We hiked the Hamilton Mt. trail to Rodney and Hardy Falls and the Pool of Winds.  We took the Hadley trail to Little Beacon Rock and returned to the trailhead via the campground.

The trail to the Pool of Winds was a little muddy given the rainy weather but there were no large puddles and the mud was not too bad.  There was some snow but nothing too sketchy.  The Hadley trail had a fair amount of blowdown, mainly small branches, no trees or anything blocking the trail.

We stopped at Beacon Rock, but the trail is closed until further notice, due to storm damage/downed trees.

Next stop Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge.  Since we were already wet and a bit muddy, (and had some energy left to burn), we opted to check out the environmental improvements that were completed last Spring. We had wind, rain, brief sun and more rain.  Not a lot of activity wildlife-wise at this time but we did get in a nice walk.

Arrived at TH (Discover Pass required) 10:00am. About ten cars there on this Sunday morning. Weather is about 45 degrees, sunny, no wind. Beautiful, trees turning colors. Trail is in great shape! There is a nice bathroom at the Trail Head. Trail starts off moderately and doesn't really let up in terms of elevation gain. I figured about 2100 feet of gain over 3.3 miles. Not extreme, but definitely a lung and leg test.  I chose to do the loop in this way: Go straight to the summit on the Mt. Hamilton Trail, have lunch there, then left down through the saddle, which becomes the Equestrian Trail, left at the intersection with the Hardy Creek Trail to where it rejoins the Hamilton Mtn. trail. Turn right. Then maybe it's a mile and a half (could be more or less) back to the car. The only section that was a bit dicey was going through to the saddle once leaving the summit. For about 1/4 of a mile there is not as much melting of accumulated snow because of it being more shaded in that region, so it was a bit slipperier. Micro spikes would easily handle that. Because of that little bit icey area, I saw several hikers elect to simply turn around and go back down the steeper Mt. Hamilton Trail the way they came up. I wanted the extra miles. (5.1 miles back versus the 3.3 miles back)

Great views in many spots. I was very surprised to find I had 3 bars cell service at the top. So that's a bonus. I will add that parts of the trail through to the saddle is not as well maintained with some maintenance needed to knock back the stuff hanging out over the trail. Nothing real serious though. The Equestrian trail is an old logging road, very wide and very gradual with no switchbacks of course. So if the old quads or knees are complaining, this is a far less steep return trip, but longer of course.

With 30 minute lunch (with phone calls) it took me 5 hours total.

Perfect afternoon hike to Pool of the Winds and back (just over 2 miles roundtrip), for myself and my many children. My 2 year old was able to walk independently most of the way up, but the falls were impressive enough for my big kids to be satisfied. We were glad for our raingear on this stormy day, but the canopy shielded us fairly well from the worst of it. Seems to have been recently maintained. Only 2 other hikers.

The turnoff for the parking lot for this trail is just past the Beacon Rock State Park HQ if you are driving East from Vancouver. There is a sign on the left side of SR14 for 'camping'. Take that road and the parking lot is up on your right. The parking lot holds about 20 cars. On a rainy Saturday morning there were about 7-8 cars at 0800 and the lot was almost full when I left at noon. There is a privy for use at the parking lot and you need a Discover Pass.

Though there is a 7-8 mile loop you can do, I planned only to hike up about 2 miles and turn back. The trail starts out under a canopy of fir trees. It is medium wide dirt trail with needles and rocky in some spots. About 1/2 mile in, it opens up under the powerlines, briefly, and then you are back under canopy. You can start to hear the falls as you get close to the 1 mile mark. I took the detour to Hardy Falls. It was steep, rocky, and muddy in some spots. Not the best views, but it was ok. I rejoined the main trail and soon saw Rodney Falls. The trail is fenced in some parts here and the bridge crosses right in front of the falls for a great pic! 

After the falls, I continued to hike up to the junction point. There is a sign here, but it is hard to tell exactly where you are at without the notation. You can go either way and loop back to this point. Since I wasn't hiking the full loop, I took the trail to the right. As I continued to hike up, the trail got narrower and was more rocky. There were many places where the trail has steep 'steps' on the switchbacks or to get around a tree. There were not any signs after the junction, but the trail was pretty visible, despite lots of offshoots. I wasn't sure how far I had hiked, so once I got to the large rock outcropping, I scrambled around for a few pics and then turned back to head down.

On the way down, I detoured at the falls to the Pool of the Winds for a quick peak. The trail down is steep in some areas. I saw about 10-15 people on trail during the hike. There were little views to be had this day as I was in the clouds throughout the hike. Still beautiful. 

WTA is working with State Parks staff to remedy a section of this trail that is past the jct with the Hardy Creek Trail and just below the summit. It is a series of stacked switchback turns that have degraded to the point where they are quite difficult to navigate.

A combination of erosion exacerbated by people shortcutting the turns has stripped away much of the soil leaving loose rocks as the tread surface. Parts are steep and treacherous when wet. 

Over the past few years we have fielded volunteer crews in an effort to arrest the erosion, but the steep topography, this soils plus heavy hiker traffic make it all but impossible to engineer a sustainable solution. 

We are working with State Parks to pursue a grant to construct a reroute, but in the meantime - please be advised that this portion of the trail is much more difficult than the rest and proceed with caution.