Category: Columbia River Gorge South

Lower Deschutes River – 01/31/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 2, 2026
1 Comment on Lower Deschutes River – 01/31/2026

Our unusually warm and alarming dry winter continued through the end of January which has resulted an extremely low snowpack. While that doesn’t bode well for summer it provided plenty of dry hiking opportunities during the month, another of which I took advantage of before flipping the calendar to February. It was another solo outing so picked an area Heather had been to previously, the Lower Deschutes River, and planned a slightly different route than we’d done on our visit in 2018 (post).

I made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Salem to the Deschutes River State Recreation Area and parked in the overnight parking lot currently shown on Google Maps as the Old RailBed Trail Parking. There is a slightly closer trailhead which we parked at on our previous visit, but that section of the park was not yet open for the season. I had arrived just before sunrise and had expected mostly cloudy conditions. The forecast showed the sky cover gradually decreasing to 60% around 10:30am then starting to increase again. I had not anticipated how low that cloud cover would be. It wasn’t quite fog but it was about as close as you can come.

The overnight parking lot.

Old stagecoach at the parking lot.

My plan was to follow the Deschutes River for close to three hours then turn around and possibly hike the Ferry Springs Loop on my way back as we’d done in 2018. That detour would depend on the clouds though. I wasn’t willing to climb 500′ just to wind up in fog with no views. Plan B would be to return along the river unless I was seeing any ticks in which case I’d stick to the railroad grade as much as possible.

I set off on the Deschutes River Trail which is an old railroad grade.

The first mile from where I’d parked was new trail for me. Due to the low clouds the views were limited but the river was visible at least.

After a mile I came to a signed trail junction with pointers for the Blackberry and Riverview Trails.

These were new signs since my last visit, and they had also renamed the trails. The Blackberry Trail was named the River Trail in 2018 and the Riverview Trail was the Middle Trail. That’s neither here nor there though since I was sticking to the Deschutes River Trail (which was simply the “Bicycle Trail” in 2018). A tenth of a mile from this junction I passed a junction with the Ferry Springs Trail on the left.

The dirt Riverview Trail on the hillside below.

The northern end of the Ferry Springs Trail.

I continued on the Deschutes River Trail for another for another 1.1-miles to the junction with the southern end of the Riverview Trail. This was another new section for me.

A junco peeking out through some branches.

Caterpillars

Is that a break in the clouds?

Western meadowlark

Still a little early for flowers but I did spot these phlox about to bloom.

The Riverview Trail is just beyond the large signboard announcing the Lower Deschutes River Wildlife Area.

Just beyond the Riverview Trail junction I came to the southern Ferry Springs Trail junction.

The next 1.4-miles on the Deschutes River Trail to Gordon Canyon was a repeat of 2018.

This probably qualifies as fog.

American kestral

Some blue in the sky above the canyon.

Starting to descend into Gordon Canyon.

Gordon Creek

In 2018 we’d turned off the Deschutes River Trail here and visited Colorado Camp 0.2-miles downriver before heading back on the River Trail (aka the Blackberry Trail). This time I continued on going heading deeper in the canyon.

Colorado Camp is down the road on the right.

Looking back toward Gordon Canyon and some blue sky.

Shortly after climbing out of the canyon the trail passes the Gordon Cliffs below Gordon Butte.

Coming up on the Gordon Cliffs.

The cliffs have some interesting basalt formations.

Folds

Rock pigeon

Townsend’s solitaire

The “Eye”.

Mile four.

Magpie showing off its tail.

Cormorant

Common goldeneyes and a common merganser.

By mile five there was quite a bit more blue sky.

A sandy beach along the Deschutes River.

Mallards

Looking up toward Gordon Butte.

At mile six a train passed by on the far side of the river, one of several on the day.

It was a quarter to ten when I passed Mile 6 and given that I was likely moving at a little over 2.5mph I decided to make Mile 7 my turn around point. I did not account for there not being a post at Mile 7 so after another 30 minutes of hiking I turned around.

Mallards and common goldeneyes

I was spending a lot of time scanning the hillsides for bighorn sheep.

Seagull with a fish.

More common goldeneyes.

Passing the former site of Free Bridge. An 1887 bridge built by Wasco County allowing for a free crossing of the river. The bridge was upgraded in 1905 and apparently blown up in 1914 by someone opposed to it, possibly someone(s) who operated a competing toll bridge.

The remains of Free Bridge.

Four cormorants standing on rocks and two common mergansers.

My turn around spot. This was about 10.5-miles from where Heather and I had turned around on our Macks Canyon hike along the river in 2018 (post).

I had gone four tenths of a mile beyond the 7-mile mark. I was happy to be heading away from the sun as I headed back which made the views better.

Passing the Free Bridge site again.

I had started to think it wasn’t going to be my day for spotting bighorn sheep but then I spotted something a little off top of a cliff up the hillside.

Can you spot it?

She had spotted me.

We watched each other for quite a while before she decided I was no threat and went back to grazing.

That was the only sheep I saw but given how seldom we are even hiking in bighorn sheep habitat, it was more than enough. After she went back to eating, I continued my hike.

Another access road down to an outhouse and camps.

Great blue heron

When I got back to the Gordon Cliffs, I found the clouds/fog again.

Gordon Canyon

At Gordon Canyon I turned off the Deschutes River Trail and onto the unsigned Blackberry Trail.

As I made my way along the grassy track I occasionally checked to make sure, I wasn’t picking up any ticks which can be an issue here in both winter and spring. I saw a lot of birds but no ticks.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Geese and common goldeneyes.

I took a spur trail back up to the Deschutes River Trail before reaching the southern end of the Ferry Springs Trail to give myself that option if the cloud cover wasn’t too much.

Rock wren

Ferry Springs Trail on the right with the Riverview Trail ahead on the left.

Looking up the Ferry Springs Trail gave me no confidence that I would get any views along that trail, so I went with Plan B and turned onto the Riverview Trail.

Nope

The Riverview starts at a rock arch and heads uphill to the right of it nearly parallel to the Deschutes River Trail.

Looking down at the junction from the Riverview Trail.

After 0.4-miles on the Riverview Trail I came to a junction with a pointer for the Blackberry Trail. I had the choice of sticking to the Riverview Trail or dropping down to the Blackberry Trail. Both would lead me to the Lower Deschutes Trailhead. I decided I’d rather be closer to the river, so I dropped down.

I turned right on the Blackberry Trail and followed it 1.4-miles to Lower Deschutes Trailhead.

Song sparrow

Blackberry bushes along the Blackberry Trail.

The empty Lower Deschutes Trailhead at the end of the dog area.

From the Lower Deschutes Trailhead I walked up the park entrance road 0.4-miles to the Old Railbed Trailhead.

Geese

Oregon Trail information.

My hike came in at 14.8-miles with approximately 400′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Despite the cloudy conditions this was a nice hike. The trails were not busy and there was a good amount of wildlife. The highlight was seeing a bighorn sheep on a hike for the first time since 2019. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lower Deschutes River

Tags Bighorn sheep, Blackberry Trail, Colorado Camp, Deschutes River, Deschutes River State Recreation Area, Ferry Springs Trail, Free Bridge, Gordon Butte, hiking, Lower Deschutes River, Oregon, Riverview Trail

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Benson Plateau via the Herman Creek – 09/15/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 17, 2025
2 Comments on Benson Plateau via the Herman Creek – 09/15/2025

I began my final solo vacation of the year with a visit to the Columbia River Gorge National Recreation Area and the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. My plan was based on an entry in Matt Reeder’s “PDX Hiking 365” (1st edition) guidebook.

He describes a 14-mile out and back hike to the Plateau starting at the Herman Creek Trailhead with a cumulative elevation gain of 3800′. Most of the hike passes through the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire scar using the Herman Creek, Herman Creek Bridge, and Pacific Crest Trails.

I arrived at the trailhead before sunrise due to wanting to get through Portland traffic before 6am.

There were a few important pieces of information at the trailhead signboard.

Important information included the need of a NW Forest Pass to park at the trailhead, that there is currently a campfire ban, and no fireworks are allowed (illegal use of fireworks started the Eagle Creek Fire).

I set off on the Herman Creek Trail and followed it uphill passing under a powerline corridor to a junction with the Herman Creek Bridge Trail at the 0.6-mile mark.

I forked right onto the 1.1-mile-long Herman Creek Bridge Trail which descended to the Herman Creek Bridge then climbed to a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).

Herman Creek

Climbing toward the PCT. Note the red leaves on the left which is poison oak. There was a fair amount of poison oak along the lower portion of this hike. There were a couple of spots where I had to get small to squeeze between some of it, but I was able to avoid it by staying alert.

Beardtongue

More poison oak. With it turning red for the Fall most of it was easy to spot.

First pika sighting of the day. (Can you spot it?)

The Columbia River Gorge is the lowest elevation at which pikas live. These members of the rabbit family require temperatures below 78 degrees and primarily live at higher elevations with longer snowy seasons during which they live underground surviving on greens collected during summer months.

The Moon above cliffs.

The junction with the PCT. The hike up to this point had retraced part of our 2015 to Pacific Crest Falls (post).

In 2015 we had gone right to visit the waterfall, but this time I turned left on the PCT which quickly entered the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness.

From the junction it was a nearly constant 5-mile climb to Benson Plateau. There were a couple of small saddles that provided a little up and down near the plateau but otherwise it was a steady but never steep climb.

First good viewpoint across the Columbia River.

Another pika. I heard several but only spotted three or four.

The summit of Mt. Adams peaking over the ridge across the river.

Table Mountain (post) on the left and Greenleaf Peak (post) on the right.

The amount of poison oak lessened as the trail climbed giving way to friendlier greenery.

One of two large trees over the trail. This one required the removal of my pack so that I could crawl under. The other one was just enough smaller that it could be climbed over.

View along the trail.

A little more of Mt. Adams showing.

Heading into the sunlight.

Grouse on the PCT. There wound up being at least 5 or 6 grouse nearby.

Grouse in a tree.

The tree I climbed over.

There were a few overgrown sections, but fortunately they were high enough up that the poison oak was no longer an issue.

Up, up, up through the forest.

Strategic use of switchbacks helped keep the trail from being too steep.

