everything improves before reaching the top it has many small stones, the top has a beautiful view, but it is not pleasant to hear the shots. and the road to get there is made of stone and dirt.

Trail starts off on a pretty quick incline but levels off and inclines again periodically throughout the hike. Good scenery and calm sounds of the creek as you travel deeper into the trail. Your first photo op moment is when you reach a nice clearing with Mountain View’s and nice forested valleys, continue on and once you reach the cell towers you’ve made it. I recommend continuing on just a bit more and you’ll see another clearing and some spots to sit and relax. Refuel and head back down.

Nice trail but the sounds of gun shots throughout the hike sucked. There must be a shooting range nearby.

Nice trail. Nice day. Really enjoyed! Important note: Make sure to get your Discover Pass before driving up the long fire road, otherwise you’ll have to drive back down to get one, risk a citation, or try to get a pass online with the limited cell signal at the trailhead.

Pretty drive to the TH. Hike was short and sweet. A little bit of an uphill burn in some parts, but nothing to extreme. Took my 17 yo mini poodle. He did great :) Oh, was rainy (hiker 6/6/20). Passed the viewpoint half way up and it was clouded over. But the way back, it cleared up and sun peeked through the area.

June 1st 20. Nice leg stretcher, consistent uphill, with a good trail. As someone else said, the car ark was busy, but everyone must have been doing silver star, larch mountain had no one else on it apart from 3 MTBrs coming down.

this hike goes West from the Grouse Vista parking lot on L-1200. The Tarabell trail is much less rocky headed west than east (it's rougher headed towards Silver Star). Not a lot of mountain or valley views on this trail, though it was cloudy the entire hike and perhaps the summit is Larch would have been more rewarding otherwise. The incline is consistent but not difficult and there was a stream about a mile and a half up the trail to fill up.

Hiked this trail 5/28/20 and it was a nice stroll through the forest. Best view was before Larch mountain. No view from Larch summit which was unfortunate. Lots of mountain bikers if you go any further on the Tarbell trail.

Got to trailhead around 9am (on a Thursday) and it was almost full but most hikers were going to silver star. So this hike had very little people on it. You are able to see Mt Hood, St. Helen, and a tiny bit of Mt Adams on the hike. Agree with others anti-climatic at the top but still a great hike. Did see a snake in the middle of the trail - unsure what kind.

Hiked on 5/23/20. There is a great view midway through the hike. The majority of the hike is through the forest. I would rate this on the easier side of medium. highly recommend it, especially if you have kids.

Beautiful hike with an anticlimactic finish. The road to get to the hike is not paved and very rocky. Sedans beware.

I hiked this on a foggy day. I had the trail to myself. As I was less then 1/2 mile from the end I saw 4 people coming up as I was coming down. I will come back when it’s clear I’m sure from Larch it’s a pretty view

Nice workout, if you get to the top and continue down the road a bit you can get a good view but the best one is about halfway

Some remnants of snow on the trail, but made it fine w/o waterproof shoes. The best scenery is of Mt St Hellens 1/2 way up; the summit is anticlimactic. Note: Discover pass required at trailhead

4.3 Miles if you take the left, southern trail about halfway up. If you go up through Tarbell hike down the hill to the road for your view.

Snow from the trail head up. Post holed half way around the summit. Just had gaiters and was fine. Blue bird day!

Road is snowy. Made it to within 1/2 mile of trail head in 4WD Tacoma in 4Lo. No impressive views but could have been the could cover.

Lots of snow today, 01/05/2020, a couple of inches on the trail and nearly a foot in the meadow. Fun hike in the snow, and we only saw one other couple (who were on the wrong trail for Silver Star!). The road up wasn't bad at all. Discovery Pass needed here.

Light dusting of snow in some places, the closer you get to 3000' it becomes an inch or so. Adds to the scenery. I hiked without snowshoes. No view at the top, but nice trail otherwise.

Rough road to get there. Packed gravel with some big rocks - the Malibu didn’t make it - should have brought the JEEP. We had a flat and had to turn back. Missed the hike. Drive up was pretty. We’ll try again.

Started this hike at 3:20 am on labor day 9/2/19. First car in the lot. Picked up some trash in the lot and trash I had picked up on tarbell trail last monday that I left there. Trail is probably 50% rocky. I didn't go down the old trail to cold creek. Small glimpses of city at the top through the trees. And the radio towers were pretty cool as well. Someone fixed the larch mountain sign at the tarbell/larch junction, it was on the ground last Monday. 5.59 miles in 2hrs 47 mins total time with 1136 elevation gain

Beautiful trail. Fun hike!