WTA has been building and maintaining trails at Beacon Rock State Park for years. This time, I got to hike the entire route without tools in my hands! After dropping cars at the Hamilton Mountain trailhead, we began this through-hike at the equestrian trailhead. It is reached by turning onto Kueffler Road by the Beacon Rock State Park ranger station and driving 1.1 miles, then turning right onto a gravel road for .3 mile to a large parking area. We walked 1.8 miles up the closed road to the second intersection and turned left, following the signs for Hardy Ridge Loop. We walked another 1.3 miles to the unsigned start of the Hardy Ridge Connector Trail, which still is under construction. Once on the Hardy Ridge Connector, we encountered various stages of trail construction as we descended to the bridge over Hardy Creek at about one mile. We crossed over and gained the fire road on the east side of the creek. Following the road downstream for a mile or so, we came to the junction with the Hardy Creek Trail. The picnic table at this junction beside rushing Hardy Creek was our lunch stop. We then hiked the Hardy Creek Trail for 1.1 miles to the junction with the Hamilton Mountain Trail. From there, it was 1.5 miles to the trailhead, passing Rodney Falls as we crossed Hardy Creek again on another foot bridge. The complete hike is about 7.7 miles and 1,600 feet of elevation gain. Mid-April to mid-May is the prime time for wildflowers at Beacon Rock State Park. Many species of flowers bloom on the sunny forest floor beneath red alder trees that are only beginning to leaf out. Up on the summits of Beacon Rock and Hardy Ridge, large mats of spreading phlox will bloom around Mother's Day.

Tough hike but it was the start of my hiking affair! As of now I am a hiking junkie!.

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.