Tag: columbia river gorge

Trail Talk: Rodney Falls/Hardy Falls/Pool of the Winds

Location: Rodney Falls, Hardy Falls, Pool of the Winds (Hamilton Mountain Trailhead) – Beacon Rock State Park

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

Distance: 2.5 miles out and back (roughly)

Elevation: 600’

Cost: This park does require a Discovery Pass: $10 for day pass, $30 for annual Washington State Pass

Both of which can be purchased directly on site at a pay station. Day passes can be purchased by cash envelope at the additional parking lot as well.

Parking: There is small paved lot right at the trail head. There is extra paved parking further up the hill in the picnic area. If going on the weekend/holiday get there early to get a spot.

Directions:

From the Washington side, drive Route 14 east (about 18 miles past Washougal). The park will have plenty of signage and be directly off of the highway. There will be parking on both sides for other trail heads, and a road on the left hand side going up. Take the smaller left hand side road up the hill to find the Hamilton Mountain Trail Head. (you can also follow signs for the campground as its past the trail head).

Preparation:

  • Water.
  • Shoes/Clothes. This trail can be muddy if it has just rained so bring shoes with good traction that you are ready to get dirty. There are also several options to climb closer to the water.
  • Sunscreen. Always a great idea!
  • Bathroom. There is one located at the trail head as well as another located at the additional parking picnic area. Both are currently open.  
  • Dogs. Allowed on leash.

Experience:

My husband and I did this trail on a holiday Monday (Memorial Day). Thankfully, we planned for it to be busy and pulled into the lot at 8:30 am. We ended up parking at the overflow picnic area lot as the parking directly next to the trailhead was already full. By the time we walked down to pay and brought it back to our car the overflow lot was also full. Surprisingly, the trail did not seem too overwhelmed with people despite the car situation. This was our first hike together since moving to the Pacific Northwest, so we took it easy, and I did not wear my watch to time the distances. The first couple of hikes back into a weekly hiking routine always take way more out of me and I did not want to feel discouraged, ‘slow and steady gets you to the falls’ was my motto!

There are two ways to begin this hike if you are starting from the overflow parking. If you turn right at the parking lot entrance and walk downhill back to the main lot you can pick up the beginning of the Hamilton Mountain Trail. You can also turn left and go up through the campground utilizing the Hadley Trail. This will take you through a second growth fir canopy and lead you eventually up under some powerlines to a picnic table with a great view of the Gorge. Eventually, connecting you to the Hamilton Mountain Trail at around .6 miles in (veer to the left to continue to the falls). We used this trail to return to our car and loved it as it was less crowded than following Hamilton Mountain Trail back to the main parking area.

Once you pass the turn off for Hardy Falls, you will encounter a few more bridges but the rest is not far up ahead! Turn left to go up to the Pool of the Winds, or right to start your way down to Rodney Falls. The Pool of the Winds has some railing along the edges, make sure you go all the way to the end to where it looks like you will be able to peak your head into a cave. It is MAGICAL. There is a gorgeous up-close view of the falls and a small pool of water collected around it before it continues its plunge downward. There was also an almost vertical wall of rock you could scale up to another part of the falls. We saw people climbing and I can only assume there was another pool of water at the top. I however did not climb it because I would have killed myself, scaling walls is not my forte.

You can see Hardy falls almost immediately as you take the switch back down to it and its beautiful. It was even prettier to me because I had done the Pool of the Winds first and knew what secrets were held at the top. There is a wonderfully long bridge I had fun frolicking across and the Hamilton Mountain Trail continues beyond if you wish to continue. We used this as our turn around point and climbed some of the rocks to get closer to the falls. There are a few different places where you have the opportunity to get closer to the water and we saw several people taking advantage of it.

Once we had adequately soaked up the falls we turned around and headed back to the car. We were so glad we had started (kind of) early because there were large groups of people coming in as we were heading out. It was a beautiful and relatively easy trail with lots of shade, next time we are going to bring some snacks and take advantage of the picnic viewpoint of the Gorge!

Until next time, Happy Roaming!

