Klickitat Rail Trail - Klickitat River

We'll be back to hike the whole length of the Klickitat Trail someday, but for this trip we saw just the first 1.6 miles to the restored train trestle. A couple other options for longer out-and-back trips are described in the new Columbia River Gorge book in the Day Hiking series by mountaineer books.

The trail is quite wide and straight as it was an old rail line so it was good for the stroller. Also it was easy to avoid the abundant poison oak along the sides of the trail. The Oak trees had fresh new leaves and the lupine were in bloom. We also saw a western alligator lizard and a gopher snake (I think).

After the hike we went on a short wine tasting tour. Our favorite was the Memaloose Winery which sits atop a hill dotted with Oak trees and Ponderosa overlooking the Gorge. The wines were great and the proprietor said there are picnic tables behind the barn - so next time we're bringing some cheese and crackers to go with our bottle of Pinot! (Although they are planning on moving their tasting room down to the side of the Hwy :( There are four wineries within about 15 min. of Lyle.