Near the switchback above I caught a strong whiff of fire. Not smoke in the air, but the unmistakable smell of fire. It made me a little uneasy because there weren’t any nearby fires showing on the online maps I’d checked before leaving. After climbing another switchback the trail gained a ridgetop, and I discovered the source of the smell. A pair of bow hunters had set up a fire ring and built a fire right next to the trail and a tree. They had their tent, sleeping bags and gear strewn about and when they spotted me they explained they were trying to “dry out” their gear. It was obvious from their need to quickly explain why they had a fire that they knew it wasn’t okay. I didn’t feel comfortable calling them out on it so I made my way around their gear and continued on.

The ridgetop. The bow hunters were about 100 yards behind me at this point.

I continued on getting a view of Mt. St. Helens through the snags.

Another grouse. This was one of 8 to 10 that were in this area.

The cliffy Hamilton Mountain (post) on the Washington side of the gorge.

Explorer’s gentian

After another switchback the trail arrived at an open viewpoint.

The PCT continuing uphill.

Mt. Adams

Closer look at Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood partially hidden by trees.

Mt. Hood

Approximately a half mile from the illegal campfire I arrived at Teakettle Spring.

It was good to know that there was water available here as the only other source I’d passed was Herman Creek. I was carrying an extra Hydroflask full of water just in case, and after seeing the campfire I came up with another use for it. I decided that I would add that water to my pack bladder when I reached the plateau and then refill the Hydroflask from the spring on the way down to use on the fire pit if necessary.

The trail continued to climb beyond the spring before crossing two saddles along a ridge. In the second saddle the Benson Way Trail arrived on the right.

Beargrass along the trail is much better than poison oak.

Sections of the ridge burned intensely in 2017.

Near the second saddle the trail left the 2017 fire scar, although a very small section did burn in the 2024 Whiskey Creek Fire.

The Benson Way Trail on the right.

The final climb to the Benson Plateau.

The trail eventually leveled out on the plateau.

Approximately three quarters of a mile from the Benson Way junction I passed the Benson-Ruckle Trail, again on the right.
Trail signs for the Benson-Ruckle Trail.

Reeder mentioned a campsite near the junction, but I didn’t see an obvious one. I continued on looking for the campsite but after a tenth of a mile I instead spotted a short use trail to a rocky viewpoint. I decided that would make for a good spot for a break.

It wasn’t a huge view, but it was nice and the rocks made for a great spot to sit down, have a snack, add the remaining Hydroflask water to my pack, and then change into dry socks.

After the break I headed back the way I’d come. It would have been possible to use the network of trail on the plateau to make a loop around it, but 14-miles was enough for me today.

I made my way back down to Teakettle Spring and refilled the Hydroflask as planned.

The hump with radio towers behind the ridge is Mt. Defiance (post).

Not long after leaving the springs I encountered the bow hunters who were standing in the trail looking at their phone. They asked me if I knew where the spring was because they were “plumb out of water”. I informed them it was about 100 yards further up the trail and continued on now wondering if they were out of water due to dousing the campfire or if they had had enough water to do that in the first place.

Approaching the best viewpoint.

Not only was Mt. Adams a little clearer but I realized the top of Mt. Rainier was visible from the viewpoint as well.

Mt. Rainier behind Red Mountain (post).

Huckleberry leaves.

Vine maple

When I arrived at the site of the fire pit I could tell that they had at least attempt to extinguish the fire.

The fire pit. In no way is this acceptable, even if fires weren’t currently banned. If it is legal to have a fire and you feel you must please follow Leave No Trace Principles.

Even though there was no visible smoke I knew that fires can easily burn underground, sometimes for days until they reach a tree or stump at which point they can reemerge above ground causing a full-on wildfire. I felt the dirt over the fire and sure enough it was still putting off heat so I exposed some of the coals and poured the Hydroflask out over them. This produced a lot of hissing so I did a little stirring and added more water from my bladder attempting to make “campfire soup”. After doing what I could with what I was carrying I marked the location with the GPS so I could report it to the Forest Service when I had the chance which I did later.

I continued down the trail and when I neared the tree that required crawling under met a pair of backpackers heading up to the plateau. I described the fire pit to them, and they indicated that they were carrying extra water and would add some if necessary.

Other than that it was an uneventful downhill until I reached the rocky hillsides where I once again had some luck spotting pikas.

This one was more than happy to pose for me for a bit.

At the end of the day my GPS read 14.2-miles with the 3800′ of elevation gain as advertised.

Despite the issue with the illegal fire this was a nice, challenging hike. There really isn’t anything that will blow you away scenery wise, but there is enough of a mix to keep it interesting. While the upper portion of the trails can get pretty snowy from November through late April/early May this would be a great training hike while waiting for the higher elevations to become snow free. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Benson Plateau

Tags Benson Plateau, Benson Way, Benson-Ruckle Trail, Columbia River Gorge, grouse, Herman Creek Bridge Trail, Herman Creek Trail, Herman Creek Trailhead, hiking, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Pika, Teakettle Spring

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Sheppard’s Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest – 4/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 29, 2024
No Comments on Sheppard’s Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest – 4/28/2024

After a dry spell, April showers returned as we prepared for a planned outing to the Columbia River Gorge. On the plus side the plan was to visit several waterfalls which would only benefit from the additional precipitation, and it might keep a few folks home meaning less crowds. On the minus side was the potential for limited views during our planned loop to Devil’s Rest, and possible difficulty keeping the camera lens dry. The pros won out and we got our typical early start to try and make sure there would be a parking spot when we got to our third stop at the Wahkeena Falls Trailhead.

Our plan for the day was to begin by stopping at the two shorter hikes first then end with a longer lollipop loop hike from the Wahkeena Falls Trailhead up to and around Devil’s Rest. Note that all loops visiting Devil’s Rest rely in part on a network of user-created trails. This network of trails, sometimes known as “Foxglovia”, was largely the result of the hard work of “Red Shorts” who sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this month. Thanks to his work the trails we used on this day were in good shape and well signed for the most part. It will now be left up to others to carry on his work if the trails are to remain passable. As always it is important to attempt to get updated trail conditions before heading out.

We started with the shortest hike of the day by parking at a small pullout along historic Highway 30 across from a sign for Sheppard’s Dell.
The trailhead at 6:15am.

A short path on the far side of the highway leads to a viewpoint at Young Creek and of the 1914 highway bridge.
The Bishops Cap along Highway 30.

The stone railed trail can be seen along the cliff above the lower falls.

The upper falls can be seen through the trees with the lower falls more visible.

End of the trail.

The bridge from the trail.

From Sheppard’s Dell we drove east on Highway 30 (less than a mile) to the Bridal Veil State Scenic Viewpoint.
Informational signboard at the trailhead.

This park hosts two short trails, the Bridal Viel Falls Trail and the Overlook Loop Trail. We started with trail to the falls which began as a paved path next to the restrooms.

After a short distance the trail turns to gravel as it begins to descend to Bridal Veil Creek.

Bridal Veil Creek

The trail crosses the creek on a wide footbridge then turns right and climbs slightly to a viewing platform across from the falls.

The 120′ two-tiered Bridal Veil Falls.

After admiring the waterfall we returned the way we’d come and set off on the Overlook Loop Trail. The half mile interpretive loop passes several viewpoints across the Columbia River to Washington.

There was a lot of camas blooming along the trail.

Cape Horn (post) across from one of the viewpoints.

Sand Island to the west.

The Overlook Loop arriving back at the trailhead parking area.

The short 1.1-mile hike here was still a mile longer than that at Sheppard’s Dell which meant it only a little after 7am as we headed for our final stop of the day. There are actually several starting points for loop hikes involving Devil’s Rest with the most popular seemingly being the Angel’s Rest and Wahkeena Falls Trailheads. Multnomah Falls and Palmer Mill Road are two others that allow for loops under 10-miles. While the Angel’s Rest Trailhead was closer to Bridal Veil it is a slightly longer loop with more elevation gain than starting from Wahkeena Falls Trailhead. Starting at Wahkeena Falls also means getting to see that waterfall and Fairy Falls prior to the start of the loop.

There were a few parking spots available at the Angel’s Rest Trailhead and even fewer cars at Wahkeena Falls when we arrived at 7:15am. We’d been to Wahkeena Falls before. Heather, Dominique and I on an out-and-back from the aforementioned Angel’s Rest Trailhead in 2013(post) and just myself in 2022 after hiking to Larch Mountain from Multnomah Falls (post). Before starting the 1.4-mile climb to the start of the loop we stopped at the Wahkeena Falls viewpoint.

While the Wahkeena Trail passes just below the falls the upper portion of the falls is only visible from a distance.

The trail begins as pavement as it switchbacks uphill before turning to rock/dirt and arriving at a footbridge below the lower portion of Wahkeena Falls at the 0.2-mile mark.

Beyond the falls the trail climbs to a spur trail to the Lemmons Viewpoint then continues along Wahkeena Creek (crossing it twice) to Fairy Falls at the 1.1-mile mark.

The Wahkeena Trail switchbacking up to the Lemmon Viewpoint junction.

Sitka mist-maidens

Woodland-star

The Forest Service includes maps at junctions involving official USFS trails. Note that the map does not extend to Devil’s Rest or include the Foxglovia area.

Our first paintbrush sighting for the year was at the Lemmons Viewpoint.

Archer Mountain in the foreground with Hamilton Mountain (post) and Beacon Rock (post) further to the east.

The first crossing of Wahkeena Creek.

Second footbridge.

Since my visit in October 2022 the trail has experienced a couple of slides, likely a lingering result of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. As of 2/18/24 the Forest Service advises caution if attempting to navigate the slides and in fact does not recommend attempting it. They had not officially closed the trail, but also do not have an eta on repairs.
This was the first sketchy new obstacle. The large tree is cutting across a switchback rerouting the trail steeply uphill. While there were some footholds the steepness combined with muddy conditions required caution.

Wahkeena Creek

Fairy Falls with Wahkeena Creek through the trees on the right.

Fairy Falls

Trillium

Bleeding heart

The worst of the slides was a short distance beyond Fairy Falls.
The worst slide took out a section of trail just before a switchback.

Looking down the washout.

The switchback in 2022.

Not pictured, but just above the missing section of trail was another large, downed tree. It was possible to pass under but to do so we both needed to get on our hands and knees.

Neither of us were looking forward to going down either of these washed-out sections but that was a problem for later. The rest of the Wahkeena Trail was in good shape and we followed it past its junction with the Vista Point Trail to a junction with the Angel’s Rest Trail and the start of the loop.
Coming up on the lower end of the Vista Point Trail.

