Overview Badger Mountain is a table top mountain residing on the East side of the Columbia River between East Wenatchee and Waterville. As one drives on HWY 97 on the East side of the Columbia River, between East Wenatchee and Orondo, Badger Mountain is the mountain to your East. It also comes in as one of the 2,000 foot prominent peaks of Washington with 2,684 feet of prominence at number 72. Badger Mountain is also the county high point for Douglas County.
Reaching the summit of this peak requires driving 1.5 miles on a Primitive Road. One will encounter a “Private Road” sign when reaching this road. However, it is ok to drive to the summit as long as you stay on this road and don’t drive off onto someone’s property. I checked with one of the property owners on this road to be sure.
The summit of Badger Mountain offers views over to the Enchantments, Mission Peak, and peaks to the North around Chelan. The Columbia River is not visible from the summit. Finding the true summit once up here can be difficult if you don’t know where to go.
Note: Topo Maps don’t mark the high point of Badger Mountain. They show Badger Mountain as the whole table top section on the East side of Wenatchee. Some maps that point out a summit location for Badger Mountain put it way south of the true high point. Some Topo maps show “Ski” as the name at the high point. Another note, Badger Mountain also is a ski area in the winter.
There was not a summit register when I went to Badger Mountain. Getting There
From Wenatchee drive across into East Wenachee and head North on Eastmont. Once you reach the end of Eastmont and turn on the curve onto Badger Mountain Road reset your odometerto zero.
Drive for 16.3 miles on Badger Mountain road. Then turn left onto Chipmunk Road. If you turned right here you would be on Wild Turkey. Below is a Map Trace and GPS Coordinates of the Route.
A 4WD with high clearance would be recommended for the last 1.5 miles. There is one steep hill you have to go down and up. You might get some brush marks on the side of your vehicle as well.
| WPT | Description | Latitude | Longitude |
| | WPT 1 | Turn Left onto Chipmunk | N 47.5808° | W 120.1474° | | WPT 2 | Park | N 47.583° | W 120.17926° | | | WPT 3 | Badger Mountain Summit | N 47.583779° | W 120.179396° |
Red TapeThere is no Red Tape to drive to and hike Badger Mountain. Just respect the land and people’s private property. I would not recommend camping here as one of the nearby property owners might get mad.
Gaining the Summit From the parking spot, head to the North for about 80 yards or so and you will see some markers on the high point surrounded by brush. Above in the table are the GPS coordinates for the high point. A bench mark is also at this location. There was not a summit register when I visited the summit.
External Links Peakbagger page for Badger Mountain.
Badger Mountain Ski
More Info on skiing at Badger Mountain
John Vitz's page on Badger Mountain
Dean and Bolton's Trip Report
Weather Images
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