Beacon Rock State Park - Hamilton Mountain — Sunday, May. 5, 2013

Southwest Washington > Columbia River Gorge - WA

We drove down 3 hours from Seattle on a whim yesterday and were pleasantly surprised by this hike (and particularly enjoyed the lack of snow, coming on the heels of a number of snowy and muddy ones around Seattle). There were wildflowers all along the trail as well as (not surprisingly given the gorgeous weather) many fellow hikers (and dogs). Very windy at the top - kind of nice to cool down with. Not to mention the spectacular views of the Columbia River, Mt Hood, and Mt Adams! Took us ~4 hours at a pretty relaxed pace. There were some steeper/rocky parts on the way up, but nothing too bad. We did the loop, so the way down (Hardy Creek Trail) was quite flat - though it lacked the views of the "more difficult" way up.