The Angel’s Rest Trail junction.

We went left at this junction sticking to the Wahkeena Trail as it climbed to a junction with the upper end of the Vista Point Trail.

Signs at the junction with upper end of the Vista Point Trail.

Beyond this junction the Wahkeena Trail descended slightly to a junction with the Devil’s Rest Trail.

We veered uphill to the right on the Devil’s Rest Trail.

The Devil’s Rest Trail (Trail 420C) is an official USFS trail that ends at the rocky outcrop atop Devil’s Rest after 1.6 miles. The trail climbs approximately 800′ but is fairly gradual initially using switchbacks to keep the climb reasonable.
Coltsfoot along the trail.

Bleeding heart

Violets lining the trail.

After switchingback along Shady Creek the trail arrives at the rim of the Wahkeena Bowl where the climb becomes even more gradual.

Traveling along the rim of the Wahkeena Bowl.

A small pocket of forest that escaped the Eagle Creek Fire.

Devil’s Rest looking a little foggy from below.

There were a lot of trillium along the rim.

We passed a trail crew that was just hiking in to start work. Not sure how they got up there, but it was nice to see them out and we thanked them for their efforts.

The trail passed two rocky viewpoints before making a final climb to Devil’s Rest.
The first viewpoint was slightly off the trail.

We could at least make out the Columbia River below.

We were going in and out of fog ever few minutes.

Archer Mountain making an appearance.

A trail led to the second outcrop which had a rock sticking up.

Company at the viewpoint.

Something for the trail crew to work on.

Nearing Devil’s Rest.

The Devil’s Rest Trail veered right at a fork and ended at a rock outcrop.

Even without the foggy conditions there wouldn’t have been much of a view from Devil’s Rest, the FS mentions that in their description, but it still makes for a nice destination.

Earlier I mentioned that there were several potential places to start a hike to Devil’s Rest, but there are also several options for returning. The obvious being simply returning via the USFS Trail. To make a loop out of the hike there are a number of options. The steepest and most difficult would be finding the Primrose Path which reportedly heads directly downhill from Devil’s Rest. We didn’t see that trail, but we also weren’t planning on using it. We hiked back along the Devil’s Rest Trail to the junction below and turned right following a pointer for Angel’s Rest.

From there things got a little confusing for us. While we had our GPS and maps showing loops from both Oregon Hikers and NW Hiker none of them showed all of the current trails, but we didn’t realize that initially. This trail is part of the upper Foxglove Way Trail.

A short distance from the the first Angel’s Rest point we came to a fork in the trail with another Angel’s Rest pointer. This one saying to go take the left hand fork.

By going left we were now on a newer (22-23) route. This new trail is referred to as either the She Devil Trail or Red Shorts Cut Trail.
The pointer says “To She Devil Trail” with Red Shorts Cut at the bottom but AllTrails and some more recent Oregon Hikers maps label this section the She Devil Trail.

Regardless of which is the official name it wasn’t on the maps we had but it took us a bit to realize we weren’t where we thought we were. As it turns out Red Shorts built this trail as a more gradual, albeit longer, option. This explained the Angel’s Rest pointer since this was his intended route. The trail itself was in great shape and easy to follow.

The first clue that we might not know where we were came when we passed a stake marking a less worn trail that simply said “Multnomah Basin Road” with a pointer.

Post hike research revealed this was the Lil’ Devil Trail which connects to yet more trails. We correctly ignored this spur and continued on She Devil.

It wasn’t long before we passed another trail and pointer, this time on our right.

This turned out to be the She Devil – Devil’s Fork Trail junction. Taking the Devil’s Fork Trail would have saved us a fair amount of distance as it descends to the Foxglove Trail in 0.2 miles then continues another 0.4 to the Lily’s Lane Trail. Because we didn’t have all the existing trails on our maps we mistook this for a different trail altogether. Instead of turning right we stuck to the She Devil Trail.

We now had enough of a GPS track that we could compare it to the route shown on the Oregon Hikers/NW Hiker maps and see that something seemed off. Our track had headed too far to the SSW compared to the maps so when we came to the next split in the trail we veered right on a flagged trail.
The pointer on the left is for Smith Road. We didn’t see any signs for the right-hand fork.

Despite not seeing a sign for the flagged trail we knew we didn’t want to continue heading SSW. This turned out to be the Red Shorts Cut Trail which slowly curved around to head NNW and meet up with the Foxglove Trail.

Mushrooms

Approximately 0.4-miles along the Red Shorts Cut Trail we arrived at the Foxglove Trail where we were initially confused once again. We could continue in a NNW direction or turn right (ENE). We correctly, although not confidently, turned right onto the Foxglove Trail.

After a third of a mile we arrived at a 4-way junction.

This was the Devil’s Fork Trail crossing the Foxglove Trail. In other words, had we taken the Foxglove Trail way back when we veered left on the She Devil Trail it would have led us here. Likewise had we taken the Devil’s Fork Trail when we stayed left on the She Devil Trail it would have brought us here. Regardless of which trail brought us to this 4-way junction following the pointer for the Wahkeena Trail was the direction we wanted to go.

We turned left onto the Devil’s Fork Trail which briefly followed an old road bed.

We passed the signed Devil’s Cut-off Trail a tenth of a mile from the 4-way junction. This is the trail we mistook the upper portion of the Devil’s Fork Trail for. The cut-off leads over to the Primrose Path.
The Devil’s Cut-off Trail on the right.

Signage on the Devil’s Cut-off Trail.

Sticking to the Devil’s Fork Trail brought us to the Lily’s Lane Trail in another third of a mile.

This was honestly the most debris/blowdown we encountered on the user-maintained trails.

Pointers at the junction with the Lily’s Lane Trail.

Devil’s Fork Trail signs at the junction.

We turned right on Lily’s Lane for 0.2-miles to its end at the Angel’s Rest Trail.

Columbian larkspur getting ready to bloom.

Sign at the Lily’s Lane/Angel’s Rest Trail junction.

We turned right on the Angel’s Rest Trail and followed it for 1.5-miles back to the Wahkeena Trail.
Mist Creek Footbridge.

The first of two logs that required crawling under.

There was a short section filled with Scouler’s corydalis.

The Primrose Path joining from the right.

Primrose Path warning.

Does anyone know the story of this columbine at the Primrose junction? It has to be non-native.

Wahkeena Creek from the Angel’s Rest Trail.

Valerian

Nice display of Oregon grape near Wahkeena Springs.

Arriving at Wahkeena Springs.

Wahkeena Springs

The Wahkeena Trail junction is a very short distance from Wahkeena Springs.

We turned left onto the Wahkeena Trail and began our decent. It was busier than it had been that morning, but it still wasn’t crowded. The less-than-ideal weather seemed to have worked in our favor. Aside from a couple of brief light showers we’d stayed dry and couldn’t have hoped for better given the forecast. We carefully navigated the tricky slides and made our way back down to Wahkeena Falls.
Both female and male versions of western meadowrue. Today was by far the most meadowrue we’d ever seen on a hike.

Female

Male

Fairy Falls

Starting down the switchbacks.

Gold stars

Wahkeena Falls.

The version of the loop that we did came to 9.4-miles with 2350′ of elevation gain.

This turned out to be a great day in the Gorge with the first two waterfalls being more than worth the quick stops and the Devil’s Rest hike added a good amount of adventure. I was saddened to learn of Red Shorts passing when I got home and started researching what we’d done wrong. I was glad to have taken the route that we wound up with though as it was a testament to his hard work and effort.

Flickr: Sheppard’s Dell, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Eagle Creek to 7 1/2 Mile Camp – 11/19/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 23, 2022
7 Comments on Eagle Creek to 7 1/2 Mile Camp – 11/19/2022

I took advantage of some favorable weather and headed to Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge for a pre-birthday hike. I was on my own again with Heather still working her way back from her injury (Good news she has been released to do some short hikes), so I was looking for something we’d done before but also wouldn’t be a total repeat. We’ve visited Eagle Creek twice in the past, both prior to the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire but never gone past Twister Falls so my plan was to continue on beyond that waterfall to at least Sevenmile Falls.

I left home at 5:30am and found myself being pushed around by the wind as I drove Interstate 84 along the Columbia River. Luckily the wind was calm at the Eagle Creek Trailhead where it was right around 30 degrees. I bundled up and set off on the trail past a burned area warning sign.

Despite the fire the scenery was good. I had to pay attention to my footing though due to areas of slick ice mixed in the wet portions of the trail.

It was hard to tell at times which parts were frozen.

Snow at the higher elevations.

A pink cloud in the direction of the Columbia River Gorge.

Near the 1.5-mile mark I found the first major difference post fire, a view of Sorenson Falls which had been hidden by trees and other vegetation on our previous visits.

Sorenson Falls splashing down into Eagle Creek.

Prior to December 2016 there had been a short spur trail just up the trail from this new view of Sorenson Falls that led to a viewpoint of Metlako Falls. A landslide claimed that spur trail but as I continued along the trail Metlako Falls became visible through the remaining trees.
Looking back down Eagle Creek. It was hard to tell where the spur trail had been.

Runoff falling from the cliffs into Eagle Creek.

Metlako Falls

I crossed Sorenson Creek on round concrete steps that were fortunately ice free and quickly found myself at the Lower Punchbowl Falls Trail junction.

I detoured down this nearly 0.2-mile spur trail even though I knew that the former view of Punchbowl Falls was lost in 2018 after a post-fire landslide rerouted Eagle Creek.

Lower Punchbowl Falls

Rocks from the landslide on the right.

I returned to the Eagle Creek Trail and continued to the Punchbowl Falls viewpoint to get a look at that fall.

Beyond the viewpoint the trail crosses Tish Creek on a footbridge followed by a second footbridge over Fern Creek after another 0.6 miles.
Tish Creek Bridge

Tish Creek

More snow on the ridge.

Fern Creek Bridge

Fern Creek

After Fern Creek the trail passed through a scree slope where I kept my eyes open for pikas hoping that one might brave the chilly temperatures but alas no luck.

Following the pika-less scree slope I came to a section of trail where a cable acts as a rail as the trail passes along a rocky cliff. This was the first section where I encountered actual icicles.
Coming up on the cable section with a bit of ice to start things off.

Careful where you step.

The last part was ice free.