Trail Talk: Latourell Fall

Location: Latourell Falls (Corbett, Oregon: The Columbia River Gorge)

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

Distance: 2.4 Mile Loop (The map on site and several websites listed it at 2.4. When I hiked this with a friend we both recorded on separate tracking systems, Suunto and Garmin, and recorded it at 3 miles)

Elevation: 520 ft

Cost: FREE

Parking: There is small paved lot right at the trail head. There is extra parking across the street as well as extra parking across the bridge (just passed the paved lot), both are off the side of the road.

Directions:

Traveling east on I-84, take Exit #28/Bridal Veil. Sharp right onto Historic Columbia River Highway and travel for 3 miles. The parking lot will be on the left.

Traveling west on I-84, take Exit #35/Ainsworth. Drive 11 miles west on the Historic Columbia River Highway. The parking lot will be on the right side. EXTRA: if you take this exit you will get to drive past the Vista House viewpoint.

Preparation:

  • Water.
  • Shoes/Clothes. This trail can be muddy if it’s just rained so bring shoes with good traction that you are ready to get dirty.
  • Sunscreen. Its a good combo of tree covering and open air, its the NW so its often cloudy and overcast but as always sunscreen is always a great idea!
  • Bathroom. There is a small building for restrooms but they are currently closed due to Covid so I wasn’t able to check how decent they were.
  • Dogs. Allowed on leash.
  • Extras: there is a picnic area to rent at Guy Talbot State Park (which has more parking options and an alternate trial head)
  • THIS PARK IS EXPERIENCING MORE THAN NORMAL TRAFFIC WITH THE PANDEMIC, BE READY TO WEAR A MASK MOST OF THE TIME.
Lower Falls – Lower View Point

Experience:

I went and enjoyed these beautiful falls with my best friend, Blake. It was the first hike I did as an official resident of the PNW again, and the perfect start to what I hope is a beautiful outdoor experience here. When we pulled up I snapped a picture of the map that was easily visible at the trailhead and we set off heading to the right, down to the base of the lower falls. It looked like we chose the less busy direction as most people head to the left up to the top of the lower falls and continuing from there to the upper falls. I noticed very few people completing the full loop, most choosing the quickest way to the falls and retracing their steps. This left us a nice empty trail on the right side of the loop despite the busy trailhead.

Columbia River Gorge (view point)

Once you leave the lower falls viewpoint you will cross under the bridge and come across the picnic area (for rent, see preparation section above) before climbing back up the road. Once you cross the road you will continue your uphill ascent. After about 20-30 minutes and a couple of switch backs you reach a beautiful viewpoint of the gorge. It was a great place to stop and catch our breath . The weather cleared up to blue sky just for us and opened up to a beautiful view, before raining again as soon as we left to continue our journey.

Soon you will come parallel to the river and even be able to see the trail on the other side. Follow along the river to the upper falls. There’s enough of a path you can get up along side the falls (but not underneath it) if you want to rest and explore the site from a different angle. We did this hike in early February, and it had been raining so not only was it muddy (be careful!), the water was also a lot higher compared to the summer months (according to my hiking partner Blake who had done this hike before!). Once you get your fill cross a small bridge and then continue back on the other side of the river. Most of this will be a decent.

Close to the end of the trail you will reach the overlook at the top of the lower falls, there is a bench here if you wanted a longer pause before finishing. Then itss a short steep jaunt back to the beginning of the trail. At the beginning of the trail head, on this side, is an additional deck built out overlook for another angle on the falls.

Just come for Latourell Falls or make a day of it and visit the others nearby too! On the same road you will find the trailhead for Bridal Veil Falls, Coopley Falls, Wahkeena Falls, before reaching the infamous Multnomah Falls. All within 22 minutes of each other. Besides for Multnomah which I haven’t been to in over a decade these are all new to me, I will be covering all of these in the upcoming months. If there is any you would like for me to cover first please shoot me a message!

Waterfalls in Depth:

The falls were named after Joseph Latourell, who was prominent settler from the area. The Talbot Family then owed the Falls and are around it and in 1929 gave it to the state of Oregon. Hence the name of the State Park.

The Upper Fall is double tiered, and 134 feet of falling water. The Lower Falls is actually the largest of the two at 225 feet.

Happy Roaming!