Features: Views — Wildflowers
Dogs: Leashed

The Canyon Trail is the most popular trail on Badger Mountain with over 100,000 users a year. It is also the steepest with an average 15% grade. It has more than 60 steps at the start and in a little over a mile, it gains 800 feet to reach the summit. It is a 3 1/2 foot wide path paved with crushed rock. The surface is mostly smooth but can get rough.

Take the path from the Trailhead Park parking lot to the official start of the trail by the trailhead sign board. After climbing up the steps there is a junction. Continue straight ahead for the Canyon Trail or take a left on to the Sagebrush Trail. At 0.4 miles there is a bench to rest on, at 0.5 miles you’ll be on an open ridge with great views of the Tri-Cities. Further along the ridge is the Lake Lewis marker. During the Ice Age Floods this was about as the as high as the waters rose. Stand a moment and visualize the waves lapping at your feet while most everything you can see would have been deep under water.

The trail gains the final 300 feet to the summit passing a stone bench at the switchback corner where you can grab a quick rest. At just past the one mile marker, is the hiker-only sign where many hikers turn around. There are great views from Rattlesnake Mountain to the west, the Tri-Cities just in front, and the Blue Mountains to the east. In clear weather, Mount Stuart can be seen as a triangular peak on the horizon to the northwest.

The trail continues up and to the left of the communication towers and then drops to connect up with the Skyline Trail. From the backside of the towers there are great views to the east, south, and west. Mount Hood, Adams, and Rainier can be seen on clear days. You can continue east on the Skyline Trail connecting with the Sagebrush Trail for a different way back (follow the Trailhead Park Loop signs) or retrace your way down the Canyon Trail.

The Canyon Trail is open to hikers/runners only and dogs if they are on a leash. This is the only trail on Badger Mountain where bikes and horses are not allowed. The trail is wide enough to allow passing while everyone stays on the trail, so please stay on the trail. The desert vegetation is easily damaged and very slow to recover. There is no shade, so plan ahead in the summer.

Trailhead Park has restrooms, water, and a play area; there are no restrooms along the trail. There is also a kiosk with displays on the Ice Age Floods and local plants and animals. Next to the kiosk is a native plants garden.

Flora & Fauna: The entire route is open dryland grasses and a few shrubs. In the spring, there are numerous wild flowers including balsam root, phlox, and wild mustard.

Features: Views — Wildflowers
Family Friendly: Easy grade, wide, lots of beetles and flowers seasonally, can’t get lost.
Dogs: Leashed

The trail follows the natural contours of the Badger Mountain south slope, curving into and out of the gullies. It passes through open grass slopes and thick stands of native sagebrush while staying a few hundred feet away the orchard below. Because it is on the south slope, spring comes early with Balsam Root and other flowers scattered about. In April, the apple blossoms will be in bloom. Numerous old coyote dens can be seen, mostly around the gullies.

The trail is wide and surfaced with gravel. Please stay on the trail and do not cut the curves. The trail is popular with mountain bikers, trail runners, and hikers but there is ample room to allow passing without leaving the trail. There are no services such as restrooms or water available.

Flora & Fauna: Kestrels, nightjars, magpies, maybe a chukkar or quail, horned lark. Beetles, bull snakes, ground squirrel, coyote. Piper’s Daisy, Balsam Root, Giant and Purple Sage, Rabbit Brush, Yellow Bells (fritillaria), biscuitroot (lomatia), penstemon, lupine, buckwheats, phlox, winterfat and numerous others.

Features: Views — Wildflowers
Dogs: Leashed

The Sagebrush Trail is part of an easier route to the summit of Badger Mountain from Trailhead Park. It has an average slope of less than 10%, and at 5 feet wide is the widest trail on Badger Mountain. The surface is paved with crushed rock. It is smooth, but can have some dips or holes.

The trail was rerouted in 2018 to give a route up Badger Mountain without using the steep Canyon Trail steps. The trail now starts at the base of the mountain, the Canyon Trail and its 130 steps are to the right, the Sagebrush Trail with no steps is to the left. In a third of a mile, after you pass above the water tanks, it rejoins its former route. At this junction you can continue on the Sagebrush Trail by taking the high route (left) or you can take the lower old path (right) to get to the Canyon Trail at the top of the steps.

The Sagebrush Trail climbs the northeast flank of Badger Mountain in an open dryland grass slope for the first 0.7 miles then enters an old stand of sagebrush. At 0.9 miles the trail ends at a three-way intersection with the Langdon Trail (left) and the Skyline Trail (right). From here the most common route is to continue to the summit on the Skyline Trail and then back down to Trailhead Park and your car via the Canyon Trail for a 3+ mile loop. Another loop is to take the Langdon Trail to its west end and then loop back via the summit using the Skyline Trail and Canyon Trail for a 6.3-mile journey.

Sometime in the summer of 2020 a new trail will branch off the Sagebrush Trail near the top end and head east as the first segment of the connection of Badger and Little Badger Mountains. The new trail to the summit of Little Badger will be constructed in bits and pieces and should be open a few years later.

Flora & Fauna: The trail starts out in open grasses before entering thick old sagebrush. Spring flowers include balsamroot and phlox.

Features: Views
Dogs: Leashed

The Badger Flats Trail was built as 4 Eagle Scout projects and was graveled in a few hours by a combination of all the local Rotary Clubs. It was designed for those that wanted to get outdoors and hike near Badger Mountain but were not looking for the elevation gain. It is a wide and gentle path that is surfaced with crushed rock.

The trail is built from three parts. The first was the existing trail from the parking lot to the kiosk that is used by the hikers going up Badger Mountain. It then heads out into the open terrain of Trailhead Park across dry land native grasses following an old two track road. it then returns to the parking lot via an all new twisty path. The trail can be combined with the Canyon Trail and Sagebrush Trail for a little variety and added distance.

The trail is wide enough to allow passing while everyone stays on the trail so please stay on the trail. The desert vegetation is easily damaged and very slow to recover. Trailhead Park has restrooms, water and a play area. The route passes a kiosk with displays on the Ice Age Floods and local plants and animals, and next to the kiosk is a native plants garden.

Flora & Fauna: The trail passes through native dryland grasses and sagebrush.

The Westgate Trailhead is located at 5305 East PR 210, Richland, Washington.

From I-82, take the Dallas Road Exit northbound, headed toward West Richland. Before you go underneath I-182 you’ll see a sign on your left for the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve. Turn right when you see the sign and you’ll approach the parking lot on your right.

From Richland/West Richland, drive down Keene headed westbound until you reach the Bombing Range Road traffic circle. Take the exit toward the mountain. Proceed up the road past I-182 and watch for the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve on your right. Turn left when you see the sign and the you’ll approach the parking lot on your right.