Continuing on the trail brought me to a view of Loowit Falls. This was another case of the fire having created a better view of Eagle Creek below the falls.

Passing Loowit Falls.

More cable passing Loowit Falls with High Bridge in
the distance.

At the 3.3-mile mark I came to High Bridge.

Eagle Creek from High Bridge.

Eagle Creek from High Bridge, looking upstream.

Less than a quarter mile from High Bridge I came to another dramatic change in the trail when I got a good view of Skoonichuck Falls. Previously only the upper portion of this 50′ waterfall was visible from the trail above it but again the fire had removed enough vegetation to provide a nice view of the waterfall.

Skoonichuck Falls

I was briefly distracted by a varied thrush (my nemesis bird).
Not my worst varied thrush photo.

Another nice view of Skoonichuck after I’d given up on the thrush.

Sad looking penstemon but I’m counting it as a flower.

Some nearly as sad pearly everlasting.

This fall was visible across the creek on an unnamed creek (at least on the maps I’ve seen).

At 4 1/2 Mile Bridge I recrossed Eagle Creek.
I arrived at nearly the same time as the Sun.

Beach and Summer swimming hole at 4 1/2-mile bridge.

Just beyond the bridge is Tenas Falls on the other side of Eagle Creek.

Tenas Falls

A little further along the trail passes Opal Creek which begins below Tanner Butte.
Opal Creek flowing into Eagle Creek.

I continued along the trail chasing the Sun past Wy’East Camp and to the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness boundary.

The sites on the East side of the trail were posted closed for restoration at Wy’East Camp.

The wilderness begins a little over 5.5 miles from the trailhead.

A bluebird sky above a few green topped trees.

Next up was Wy’East Falls which was more visible than before as well from the trail. I opted not to attempt to get closer to the falls this time due to not being able to pick out the route we had taken on our previous visits.

I continued on from Wy’East Falls enjoying the wonderful weather.

Near the six-mile mark I passed the signed Eagle-Benson Trail which hasn’t been maintained since the fire, in fact the sign was the only sign of a trail here.

Sunrays over Eagle Creek.

At the 6.5-mile mark I got a good look at Grand Union Falls.
Note the hexagonal shape of the basalt columns making up the trail surface here.

Grand Union Falls

Not far past Grand Union Falls I got my first glimpse of Tunnel Falls in the distance through the trees.

The falls disappear as the trail gets closer then after rounding a corner they are back.

Tunnel Falls on East Fork Eagle Creek.

The trail passes behind the falls in a tunnel built in the early 1900’s (pre-1920).

I had brought my micro spikes just in case, but even though there were some impressive ice features there was enough good footing (and cable) to not require putting the spikes on.

The slickest section was exiting the tunnel here.

With the ice situation being manageable I continued on beyond Tunnel Falls to Twister (or Crossover) Falls just a short distance upstream on West Fork Eagle Creek.

No ice on this section which was welcome because it can be intimidating anyway.

Twister Falls. There is another hiker ahead on the left.

The section passing Twister Falls was the one that I had been most concerned about ice on. I assessed the situation and decided that with care it was passable and continued on.
This was the trickiest section but again there was just enough good footing to allow passing without need spikes.

I soon found myself looking at another waterfall which turned out to be Sevenmile Falls. I had been mistakenly thinking that it was 7 1/2 Mile Falls confusing it with 7 1/2 Mile Camp.

I continued on thinking that this must have been the waterfall but confused because 7 1/2 Mile Camp was still a half mile away. I decided to keep going until 10:45am or I found another waterfall, whichever came first. At this point the trail maintenance, which had been excellent up to a small slide between Tunnel and Twister Falls, really fell off.
A bit more overgrown here.

Hair ice, only the second time I’ve encountered it.

I stopped at this campsite which some maps show as 7 1/2 Mile Camp, but I pulled out my National Geographic topo which showed the camp a little further ahead near a pair of small creeks. I think both are correct and this was just the first of the sites that make up the “camp”.

Eagle Creek near the first campsite.

It was only 10:15am so I kept going, now thinking that I would either turn around at 10:45 or at the Eagle-Tanner Cutoff Trail junction which didn’t appear too far beyond the pair of creeks.
More campsites near the first creek.

The first small creek. This one was a lot icier than any of the other creeks I’d crossed. I was able to find enough dry rock to make my way to the other side though.

Looking back at the creek.

The next creek was a different story though. There were no dry rocks here.

It was almost 10:40am anyway and I was now sure that the earlier waterfall had been what I was calling 7 1/2 Mile Falls where I’d intended to turn around anyway. I made my way back stopping to admire all the falls again along the way.
This cascade was across Eagle Creek near the last campsites.

Woodpecker

Green pool above Twister Falls.

Above Twister Falls.

Plant in ice.

Wren

Chipmunk

With a couple of detours my hike came in at approximately 16.2 miles with 1400′ of elevation gain.

It was a great day overall. The weather, although a bit chilly to start, was great and there weren’t a lot of other hikers out. I still passed a fair number of other hikers on my way out but nothing like it would be on a warm Spring or Summer Saturday. The falls had enough added water from recent rain/snow to be flowing better than they had been when we visited in early October which was also a plus. I missed having Heather out there with me, but it was nice to get out one last time before I turned 50 (yikes!). Happy Trails!

Flickr: Eagle Creek 2022

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain – 10/10/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 14, 2022
5 Comments on Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain – 10/10/2022

With Heather still sidelined with a bum knee and a Monday holiday that most of the rest of Oregon didn’t have off I decided to tackle the climb from Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain. Starting at the Multnomah Falls Trailhead the hike to Sherrard Point is roughly 14.5 miles out-and-back with just over 4000′ of elevation gain. If I was feeling up to it, my plan was to extend the hike just a bit by detouring on the way back to visit Fairy and Wahkeena Falls adding another 1.7 miles and 500′ of elevation to the days total.

We had hiked to Multnomah Falls on a big loop in 2012 starting at Oneonta Trailhead (post), Larch Mountain in 2020 from Road 315 Trailhead (post), and Wahkeena Falls in 2013 from the Angels Rest Trailhead (post). Even though we had visited all of these main attractions before, this route would provide several miles of trail that I had yet to be on. Two of those trips also occurred prior to the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire which burned most of the forest along the lower portion of this hike.

I arrived at the Multnomah Falls parking lot a little before 7am and was pleased to find that I was just the fourth car.

It was still a bit before sunrise but there was enough light once I had gotten everything together to set off towards the falls.

The lack of light did nothing for my point and shoot camera but that was a small price to pay to have the falls to myself (save for a few staff preparing the grounds for the day).

Multnomah Falls

The Benson Bridge.

View from the bridge.

Multnomah Falls from the bridge.

Beyond the bridge the paved trail climbs steeply via 11 switchbacks. (I’m pretty sure they squeezed a very short 12th in there.)

The Moon beyond the Columbia River and Multnomah Falls Lodge.

Beacon Rock (post) to the east on the Washington side of the Columbia.

The second switchback.

Another view of the falls. I passed a pair of hikers along this stretch then didn’t see another person for another couple of hours.

After climbing above the falls via the switchbacks I took my first detour to visit the Multnomah Falls Viewpoint.

Viewpoint trail.

This trail descends a tenth a mile to a viewpoint above the falls.

Small fall just upstream from Multnomah Falls.

Cape Horn (post) to the right across the Columbia.

I returned to the Larch Mountain Trail and continued towards Larch Mountain. After a brief descent to cross Multnomah Creek the trail began a long gradual climb along the creek.
Bridge over Multnomah Creek.

Approaching Middle Dutchman Falls.

Middle Dutchman Falls

Upper Dutchman Falls

Dutchman Tunnel

Wiesendanger Falls is located just beyond Dutchman Tunnel.

A short distance beyond Wiesendanger Falls is Ecola Falls.

Ecola Falls

A quarter mile beyond Ecola Falls (and 2 miles from the trailhead) I arrived at the Wahkeena Trail junction.

Good signage at nearly all trail junctions, especially those closest to the trailheads.

I stayed on the Larch Mountain Trail which crossed the creek on a newer (2018) steel bridge that replaced the one burnt in the Eagle Creek Fire.

Looking down the creek at sunlight starting to hit the hillside.

A few bleeding heart were still in bloom.

Penstemon

This section is flooded in late Winter/Spring. The signed High Water Trail leads up and around it for those high water times.

Sign for the High Water Trail at its southern end.

The southern end of the High Water Trail heading uphill to the right.

I couldn’t find a name for this creek but it had a good flow, in fact it was more water than what was in Multnomah Creek upstream from their confluence.

Multnomah Creek upstream from the unnamed creek.

One point two miles from the Wahkeena Trail junction I came to the Multnomah Basin Road where the Larch Mountain Trail jogged slightly left before continuing on and entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness.

The forest around the wilderness boundary had mostly been spared by the fire but I quickly reentered the burn before arriving at a junction with the Franklin Ridge Trail.
Reentering the fire scar.

The Franklin Ridge Trail on the left.

A tenth of a mile from the junction the trail crossed the nearly dry East Fork Multnomah Creek on a small footbridge.

The trail continued briefly through a patch of green trees up a ridge between the East and West Forks of the creek then reentered the fire scar. Four tenths of a mile from the East Fork crossing I came to a second footbridge, this one crossing the West Fork.

Beyond this second footbridge the trail crossed a large scree field where I was taunted by the distinctive “meep” of pikas. They were seemingly all around but I wasn’t ever able to spot any of the little rock rabbits this time.

Maple changing colors

I’m sure there is at least one pika in this photo somewhere.

Looking back toward Franklin Ridge.

A short distance beyond the scree field the trail left the fire scar for good arriving at a junction with the Multnomah Creek Way Trail 1.8 miles from the Multnomah Basin Road crossing.

Arriving at the junction.

I stayed left at this junction on the Larch Mountain Trail and climbed 0.4 more miles to a road crossing of gated FR 315 (Where we had started our previous Larch Mountain hike).

I crossed the road and continued climbing. The trail steepened noticeably at first but quickly relented and resumed a more gradual grade.

I was hoping for less smoke in the air but these sunbeams told me that there was still a fair amount lingering around much as it had been for the last several days.

After 1.25 miles I passed a pair of old campsites with picnic tables on the right. I stayed right at an unsigned junction with a trail that led uphill to the left. We had come down that way on our previous trip skipping a short section of the actual Larch Mountain Trail.

