Badger Mountain is a small mountain in

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

. Badger rises above the Tri-Cities connected to the smaller

Candy Mountain ''Candy Mountain'' is a 1987 drama film directed by Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer, and starring Kevin J. O'Connor, Harris Yulin and Tom Waits. Set in New York City and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, it is categorized as a drama and road movie, dr ...

via

Goose Gap Goose Gap is a small pass connecting Badger Mountain to Candy Mountain to the west of Richland, Washington. It lies significantly higher than most of the Tri-Cities and is crossed by Interstate 182 just after its western terminus. An average of 1 ...

, is visible throughout much of the area and is a popular

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

destination for a wide variety of climbers. There are a number of trails climbing the mountain with varying levels of difficulty. Most of Badger Mountain is protected by the

Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve The Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve protects Badger Mountain, located on the edge of Richland in Washington, provides views of the Tri-Cities as well as the Columbia and Yakima rivers. Trails are open for hiking. No motorized vehicles are ...

, but the radio towers at the peak are private property. There are two summits on Badger Mountain, named the East Summit and the West Summit. The West Summit is the highest.

Geology

Badger Mountain is a member of the

Yakima Fold Belt The Yakima Fold Belt of south-central Washington, also called the Yakima fold-and-thrust belt, is an area of topographical folds (or wrinkles) raised by tectonic compression. It is a structural-tectonic sub province of the western Columbia Plat ...

, a series of topographical folds (or wrinkles) raised from tectonic compression. The Yakima Fold Belt extends from Interstate 90 near

Vantage, Washington Vantage is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 74 at the 2010 census. History The area around Vantage has been occupied by the Wanapum Native Americans since prehistory. A number of we ...

to the Columbia River near

Wallula, Washington Wallula () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 179 at the 2010 census. History The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached this area April 27, 1806, on their return journey from the ...

. The Yakima Fold Belt is a portion of the larger Olympic–Wallowa Lineament, which extends from near

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021. The city's har ...

into northeastern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Badger Mountain is also a part of the

Columbia River Basalt Group The Columbia River Basalt Group is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt province on Earth, covering over mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. The basalt grou ...

. Sometime between 10 and 15 million years ago, multiple lava flows poured out from the

Yellowstone hotspot The Yellowstone hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, formed as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake Riv ...

, then located in western

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. These lava flows covered large portions of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and Oregon on their way to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

and are the cause of the underlying basalt of the region. In some areas, the basalt was thick. During the time of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s extended into northern Washington, Idaho and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. This blocked the Clark Fork River creating

Glacial Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about and contained about of water, half the volume of Lake Mic ...

. Periodically during the ice age, the weight of the water behind the ice dam caused it to break creating the

Missoula Floods The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...

. As these floods rushed toward the Pacific Ocean they carried glacial erratics, chunks of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

not typically found in eastern Washington. The surface elevation of the flood water reached above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

at Badger Mountain, making it into an island for a short time. Glacial erratics of various sizes can be seen up to this elevation on the mountain and there is a marker along the Canyon Trail at 1250 feet above sea level.

Recreation

There are two trails leading to the peak of the mountain, with three other trails on the slopes of the mountain. Badger Mountain is a popular location for hiking and photography because of its height above the Tri-Cities and the views it gives. On a clear day from the peak one can see Rattlesnake Mountain, and the Blue Mountains as well as major

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

such as Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and

Mount Stuart Mount Stuart is a mountain in the Cascade Range, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the second highest non-volcanic peak in the state, after Bonanza Peak and seventh-highest overall. Mount Stuart is the highest peak in the Stuart Range, a ...

In 2010 more than 71,000 people visited the mountain.

Hiking

The Canyon and Skyline Trails reach the peak. The Canyon Trail is long and starts at Trailhead Park. The Canyon Trail only allows hikers. The Skyline Trail is long and starts off of Dallas Road on the northwest side of Badger. The Skyline Trail goes along the spine of Badger Mountain and is open to hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The Langdon, Sagebrush and Badger Flats Trails do not reach the peak. The Sagebrush Trail is a spur off of the Skyline Trail, connecting it to Trailhead Park. The Langdon Trail wraps around the south side of the mountain, offering views of Badger Canyon and the

Horse Heaven Hills The Horse Heaven Hills are a long range of high, rolling hills in Klickitat, Yakima, and Benton counties in Washington. The hills are an anticline ridge in the Yakima Fold Belt formed by north–south compression of lava flows in the Columbi ...

. It is open to hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders. The Badger Flats Trail is completely within Trailhead Park and is in length.

Climate and wildlife

Badger Mountain lies in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains and as such has a semi-arid climate with mild winters and hot summers. The average rainfall at the nearest

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

is per year and temperatures above are not uncommon.Monthly Temperature Charts, Pasco, WA
Retrieved 31 May 2015. Because of this, Badger Mountain shares much of the same wildlife as the surrounding area including

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

jackrabbits Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...

and

rattlesnakes Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera '' Crotalus'' and '' Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small an ...

. There are no naturally occurring trees on the mountain. Winter snows are also not uncommon.

References

External links