We hiked to Hamilton Mountain saddle by the "back door" on an in-and-out hike. We birded and admired wildflowers along the way.
The "back door" involves starting from the Equestrian Trailhead at Beacon Rock State Park and hiking up the main fire road to the saddle on the north side of Hamilton Mountain. The hike via this route is 7 miles round trip with about 1,500 feet elevation gain.
We encountered only a couple of other hikers on this route until we crossed Hardy Creek, where our route overlapped with the Hamilton Mountain-Hardy Creek loop and we encountered more hiker traffic.
We observed 40 species of birds, including many singing warblers (10 species), woodpeckers, turkey vultures, bald eagles, and we heard a northern pygmy-owl at the trailhead.
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