Another quarter mile brought me to the Larch Mountain Trailhead
There were four cars at this trailhead.

I’d passed one person with a dog followed by a pair of ladies with another dog between FR 315 and the trailhead. I turned onto the paved Sherrard Point Trail expecting to see the other car owners along this 0.3 mile path but was pleasantly surprised to find that I had Sherrard Point all to myself.
Vine maple near the Sherrard Point Trail.

One of the factors that had led me to choose this hike for the day was due to the forecast calling for clear sky at this viewpoint whereas the other hikes I had considered were expected to have widespread haze. Technically I think the forecast was correct because if I looked straight up it looked like a blue bird day. Looking out was a different story though with smoke in every direction.

Mt. St. Helens in the smoke to the left and Mt. Adams a bit above it to the right.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams

Mt. St. Helens

Silver Star Mountain (post)

Unbeknownst to me at the time a new fire, the Nakia Creek Fire, had started near the Larch Mountain in Clark County, WA to the SW of Silver Star less than 24 hours earlier contributing to the smokey conditions.

It wasn’t the view I’d hoped for but it was something, at least I could see parts of several mountains. I didn’t spend much time at the viewpoint given the conditions and made my way back to the old picnic tables by crossing over Larch Mountain. I took a short break at one of the tables to drink a Gatorade I had been hauling around and put on a clean pair of socks for my return hike.
Heading down.

From the picnic table I returned to the way I’d come up to the Wahkeena Trail junction. Up to that point I had only encountered a total of eight other hikers. I had however seen dozens of woolly caterpillars.

I heard fewer pikas on my way back through the scree field but saw the same number, zero. There was an encounter with a squirrel that came crashing through the brush, jumped across the trail, and climbed a snag so that it could give me a scolding.

Lots of fungi on this tree.

Hedgenettle

Ouzel

The solitude that I had been enjoying ended abruptly at the Wahkeena Trail junction where a number of hikers could be seen heading uphill on the trail ahead and a group was effectively blocking the trail at the junction as they attempted to make sense of the trail signs.

I tried to align my photos with the hikers ahead passing behind trees.

I had made the decision to take the longer way back past Wahkeena Falls since I had been making good time and I was still feeling pretty energetic. I hadn’t really paid attention to the fact that the Wahkeena Trail gains over 300′ in the first mile as it traverses up the hillside to a junction on a ridge top.
Looking back down at Multnomah Creek.

Cape Horn again across the Columbia.

I couldn’t recall seeing these before on a hike, not this color anyway.

The Devil’s Rest Trail on the left at the ridge top.

I wound up getting distracted by the different hikers coming and going atop the ridge and turned right onto the Vista Point Trail instead of staying straight on the Wahkeena Trail which had been my planned route. In the end I was glad I did. It was only about a tenth of a mile longer to take this detour which was a bit overgrown but it also passed a viewpoint that I detoured out to.
I should have followed the Wahkeena Trail Pointer here.

Instead I followed the pointer for Wahkeena 1.0.

Vista Point Trail

I could see my car in the parking lot from the viewpoint.

There is the trail I had intended to be coming down arriving at the junction with the other end of the Vista Point Trail.

The Vista Point Trail was in pretty good shape (other than the overgrowth) save for the final 10-20 feet which was now part of a stream bed. The combination of slick wet rocks and it being downhill made for a tricky descent to the junction.
Looking back at the Vista Point Trail from the junction.

After successfully navigating the wet rocks I turned down the Wahkeena Trail. I immediately was glad that I’d chosen to come this way as I had forgotten how scenic Wahkeena Creek is flowing through the narrow gorge. Even after the fire it was still beautiful.
Lots of tight switchbacks to get down the gorge.

Fairy Falls

Looking out across the Columbia River.

A half mile down this trail I took a short detour to Lemmons Viewpoint.

Cape Horn (again)

The Wahkeena Trail from Lemmons Viewpoint.

Another half mile descent brought me to the base of Wahkeena Falls where I was happy to find only a small number of other hikers.
The poison oak was really colorful.

Approaching Wahkeena Falls.

Wahkeena Falls

Wahkeena Falls.

Looking back at Wahkeena Falls.

There were plenty of folks at the trailhead as I passed by before hopping onto the Multnomah Falls Return Trail.

One last look at Wahkeena Falls through the trees.

It was roughly half a mile back to the now busy lodge at Multnomah Falls and another tenth or so to my car.

A line of cars on Historic Highway 30 in front of the lodge.

This hike came to 16.2 miles with around 4500′ of elevation gain. A tough but scenic outing with highlights at the start, mid-point, and end to help take the mind off the body.

I was on my way home at 1:45pm and looking forward to spending some time with our new kittens. After losing Buddy in 2020 (post) and Hazel in 2021 (post) we’d been cat-less for over a year. With Heather unable to hike it seemed to the perfect time to open our home up again and on Monday the 3rd Heather picked up Merry and Pippin from the Humane Society.
Merry (black) is 3 mos. and Pippin is 2 mos. Both boys from separate litters.

They have been keeping us plenty busy. Merry is a snuggler while Pippin is a ball of chaotic energy until he runs out, then he likes to snuggle too. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Memaloose Hills, Mosier Plateau, and Hood River Pipeline Trails – 5/01/22

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 4, 2022
1 Comment on Memaloose Hills, Mosier Plateau, and Hood River Pipeline Trails – 5/01/22

We welcomed the month of May by kicking off our official hiking season. We took advantage of a one day window of dry weather and headed toward the eastern end of the Columbia River for a pair of short wildflower hikes near Mosier, OR followed by a third short stroll in Hood River along an old pipeline. During wildflower season sunny weekend days mean crowds so we got an extra early start and headed out the door a little before 5am hoping for a little solitude at least to start with.

We chose to start our morning at Memaloose Hills, the furthest east of our three stops and the most popular. We had visited the area in April of 2018 (post) when you could park at a rest area along Interstate 84. That is no longer allowed so we parked at the Memaloose Overlook along Highway 30 which is now the de-facto trailhead for the unofficial trails here.

Looking west down the Columbia River from the overlook.

After a brief visit to the overlook we crossed the highway to pick up the well defined trail.

From the highway it was just under three quarters of a mile to a junction where the trail splits with the left hand fork climbing to the top of Marsh Hill and the right fork to Chatfield Hill. There are a few ups and downs along this stretch as the trail passes through oak woodlands before crossing a small creek just before the junction. We took our time admiring the wildflowers and to watch a pair of deer.
Naked broomrape and poison oak

Woodland stars

Lupine

Paintbrush

Larkspur and parsley

Balsamroot

Chocolate lilies

Giant blue-eyed Mary

Coming up on the creek crossing.

On our previous hike we had only taken the left-hand fork to Marsh Hill so today we went right first and headed for Chatfield Hill.

This section of trail passes through a grassland as it wraps around a small pond then passes a fence before turning up Chatfield Hill after a third of a mile.

Ground squirrel on the other side of the fence.

Looking back at the pond surrounded by trees.

Heading up Chatfield Hill.

The trail gained a little over 250′ in 0.3 miles as it climbed through wildflowers to the top of the hill. The cooperative weather provided us with some great views of Mt. Hood.

Fiddleneck and other wildflowers in front of Mt. Hood.

Near the top of the hill Mt. Adams came into view to the north.

The Hood River Bridge spanning the Columbia River.

Lupine, balsamroot, and paintbrush

Balsamroot

Large-head clover

Large-flower Triteleia

We took a short break before heading back down and then made our way back to the junction and turned right to head up Marsh Hill.
Hummingbird

Balsamroot on Marsh Hill

The climb up Marsh Hill was more gradual and in a third of a mile we found ourselves at the top looking at Mt. Hood and Chatfield Hill.

Lupine and balsamroot

I think this is longhorn plectritis

After another short break we returned the way we’d come and at the junction began finally running into other hikers. Our early start had paid off again having had both hill tops to ourselves. Once we got back to the car we drove west on Highway 30 into Mosier for our next hike on the Mosier Plateau Trail. We parked in a signed parking area along the highway just west of a one lane bridge spanning Mosier Creek.
Sign for the parking area (If this small lot is full there are other options nearby.)

To reach the trail we had to walk across the bridge then turned uphill at a bench.

The trail climbed a tenth of a mile to a viewpoint bench just beyond the historic Mosier Cemetery.

A better viewpoint was just 150 yards further along at a railing overlooking Mosier Creek Falls.

We continued on detouring to visit the rocks above the falls.

Shortly beyond the falls the trail began a steep climb via a series of switchbacks and stairs to reach the plateau.
Looking up the hillside.

Red-stem storksbill

Vetch and balsamroot

Silver-leaf phacelia

We followed the trail as it wound along the plateau gradually descending to the start of a signed loop.

Coyote Wall (post) across the Columbia River

We went clockwise around the loop which brought us to the edge of the plateau above I-84 and Highway 30.

Gold star

Fiddleneck

Balsamroot

View east.

Mosier to the west.

It was warming up nicely on our way back and the pollinators were starting to come out.
Gray hairstreak

Busy bumblebee

A duskywing (propertius?) on vetch.

Propertius duskywing

Poppies opening up to the Sun.

Bachelor button

We passed quite a few groups heading to the plateau on our way down and more were on there way as we loaded back into the car. From Mosier we returned to I-84 and drove west to Hood River where we took exit 64 and made our way to the Powerdale Powerhouse Trailhead. The hike starting here is described in Matt Reeder’s “PDX Hiking 365”. (The Mosier Plateau hike is also featured in that book.) While we have been focused on completing William L. Sullivan’s series of hiking guidebooks (post) we have been working in Reeder’s hikes more and more. While many of the hikes show up in each author’s books Matt throws some unique and more obscure hikes into his books which we appreciate.
The old powerhouse.

The hike here may not exactly be well known to hikers. The many access points to Hood River attract fishermen and in the Summer folks looking to escape the heat. The trail starts on a gated road then quickly crosses ACTIVE railroad tracks.

Stellar’s jay near the tracks.

We crossed the tracks and turned left walking along them for about a tenth of mile before the trail jogged slightly to the right to follow the route of the former penstock which led from the decommissioned 1923 Powerdale Dam on the Hood River to the powerhouse.
The trail ahead to the right.

We followed this dirt path for a little over half a mile before arriving at the pipeline bridge spanning the Hood River where we crossed on the catwalk atop the pipe.

