Tamanous Trail #27Recent Trip Reports
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Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge experienced a gigantic landslide 550 years ago that sparked the legend of the...
Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge experienced a gigantic landslide 550 years ago that sparked the legend of the "Bridge of the Gods." Today, the Pacific Crest Trail traverses that landslide.
We decided to hike the PCT from the Bonneville Trailhead to Greenleaf Overlook (7.6 miles rt) in search of fall colors and mushrooms. The trailhead is located 38 miles east of Vancouver on SR 14, just opposite Bonneville Dam. The Tamanous Trail provides a .6-mile connector from the trailhead to the PCT. The PCT then wanders up and down over the lumpy landscape left by the landslide, traversing clearcuts on private and DNR land. At 2.5 miles, the trail crosses a road underneath power transmission lines and goes around Gillette Lake. After crossing Greenleaf Creek, the trail climbs a ridge to a clifftop viewpoint and good lunch spot. Since it is hunting season, not surprisingly the first people we encountered on our hike were a pair of deer hunters. We had outfitted ourselves with blaze orange vests and scarves so we felt fairly safe. Sounds of rapid-fire target shooting in the distance were more unsettling, but the shooters were far away from the trail. We did find a few mushrooms but determined that this will not be a good year for fall colors. Lunch time offered a pleasant bask in the sun while looking at views up the Columbia River Gorge. On our return hike, we encountered several other groups of hikers out to enjoy the day. Day hike
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I joined up with a the Portland Hiking Group, a Meet-up group to hike from the Bonneville Trailhead to the...
I joined up with a the Portland Hiking Group, a Meet-up group to hike from the Bonneville Trailhead to the Greanleaf overview. The Meet-up group (www.meetup.com/cities/us/or/portland/) is a very active social group with a range of hikes offered every month.
Spring and winter weather battled it out during the course of the 3 hour hike. It looked like winter was going to win as it started to rain halfway into the hike, but spring got the upper hand and the sun was shining at the end. From the Bonneville Trailhead we hiked up the Tamanous Trail #27 to its junction with the PCT, from there we headed north (the drain dips that WTA volunteers did in this area last fall were doing their job nicely). In some sections the trail was a bit muddy since it was originally laid out across flat stretches with poor drainage. There are two areas of recent clear cuts across the PCT, one about 1/2 mile before Gillette Lake, and the other about 1/4 mile after. I think that these are Longview Fibre lands, but am not sure. On the DNR lands just before Gillette Lake the trail meanders through a really nice, young Douglas-fir forest. Huge boulders covered with moss and ferns dot the landscape, likely remnants of the huge landslide that caved off of Table Mt. a few hundred years ago. Clouds obscured all but the snowy base of Table Mt's sheer south face. We took lunch at the Greenleaf viewpoint admiring the frosted peaks on the Oregon side across the Columbia River. From this point it is another 4 miles to the top of Table Mt., but today we were satisfied with our 8 mile round trip and 800 ft. of elevation gain. |
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