This was my first visit to Beacon Rock State Park and I was impressed.  First I hiked up Beacon Rock, which was much quicker and easier than I thought.  The summit is treed but the views of the river and Hamilton Mountain are great.  After Beacon Rock I took the Hamilton Mountain Trail to see the waterfalls: Hardy Falls, Rodney Falls & Pool of the Winds.  All worth the trip! Wildflowers are blooming: Bleeding hearts, Larkspur.  Lots of birds and their lovely songs along the way.  This is another Washington State Park gem! Check out my YouTube video for trail conditions and sights you'll see on these trails:  https://youtu.be/lkTmqUhwVHg?si=vs_Gmgvuq0f4xo2a

I hiked this for the first time today with my three year old and it was great. Perfect weather, and the trail was interesting enough to keep my little one entertained. The waterfall was a sweet bonus, and there were some nice views on the way up.

I just hope that someone can explain to me how to get to the actual summit where you have the 360 degree views. Because I swear we hiked up as far up as we could possibly go. Then the trail got very narrow and started to go underneath a bunch of brush/bare trees that I literally had to hunch down just to walk through. It really didn’t seem like it was leading us to anywhere. I tried going to other direction down another faint trail and it kept going kinda downward. There were really no views at the top where we were because there was too many bushes/branches in the way. Did we not go far enough? Because it literally looked like we couldn’t get any higher than we already were. And we would’ve had views if all of the brush wasn’t in the way. Another pair of hikers came up and they were as puzzled as I was. We just turned around because I didn’t feel comfortable wandering around with my kid trying to figure out where to go. Also, my phone ended up saying we hiked 9 miles..?!!

Regardless, we had a great time. My girl pretty much hiked this whole thing herself! Just a little disappointed because we were looking forward to the summit views.

Trail was in good condition. Parts of the trail are a little eroded and rocky.

Had a great time on this trail. We hiked in from the Hamilton Trailhead and stopped to take pictures at the two waterfall locations. Awesome! Water can be so powerful. Then we proceeded up the trail and stayed to the right to Little Hamilton Mt. and then Hamilton Mt. The views were a little overcast but we avoided rain fortunately. Then proceeded down to make the loop back to the trail head. We took Don's Cutoff with no problems. Fantastic spring hike for sure. Some muddy conditions on the trail but that's to be expected in early spring.

Today, was a bright sunny day with a slight haze drifting through the Columbia. Hamilton Mt. was thoroughly enjoyed by a decent amount of people. The lower parking lot was full at around 10am, but today was also a 'Free Parks' day. The upper parking lot had plenty of space. It also has one of the absolute best views of Beacon Rock with picnic benches in a shaded area to ponder over. People on the trail were kind and sometimes enjoyed a good chit-chat on the one of the many vistas.

The wild flowers are just starting to pop up in the clearings on the trail. All of them are still very tiny and delicate. Also, was able to stop soon enough and not stumble over a baby gartersnake with a orange stripe on their back. A good reminder of staying mindful when walking.