For the next 0.6 miles we followed the catwalk along the pipeline which ends abruptly at a 2006 washout that also led to the removal of the dam up river.

Monkeyflower

Looking back from the turnaround point.

We headed back passing a few hikers along the way. We were also under the watchful eye of the area wildlife.
Lizard

Mallard

Scrub jay

Starlings

Osprey

The three hikes came in at 3.3, 3.2 and 3 miles respectively for a 9.5 mile day with a little over 1400′ of cumulative elevation gain. The short distances and convenient locations make any of these hikes nice for a quick stop and we saw several younger kids at both Mosier Plateau and the Hood River Pipeline (watch for poison oak). The combo of hikes made for a nice variety of scenery with waterfalls, snowy mountains, wildflowers, and wildlife along with the unique experience of hiking along the pipeline. (FYI – The grate on the catwalk might be hard on puppy paws.)

While we aren’t quite finished with all of our home improvement projects it was great to get our hiking season off to a good start. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Memaloose Hills, Mosier Plateau, and Hood River Pipeline Trails

Tags Chatfield Hill, Erynnis propertius, Gray hairstreak, hiking, hood river, Hood River Pipeline, Marsh Hill, Memaloose Hills, Memaloose Overlook, Mosier Creek Falls, Mosier Plateau, Oregon, Osprey, Powerdail Powerhouse Trailhead, Powerdale powerhouse, Syncline Viewpoint, wildlfowers

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Heritage Landing – 09/13/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 16, 2021
No Comments on Heritage Landing – 09/13/2021

After spending two days hiking in the Blue Mountains NE of Pendleton it was time to head home. We typically look for a short hike that can act as a leg stretcher when we are facing long drives to or from a vacation spot. Driving from Pendleton to Salem meant looking for something along I-84 preferably closer to Pendleton than Salem. Looking through our hiking books gave us the perfect answer, Heritage Landing. The hike along the Deschutes River from Heritage Landing is included in Matt Reeder’s “PDX Hiking 365” guidebook (Hike #9). There is also an entry for the hike on Oregonhikers.com as well. Heritage Landing is primarily used by rafters and fishermen but the fishermen and other users have created a series of trails up river at least as far as Rattlesnake Bend.

We parked in a gravel lot on the left side of the road just uphill from the boat ramp and hiked down past a gate.

We followed an old road bed upstream past Moody Rapids. We had hiked the Deschutes River Trail on the other side of the river in 2018 (post)

Sunlight on Haystack Butte in Washington.

Part of Moody Rapids.

Gum weed

The last petals on a blanket flower.

We saw several of these large beetles, all prepared to defend themselves.

Snow buckwheat

Chicory

Seagull

Mergansers

The trail passed by a spring where thick blackberry bushes and other green vegetation hosted a number of small birds (and a few fishermen).

Sparrow

Shortly after passing the spring both Heather and I noticed something that looked out of place down by the water but we both decided it was another fisherman. After a few more steps we realized it was a river otter grooming itself on a small rock or patch of grass. I tried to grab my camera but it somehow knew I wanted a photo and disappeared into the water. The next thing we knew there were three otters swimming with the current and heading downstream but they were close enough to the bank that my camera kept focusing on the grass or limbs between them and us so I still don’t have a decent picutre of an otter. 😦
One blurry otter head and another partial otter on the right.

A bunch of tree branches, oh and an otter in the water.

After the exciting and yet disappointing otter encounter we continued up river. We planned on hiking until either the tread petered out or we reached Rattlesnake Rapids. The tread petered out a little before the rapids but we had a nice view of them from Rattlesnake Bend.

At times there were multiple trails to choose from.

Rattlesnake Bend is up ahead but we stopped here for a bit to watch a heron getting breakfast.

DSCN0861

DSCN0863

A sparrow, possibly a Savannah sparrow.

The trail climbed higher on the hillside for a bit to avoid some thick vegetation below.

Rattlesnake Bend

Railroad tracks above the trail.

Looking back from Rattlesnake Bend near where we turned around.

Rattlesnake Rapids

On our way back we tried to choose the fishing trails closer to the river.

Killdeer

An older channel?

Had to go back up to avoid the vegetation here.

Ground squirrel

Heron flying up river.

Old rock wall along the way.

Typical use trail.

Merganser

Aster

Osprey showing up the fishermen.

Finch

More birds near the spring.

Little yellow birds, maybe warblers?

One of the yellow birds on a blackberry plant.

Moody Rapids

Haystack Butte

A line of mergansers.

This turned out to be an excellent hike with great scenery and plenty of wildlife (and no rattlesnakes). We got in a little over 4 miles round trip. Reeder listed it as a 3.2 mile out and back while Oregonhikers has it at 3.8 miles but a lot depends on where you turn around and how much back and forth you do down to the river.

It hadn’t been the vacation that we’d originally planned but our three days of hiking were beautiful and we were thankful to have been able to enjoy them so much. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Heritage Landing

Tags Deschutes River, great blue heron, Heritage Landing, hiking, Merganser, Oregon, Osprey, Rattlesnake Bend, Rattlesnake Rapids, River Otter

Columbia Gorge North Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Trip report

Mitchell Point, Lyle Cherry Orchard & Sevenmile Hill – 3/27/21

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 29, 2021
1 Comment on Mitchell Point, Lyle Cherry Orchard & Sevenmile Hill – 3/27/21

**Note – In 2025 the Rowena Fire burned over Sevenmile Hill.**

We normally only do one hike a month from November through April but a forecast of sunny skies and highs in the low to mid 60’s combined with a chance to see some early wildflowers was enough to break that rule and head to the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. The first wildflowers (usually grass widows and/or parsleys) can show up as early as January in areas such as Catherine Creek (post) with things really picking up by late March and running through early June in the upper meadow of Dog Mountain (post). We had previously been to Catherine Creek (along with Coyote Wall), the Tom McCall Preserve (post), Columbia Hills State Park (post), Memaloose Hills (post) and Swale Canyon (post) so for this outing we decided to check out the Lyle Cherry Orchard and Sevenmile Hill.

Before we got to those wildflower hikes we planned a quick stop at the Mitchell Point Trailhead to make the 1.1 mile climb up to the top of the point. We had actually stopped here in 2018 (after our Memaloose Hills hike) to take the Wygant Trail up to a viewpoint. Originally my plan had been to do these three hikes in a different order starting at the Lyle Cherry Orchard and ending with Mitchell Point but after looking at the plan a little more I realized that it had two flaws. First the exit to the Mitchell Point Trail is only accessible from the eastbound lanes of I-84 and there is no westbound access to I-84 from the trailhead either. (I had made this mistake with the outing in 2018 leading to some extra driving.) The second issue had to do with crowds and our never ending attempt to avoid them. Leaving Mitchell Point as the last hike might have meant dealing with some crowds whereas we didn’t expect Sevenmile Hill to be busy. Our plan seemed to be working pretty well as we were the first car at the Mitchell Point Trailhead.

We headed to the left of the signboard to the Mitchell Point Trail which began climbing almost immediately.

The trail switchbacked up a forested hillside with a few blooming toothworts.
Bench at a switchback.

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We then crossed a talus slope beneath Mitchell Point where lots of tiny blue-eyed Mary grew amid the rocks.

Reroute below Mitchell Point

Mushrooms’ and some sedums.

Views to the west along the Columbia River opened up as we climbed.

The trail briefly reentered the forest and climbed to a set of power lines and an accompanying road.

The trail never quite reached the road instead turning east then north as it headed out toward Mitchell Point.

Houndstongue

We followed the trail out onto Mitchell Points Ridge which was dotted with wildflowers including a lot of bright grass widows.

Grass Widows

Woodland stars

Yellow bell lily

Desert parsley and woodland stars

A saxifrage

Gold stars and woodland stars

In addition to the wildflowers the view from Mitchell Point was impressive.
Looking west

North across the Columbia River into Washington

East

In typical Gorge fashion it was a bit windy (a theme that would continue throughout the day) which didn’t seem to bother the birds.
Looks like moss for a nest maybe?

We returned the way we’d come arriving back at the trailhead to find we were still the only people there, but we weren’t alone.

Turkeys on the Wygant Trail

At just over 2 miles round trip the hike to Mitchell Point made for a nice short hike but it comes at a price gaining over a thousand feet on the way up. From this trailhead we continued east to Hood River where we paid the $2 toll to cross the bridge into Washington. We continued east on SR 14 through the town of Lyle then parked at a gravel pullout on the left hand side of the road just beyond a tunnel. This was the unsigned trailhead for the Lyle Cherry Orchard Hike. There were maybe a half dozen or so cars here already which we were pleased with given the large number of cars we already passed by at the Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek Trailheads (and it wasn’t even 8:45 yet). The unsigned trail starts near the eastern end of the parking area and passing along a rock wall through oak trees with lots of poison oak.

Red leaves of poison oak behind a death camas

More poison oak behind a waterleaf

Poison oak around some balsamroot

A short distance up the trail there is a nice map and trails signboard announcing the start of land owned by the Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

From the signboard the trail continues to climb through the rock and oaks to a plateau where the poison oak is briefly left behind.

Fiddleneck

Desert parsley

Manroot

Lots of death camas blooming on the plateau.

We followed the trail as it headed gradually uphill toward a second plateau.

Looking up at the cliffs above.

Balsamroot blooming below the rim.

At a fork in the trail we detoured left for a view of the Columbia River.

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We returned to the main trail which began to climb the hillside below the rim. While it was still a couple of weeks from prime wildflower season here there was a good balsamroot display along with a few other flowers in bloom.
Balsamroot

Woodland stars with some lupine leaves

Columbia desert parsley

A biscuitroot

Balsamroot

20210327_092349 Balsamroot

The trail leveled out again after reaching the rim of the upper plateau where it also reentered an oak woodland.
View west (With a snow capped Mt. Defiance (post) in the distance.)

Amid the oaks were some additional types of flowers.
Larkspur

Buttercups

Glacier lilies

Yellow bell lily, woodland stars, grass widows and shooting stars.

20210327_104840 Yellow bell lilies

Toothwort

Sagebrush false dandelions

Tortoiseshell butterfly

Just under 2.5 miles from the trailhead we came to a junction which is the start of a short loop. We stayed left arriving at an old road bed a short distance later where we turned right and soon entered the site of the old orchard. Nearly all the cherry trees are gone and the few that remain only have a few branches that continue to bloom and we were too early for those.

