Beacon Rock State Park - Hamilton Mountain, Beacon Rock State Park - Hardy Creek — Sunday, May. 28, 2023

Arrived at 8am to about 10-15 cars in the parking lot.  Very quiet on the way up the Hamilton mountain trail, saw very few people.  Rodney falls and the pool of the winds was great.  The trail to the top had several spots that required use of hands to take a big step up where the trail was decaying.  The views on the way up were excellent and only got better with elevation.  I was surprised to see both Hood and Adams from the top.  I continued along the top of the ridge to take the Hardy creek trail back to the trailhead. This was much easier on the joints going down and plenty of shade.  Excellent loop and excellent hike.  By the time I got back to the trailhead the lot was full and there were folks walking over from the Beacon Rock trailhead parking lot.