Sunday afternoon, partial cloud but warm enough to not need a jacket. Parking lot was full (no fee). Trail was not crowded, especially once you pass the "difficult/more difficult" sign. 1 hour and 40 to reach the peak, including a nice break at the falls. 1 hour to get back down. Very enjoyable. Water available at trailhead.

Mid-May is prime time to hike the Hamilton Mountain Loop in Beacon Rock State Park. The loop is 9 miles with 2,400 ft of elevation gain, combining the Hamilton Mountain Trail with the Hardy Creek Trail. Drive east from Vancouver on SR 14 about 34 miles to Beacon Rock, turn left on the state park's campground road and then right into the signed trailhead parking lot. The trail starts next to the restroom building. At 1.5 miles, the trail crosses Hardy Creek below an impressive series of cascades. Before the trail descends to the Hardy Creek bridge, a short dead-end side trail goes left to visit Pool of Winds, where you'll be blasted by the spray from Rodney Falls -- a cool spot on a hot day. After crossing Hardy Creek the trail ascends to a junction with the Hardy Creek Trail. Although counterintuitive, the best route in anti-clockwise, ascending Hamilton Mountain via the trail signed "Most Difficult" and returning via Hardy Creek signed "More Difficult." The trail switchbacks steadily upward through increasingly open terrain. We identified more than 30 species of wildflowers and they were at their freshest and finest on this showery day. At the summit, clouds hid views of Mount Adams and Mount Hood, but we enjoyed closer in views of North Bonneville and Bonneville Dam below to the east and Beacon Rock below to the south. We continued along the ridgetop to a saddle, where "Lewisia columbiana" were in full bud but none in bloom yet. The cool spring has delayed wildflower bloom all through the Gorge this year. Beyond the saddle, we ducked into the woods on an old fire road to eat lunch out of the wind, then descended west from the saddle on a more defined old road down two long switchbacks into the Hardy Creek canyon. Just before the road crosses the creek, the signed Hardy Creek Trail contours back to the junction with the Hamilton Mountain Trail.

Hiked from upper trailhead in campground to Hamilton Mountain saddle via Hamilton Mountain/Hardy Creek trails. Trail had very light usage for a Friday. There were several sections where the trail was slick and muddy, just short of Hardy Falls and at the "stairs" east of the falls. Winter erosion on the road portion of the Hardy Creek trail made the trail very rocky and a good place to sprain an ankle. A previous hike on March 29,2009 of the entire loop found the trail from just beyond the Y for Hardy Creek/Hamilton Mtn trails to near the summit very rocky with a small stream flowing down a section of the trail. The trail from near the summit along the ridge to the saddle was snow covered with lots of small branches across the trail.

I have heard so many rave reviews about Hamilton Mtn in the Columbia Gorge area, so I decided to check it out today. I'm sick of so many trails being buried in snow yet here, so I thought this would be a good alternative. I should have just looked a little harder for something around here. The hike was okay, but overall I have to say I was disappointed. It was packed with people, which is to be expected, but crying kids in backpacks and huge dogs (not all leashed) were EVERYWHERE. After about 1.5 miles, the trail comes to a junction to continue up Hamilton Mtn, and this is where most people with kids turn around. We went right at the sign for ""more difficult"", which is the more scenic way. The trail is in excellent condition for the first part of the hike, but is very rocky on a pretty narrow ridge, making getting any decent footing pretty difficult. We had views of Mt Adams and Mt Hood, which were awesome. But we spent about one minute at the top because the bugs were eating us alive, and the views weren't much different from what we had at the ""false summit"" awhile earlier. We did the hike as a loop, rather than going back down the way we came. This leads you along an old dirt/gravel road, which is much easier to go down than what the way up would have been. However, views and scenery are nonexistent. All in all, I can't say it was the greatest hike I've been on. If you want to hike in the Gorge area, do Angels Rest and Tunnel Falls (especially that one!)...now THOSE are good hikes!!!

Near Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge lies Beacon Rock State Park. From a parking area, a 4 mile trail runs up to the summit of Hamilton Mtn with about 2100 feet of elevation gain. Very popular on weekends due to proximity to Portland and Vancouver so be warned if you like solitude. Three weeks earlier I had done Mt. Defiance over on the Oregon side of the Gorge and hit snow at 2200 feet. The amazing thing is that just three weeks later, that snow is mostly gone and there was none to be found on Hamilton Mtn. The trail goes by a nice waterfall and is no nonsense in ascending to the summit of Hamilton but you get several nice views down to the Columbia on the way as well as nice views of Mt. Adams and the top of Mt. Hood from Hamilton. Hamilton is listed as 2488 so it isn't lofty but if you'd like a change of pace and a conditioner, this is worthwhile. It was like a summer day in March and the trail is in excellent shape. If we don't get some more snow higher up, this could be a rough year for the Cascades and the farmers in eastern washington.