The trail looped through the now open meadow with views east of the Columbia River.

A short spur trail on the SW part of the loop led to a viewpoint to the west.

Tom McCall Point and the Rowena Plateau with Mt. Defiance in the distance.

After checking out the view we completed the loop and headed back the way we’d come. We had only encountered a couple of other hikers up to this point (we’d seen more from afar) but the return trip was a different story. There was a lot of mask donning and stepping aside on the way back to the trailhead.
Hikers on the trailhead and below.

One bit of excitement on the return trip was spotting a couple of orange-tip butterflies. We rarely see these pretty butterflies and it’s even rarer that I manage to get any kind of picture.
Just my third photo of an orange-tip.

The hike here for us came to 5.5 miles with another 1200′ of elevation gain giving us over 2200′ for the day so far. The parking area was now a full two rows of cars with more arriving (it was between 11:30 & 12:00). We quickly packed up and opened a spot for someone else and once again headed east on SR 14. We re-crossed the Columbia River on Highway 197 into The Dalles and took I-84 west for 5 miles following the Oregon Hikers directions to the Sevenmile Hill Trailhead

We weren’t sure how popular this hike is given that there are no official trails. That question, at least for this time of the year, was answered when we pulled into the empty gravel pullout.

Our plan was to follow the entry in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide (description). The area consists of Forest Service land surrounded by private holdings (note the no trespassing sign across the road in the photo above).
We headed uphill and left, away from the blocked road passing a gravel pit on our left.

We were supposed to reach a knoll with a small windbreak made out of erratics (rocks from the Rocky Mountains deposited by the Missoula Floods). The first knoll we climbed had some erratics but no windbreak.
Mt. Hood and Columbia desert parsley from the first knoll we tried.

Top of knoll #1.

A lone balsamroot blossom.

We weren’t sure if this was the right knoll or not but we did know from the map in the field guide that we should continue uphill and to the left. We kept climbing up the grassy hillside and reached the top of another knoll where we did indeed find a small windbreak.

From the knoll we followed a faint grassy track past a spring to a stand of oak trees.
The path leading past the spring to the oaks.

The spring

There was a fence on the hillside at the oak trees. We got a bit confused here reading the hike description. It reads “Head up gradually to your left, reaching a draw. Walk across the broken fence line here and cross a small bench. Continue hiking up to your left. At some point, you should see the southwest boundary corner of the property and a fence line ahead.” We had not noticed another fence line and this fence was broken here with no signs so we continued on the faint path. That was a mistake and the fence we passed through was the boundary. When we reached a small crest where we could see everything ahead of us there was no other fence in sight.

We quickly turned and began heading uphill to the NE to relocate the fence line and get ourselves on the correct side (Our apologies to whomever that land belongs too).
Back on the right side

Now we were back on course and followed the fence line uphill. While the wildflowers here would have been better from mid to late April there were a few splashes of color here and there.

Balsamroot surrounded by some little white flowers.

Lupine thinking about blooming.

Larkspur

Yellow bell lilies

We deviated from the description as we neared the top of the hill electing not to follow the fence through a stand of oak trees, where the guide indicates there is a profusion of poison oak, opting instead to pass through the oaks lower on the hillside.

We didn’t notice any poison oak here.

On the far side of the oaks we turned almost directly uphill reaching a viewpoint where Mt. Adams rose to the north beyond the Columbia River.

A grass widow at the viewpoint.

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood over the oak stand.

We turned right along the rim following deer and elk trails through the oaks and past more viewpoints.

From a grassy rise along the ridge we could see a faint path leading into another stand of trees where we could also make out the fence line marking the eastern boundary of the Forest Service Land.

We headed downhill and followed the path to the fence line and then followed it down.
The Dalles beyond the fence line.

Heading down the fence line.

As we lost elevation we began to see quite a few more flowers. It seemed that the flowers at this eastern end were ahead of those to the west.
20210327_143435 Large head clover

A lupine with blossoms.

Hillside covered in Columbia desert parsley

Our car had been joined by one other. (middle left of photo)

Gooseberry Creek

We turned away from the fence on an old farm road following it back to the road near the trailhead by the “No Trespassing” signs.

This loop came in at 4.3 miles according to my GPS and was at least 1250′ of elevation gain which was made more difficult by the cross country terrain. There was little to no level footing for the vast majority of this hike and coming after we had already hiked 7.6 miles and gained 2200′ it really tired us out. That being said it was a great day to be out. One thing to note is that all three hikes are in located in tick country (we were lucky enough not to pick up any) and both Sevenmile Hill and Lyle Cherry Orchard are in rattlesnake country (again didn’t see any). Happy Trails and stay safe out there!

Flickr: Mitchell Point, Lyle Cherry Orchard & Sevenmile Hill

Tags balsamroot, Columbia River Gorge, hiking, Lyle Cherry Orchard, Mitchell Point, Oregon, Sevenmile hill, The Dalles, Washington, wildflowers

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Latourell Falls and Larch Mountain – 10/31/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 1, 2020
4 Comments on Latourell Falls and Larch Mountain – 10/31/2020

We wrapped up our “official” 2020 hiking season on Halloween with a pair of hikes in the Columbia River Gorge. Latourell Falls and Larch Mountain were two of the remaining eight featured hikes we had yet to do from Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington”. We started our morning at Guy Talbot State Park for the short loop hike to Lower and Upper Latourell Falls. We arrived before 7:30am in an attempt to avoid the crowds that would likely be arriving later in the day which worked out as the only other car that was there when we arrived soon left. The downside was that the Sun was still working it’s way up leaving the conditions less than perfect for photos.

The loop starts at the trailhead with a paved path to the right leading down to the splash pool below Lower Latourell Falls and the left hand fork leading uphill .8 miles to Upper Latourell Falls. With the lack of light we chose to head for the upper falls first to let the Sun get a little higher before visiting the lower falls. Just over a quarter mile up the trail we arrived at a viewpoint overlooking Lower Latourell Falls.

There were a few more views of the falls as the trail continued to climb beyond the viewpoint.
20201031_073247_HDR

There was also a view across the Columbia River of Silver Star Mountain (post).

Above the lower falls the trail followed Henderson Creek up a narrow canyon to the upper falls.

This 120′ waterfall consists of an upper slide before the water turns sharply right through a chute before a final plunge into the splash pool.
20201031_075834_HDR

We crossed the creek on a footbridge below the splash pool then explored behind the falls under the basalt.

Beyond the falls the trail headed downhill on the opposite side of the creek.

After a half mile a short spur trail led downhill to a viewpoint above Lower Latourell Falls (the falls were not visible from here).

Silver Star Mountain in the background with the cliffs of Cape Horn (post) along the Columbia River.

After checking out the viewpoint we continued on the loop passing another viewpoint across the Columbia a short distance later.
Looking east down the Columbia River.

Looking NW across the Columbia.

Silver Star Mountain again.

The trail crossed Historic Highway 30 before dropping into the picnic area of the park then led under a bridge to the base of Lower Latourell Falls.

At 249′ Lower Latourell Falls is the 3rd tallest fall in the Columbia River Gorge. It was at the base of the falls that we finally crossed paths with other people. There was a pair of hikers and then a wedding party arrived for pictures.

We left the falls to the photographers and climbed back up to the trailhead. This loop is approximately 2.5 miles (a little more if you do any exploring) with 600′ of elevation gain.

We then drove west on Highway 30 toward Corbett, OR turning onto Larch Mountain Road which we followed for 11.6 miles to a sharp right hand corner. At the corner is a small pullout at a gated road which is where we were planning on starting our hike. There were already a couple of cars parked here so we continued 100 yards up the road to a small pullout on the right.
Looking down toward the corner from the small pullout on the right.

The official trailhead is located at the end of Larch Mountain Road and requires a NW Forest Pass. The upper trailhead also provides for a much shorter hike to the viewpoint atop Sherrard Point.

We walked along the shoulder of Larch Mountain road to the gate, checking the posted Forest Service notice regarding closures to make sure our planned route was indeed open.

All the trails along our route were indeed open so we started up the old roadbed following it for a little over a quarter mile to the Larch Mountain Trail.

The 6.8 mile Larch Mountain Trail runs between Multnomah Falls (post) and Larch Mountain. The trails around Multnomah Falls are currently closed or limited by reservation only due to COVID-19. A right turn uphill on the Larch Mountain Trail would have brought us to the upper trailhead in 1.5 miles while turning downhill to the left would also get us to Larch Mountain in approximately 5 miles. We turned left for two reasons, first Sullivan’s description has you go that way and second we wanted to give the Sun more time to get overhead in hopes of having a better view of Mt. Hood.

The Larch Mountain Trail dropped over 300′ in the next .4 miles before arriving at a junction with the Multnomah Creek Way Trail.

Multnomah Creek Way Trail.

We followed this trail downhill for .2 miles to a footbridge over Multnomah Creek.

After crossing the creek the trail turned uphill following the creek up into the Multnomah Basin.

Larch Mountain from Multnomah Basin

The trail climbed out of the basin and eventually joined an old roadbed as it wrapped around a ridge end.

Mt. St. Helens (behind some tress) and Mt. Rainier.

A little over 2.75 miles from the footbridge we arrived at a junction with the Oneonta Trail where we turned uphill to the right.

The Oneonta Trail followed the ridge uphill to Larch Mountain Road in .9 miles. Aside from a couple and their dog at the footbridge we hadn’t seen any other hikers until this stretch when we started to occasionally pass other hikers.

Signboard near Larch Mountain Road.

Larch Mountain Road from the end of the Oneonta Trail

We turned right and followed the road uphill a half mile to the upper trailhead.

From the parking lot we followed a paved path .2 miles to Sherrard Point.

Just a few of the steps up to Sherrard Point.

It had turned out to be a beautiful day and we had clear views of 5 Cascade volcanoes; Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson.
20201031_114918 Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams.

Mt. Hood

The Sun was just a bit of an issue when looking at Mt. Jefferson.
Mt. Hood with Mt. Jefferson to the right.

20201031_115249 Mt. Jefferson

One neat feature at Sherrard Point are the plaques identifying the mountains, their elevations, and their distance from the viewpoint.

View east from Sherrard Point.

After enjoying the view we headed down and took an unsigned right hand fork uphill to the picnic area.

From there we stayed right at forks heading downhill until we reached the Larch Mountain Trail at another unsigned junction near some old picnic tables.

