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.

Part of the PNWH got together this weekend for an easy weekend at Beacon Rock State Park. On saturday we did Hamilton Mt.-which has benifited nicely by all the rain-the falls on the way up are running heavily. The poison oak has not been trimmed back though, so be careful. Ford and me checked out the Little Beacon Rock Trail afterwards, and it is a cute trail! Very alpiney feeling. On sunday we headed up Beacon Rock, and were rewarded with being alone at the top. A lot of poison oak at the summit. We also did the Riedly Lake trail afterwards-which wasn't easy to find at the start, but is easy to find after the first few feet. The lake was intresting-almost a meadow. Smitty's in Casmas provided a tasty lunch on the way home..with rain coming down.

Aside from the short hike up Beacon Rock, I had never hiked any of the trails on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. Hamilton Mountain was a great choice since it offered gorgeous views and a strenuous climb without having to encounter any snow. The mountain is only 2445 feet, but it looks awesome from a distance, and it still gives you about 2100 feet of elevation on the hike. We did the loop; going up the older trail which is shorter and steeper (and also more impressive visually) and returning down the newer one (which includes .8 of a mile on a road). On the ascent you reach reach Rodney Falls in 1.4 miles, which is quite spectacular. The trail was extremely steep just after passing the falls, and rather dangerous if you should slip there. I was glad to have a hiking stick. The trail continues upwards getting steeper and with many short switchbacks to Little Hamilton Mountain, which had a fine view of Beacon Rock and the Columbia Gorge. There were lots of wildflowers at this point--it almost looked like the higher mountains in July! We continued to the summit, which had even a better view (and Mount Adams appears here, although its top section was shielded by clouds). After basking a while in the sun as we ate lunch, we continued along the ridge top on the alternate trail, which gave even better views both east and west. The trail begins to descend to the road and you reach a rather confusing intersection where two other roads appear. One has a sign saying ""dead end"" the other one next to it had no sign. We took the most obvious route: the descending road. Finally, the trail appeared again (after .8 mile) on the left and took us back into the forest and to the beginning of the loop. By the time we reached the Falls, the trail had become very crowded. We had seen only a few people on our way up, but by late afternoon, there were hordes. Most of them seemed to be heading just to the Falls.