We followed the Larch Mountain Trail downhill back to the junction with road bed where we had started our loop then followed the road bed back to Larch Mountain Road and our car.

We were expecting this hike to be about 6.5 miles with 1300′ of elevation gain but both of our GPS units had us a little over 7.5 miles. Regardless it was an excellent hike with a nice variety of scenery and some great views. We were pleasantly surprised that it hadn’t been too crowded at Sherrard Point allowing for plenty of space between people. It was a great way to end what has been the strangest hiking season that we’ve had yet. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Latourell Falls and Larch Mountain

Tags Guy Talbot State Park, hiking, Larch Mountain, Larch Mountain Trail, Latourell Falls, Lower Latourell Falls, Multnomah Basin, Multnomah Creek Trail, Oneonta Trail, Oregon, Sherrard Point, Upper Latourell Falls

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Wahtum Lake with Indian, Chindrie, and Tomlike Mountains – 10/27/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 31, 2019
5 Comments on Wahtum Lake with Indian, Chindrie, and Tomlike Mountains – 10/27/2019

After a false start we closed out our 2019 hiking season with a bang on a 16.7 mile jaunt to three peaks near Wahtum Lake. We set off on Saturday morning for this hike but only made it 16 miles from our house where we wound up stuck on Interstate 5 for more than three hours due to an unfortunate accident that resulted in a fatality. By the time we were able to proceed it was too late for our liking so we took a mulligan and tried again the next morning.

Our next attempt went better and we arrived at the trailhead at the Wahtum Lake Campground just before dawn. A loan car was parked at the trailhead with just a bit of fresh snow on it from the night before. (We would find out later that he had spent the night at Mud Lake.)

After some deliberation regarding our planned route we settled on the following. We would hike down to the lake then go southbound on the Pacific Crest Trail to the Indian Mountain Trial and take it up to the summit of Indian Mountain. Then we would return to Wahtum Lake on the PCT and follow the Chindrie Cutoff Trail around the southern end of the lake and climb up to the PCT near the Chindrie Mountain Trail (This part of the plan wound up being changed but more on that later) and hike up to that summit as well. After tagging Chindrie the plan was to return to the PCT and go southbound once again to the Herman Creek Trail following it to the unofficial trail to the summit of Tomlike Mountain. Finally after returning to the Herman Creek Trail from Tomlike Mountain we would backtrack a few hundred feet to the Anthill Trail which would lead us back to the Wahtum Lake Campground.

From the campground we took the Wahtum Express Trail down a series of slick looking steps entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness along the way.

After dropping a little over 200′ in .2 miles we arrived at the PCT as it curved around Wahtum Lake.

Before turning left (south) on the PCT we went down to the lake shore. It was a little under 30 degrees and a crisp breeze was making it feel even colder so we didn’t linger but between a small island and a section of snow flocked trees to the north it was a nice scene. Chindrie Mountain was visible across the lake to the SW.

Chindrie Mountain from across Wahtum Lake.

We set off on the PCT passing a couple of additional nice views of the lake before arriving at a trail junction at the lakes southern end.

At the junction we noticed a closure sign for the Eagle Creek Fire closure area over the signs for our planned route to Chindrie Mountain.

I admittedly hadn’t checked the Forest Service closure map in a while but it had been my understanding that the Eagle Creek Trail was closed at the junction with the Chindrie Cutoff Trail but I had expected this trail to be open. Being uncertain we altered our plans and decided to follow the PCT all the way around the northern end of Wahtum Lake on our way between Indian and Chindrie Mountains. According the mileage shown on our map that would and approximately three quarters of a mile to our day. Further research would confirm that it was indeed only the Eagle Creek Trail that was closed which was just over a tenth of a mile further along the Chindrie Cutoff Trail (it would have been nice if the sign had been clear about that).

We continued south on the PCT gradually gaining over 400′ as we contoured along the side of Waucoma Ridge before arriving at the old Indian Springs Campground a little under 3 miles later. Along this stretch we had some additional views of Chindrie Mountain as well as Tanner Butte and Washington’s Table Mountain (post).
Chindrie Mountain

Tanner Butte

Table Mountain

Chindrie Mountain again.

We also got our first look at Indian Mountain and Mt. Hood .6 miles from Indian Springs after leaving the wilderness and popping out of the forest alongside Forest Road 660.
Indian Mountain

Mt. Hood

The presence of ice formations and a bit of snow here and there made the scenery even better.

Crossing FR 660 near Indian Springs

Trail sign at the junction with the currently closed Indian Springs Trail.

We continued south on the PCT for another third of a mile crossing a small stream before climbing up and around a treeless ridge where a frigid wind was steadily blowing.

The view from the ridge was spectacular. To the north the snow covered peaks in Washington were visible beyond Chindrie Mountain and to the south was our goal, the 4892′ Indian Mountain.

As the PCT rounded the ridge we came to the junction with the Indian Mountain Trail.

20191027_091244

The wind was pushing us around a bit as we turned up the Indian Mountain Trail. As this trail climbed the open ridge the views just got better eventually leading to a decent view of Goat Rocks (post) between Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier.

Table Mountain and Greenleaf Peak with Mt. St. Helens in the background.

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

Goat Rocks

Mt. Adams and Chindrie Mountain

The trail finally went back into the trees which gave us some relief from the biting wind.

After passing remains of the former lookout (and bathroom) the trail climbed to the rocky summit a mile from the PCT.

Given the time of day and year the Sun wasn’t in the greatest spot for pictures but the view of Mt. Hood was great and there was also a decent view further south to Mt. Jefferson.
Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood from the former lookout site.

Mt. Hood with Lost Lake Butte (post) in front.

The snow and cold weather added some nice touches to the scenery here as well.
Snow on the north side, green on the south.

Mt. St. Helens with some snow on the trees in the foreground.

Crystals on a bush.

We headed back the way we’d come and arrived back at the junction with the Chindrie Cutoff Trail where we paused to see if we could find any indication that that trail was indeed open. With no confirmation in sight we erred on the side of caution and stuck to the PCT which began a gradual climb up and away from the lake beyond the Wahtum Express Trail.

We gained another 400 plus feet over the next 1.6 miles before arriving at a junction with the Herman Creek Trail.

Stream crossing

Herman Creek Trail junction.

We stuck to the PCT and promptly passed the junction with the Chindrie Cutoff Trail. At this end there was no closure sign signifying that we could indeed have taken the trail up from Wahtum Lake savings us about .7 miles (but at a “steeper” price).

Another 100 yards on the PCT brought us to a fork where the Chindrie Mountain Trail headed uphill to the right.

This .4 mile trail was the steepest we were on during the hike as it gained approximately 400′ on the way to the rocky viewpoint atop the mountain.
Looking at the summit from the trail.

Mt. Hood

The 360 degree view included Wahtum Lake to the east below.

The view south included Mt. Hood and Indian Mountain (and some Sun glare).

Tanner Butte rose above the fire scarred Eagle Creek Valley to the west.

The best view, given the position of the Sun, was to the north where the Washington Cascades lined the horizon.

There was also a good view of the rock spine of Tomlike Mountain in front of Mt. Adams.

From the angle it looked like a pretty gradual ascent. It was a little breezy at the summit so we didn’t linger long because the wind was making it cold. We returned to the PCT and then to the Herman Creek Trail junction where we set off on that trail.

We had been on the lower end of the Herman Creek Trail before (post) but not this end. Here the trail climbed gradually through an open forest with with lots of beargrass.

After a quarter mile we passed the Rainy/Wahtum Trail.

Lots of beargrass clumps.

About a mile from the PCT we passed another junction, this time with the Anthill Trail which we would be taking back to Wahtum Lake later.

Just under a tenth of a mile later the Herman Creek Trail made a hairpin turn before beginning a steep descent to Mud Lake. Here the unofficial trail to Tomlike Mountain headed out along the ridge to the left. A yellow “temporary” Forest Service sign at the junction identified only the Herman Creek Trail.
Trail to Tomlike on the left.

The trail began in the trees before skirting some cliffs above Mud Lake.

The trees began to give way allowing for a view ahead to Tomlike Mountain which from this angle looked like it might be a bit steeper of a climb than it had from Chindrie.

The other thing we noticed was that it looked further than the mile that the map showed between the summit and Herman Creek Trail. Sometimes it seems like it’s better not to be able to see your goal.

Much of the path was faint with occasional cairns or flagging marking the way. The rocky terrain was somewhat challenging given that we had, by this point, covered over 12 miles already.

There’s at least one cairn here.

The higher we climbed along the ridge the more of Mt. Hood that was visible behind us.

After climbing up a pile of larger rocks the trail entered a patch of small trees which we found to be a fun little section.

The trail emerged from the little trees for the final time as it climbed to the rocky summit.

Mt. Adams to the right.

Mt. Hood with Indian Mountain rising up behind Chindrie Mountain to the right.

Heather crossing the ridge below the summit.

The trail continued for a bit beyond the summit although it didn’t provide any real different views.

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams from left to right.

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

Goat Rocks

Mt. Adams

We left Tomlike Mountain and returned to to the Herman Creek Trail and then walked back to the Anthill Trial junction and turned up that trail for a final 1.9 miles back to Wahtum Lake.
Anthill Trail on the left.

The Anthill Trail climbed for a half a mile to an old road bed which ran between Wahtum and Rainy Lakes.

We crossed the road and continued to climb gradually to a saddle where we crosed over a ridge and began a descent which included views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and Wahtum Lake.

Mt. Jefferson

Wahtum Lake and Chindrie Mountain

The descent was gradual until the final quarter mile or so where it steepend before arriving at the campground.

It was a great way to end our hiking season with a little snow on the ground and a lot of blue sky above. The persistent wind was a little chilly, but we had dressed appropriately so it wasn’t too much of an issue (my fingers weren’t pleased about having to come out so often for pictures). We plan on getting out a couple more times this year but it’s time to back off a bit and relish in the memories of some great hikes this past year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wahtum Lake with Indian, Chindrie, and Tomlike Mountains

Tags Anthill Trail, Chindrie Mountain, Chindrie Mountain Trail, Columbia River Gorge, Eagle Creek Trail, Herman Creek Trail, hiking, Indian Mountain, Indian Mountain Trail, Indian Springs, Mark O Hatfield Wilderness, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Tomlike Mountain, Wahtum Lake, Wahtum Lake Campground