It was a beautiful day in the Columbia Gorge today! This trail is amazingly beautiful. Starting the pool of the winds waterfall. The view from the top of this mountain is epic. You can see up and down the Columbia River. Far below you see the Bonneville Dam and Beacon Rock. You can hear the train and it looks tiny it is so far down. There were portions of this trail that were very unnerving. Cliffs and steep drop offs are very close to the trail. The wind was blowing hard at the top. There was snow at the top and if you chose to do the loop you will be walking on snow. Lot’s and huffing and puffing to get up 2,060 feet in 3-1/4 miles. But worth it!

This hike has become my go-to spot to keep in shape. It’s close to home, just the right distance and elevation gain for a quick afternoon hike. Today's hike counts toward the WTA's 2021 Hike-A-Thon!

I know I made my best ascent time to-date. I crushed it. I love my new pack and the hiking pole side strap. Actually, I never used the poles. This was the first time ever that I didn't deploy them one. I kind of liked having both hands free for scrambling. For practice I took the difficult route down from Little Hamilton. I only had one slip/close-call after I'd made it to the trail. Dammit. Those 1" rocks that act like marbles. I need to be able to identify this kind of stuff better and slow way down ... or get out the dang hiking poles.

The real treat of this hike was the side trip on the way down to check out Little Beacon Rock. By the time I've reached the power lines and the end of the trail was in sight (not really but it's the first/last segment of the trail), I've always said "next time". Well, this was the time! I peeled off to the Hadley Trail. It traverses below the power lines so you still feel immersed in the forest. 

Wow! This is what I love to find, a craggy peak to climb and get some views. This reminded me of the little spot (6070') I found next to Pinnacle Peak. This trail is well-worn and easy to follow. I climbed out onto the point to rest and enjoy the views.

I enjoyed this hike, finding it pretty challenging to do on a hot afternoon.  I started from the upper campground at 2:15 PM, took the Hamilton Mt trail to the summit, continued on past the saddle and took the Hardy Creek trail back.  My Fitbit says 9 miles.  Maybe 7.5 miles is for going to the summit and going back the way you came.  Got back at 6:00 PM, so 3:45 for the trip.   I took a few breaks for water and photography.  I'm 61 but I'm ornery and I moved along at a pretty good pace.

I did not find the summit to be too overgrown.  It was sort of hard to pick out the final short path to the very top.  Maybe people are missing it.  The saddle is certainly a nice wide open place rest before starting down again.

I found one issue with all of the posted maps in that none of them had an obvious "You are here" marker.  I just made my best guess and ended up taking the route I had planned on, but I was never positive I was going the right way.

As expected, the parking lot was mostly empty on Wednesday afternoon.

There were a couple of groups getting ready to hike in the parking lot but I was ready first and set out on the trail. I had the place to myself for the most part, I only saw about 10 people total once I left the parking lot.

I was moderately wary of the hazy air and faint smell of smoke but pushed on. My air quality app was showing a low AQI. It was good to be on the trail again; two hikes since my WA road trip and week of hikes in July.

Hiked Saturday morning (around 10:30 am) on July 3rd. Park rangers directing traffic and checking for Discover Pass - made it with plenty of space in the overflow lot then wandered back down to the start of the hike. Hiked Hamilton Mountain, past the falls, onto Hamilton Mountain trail, then circled back on the cutoff, equestrian trail, and hardy spring trail. Took about 3 hours, a little steep up (and slow ish) but easy on the way down. Trail was not too busy at all, even with the main lot full.

Worth it to hike up to Rodney falls platform! So cool! Loved all the views of the Columbia River, so many viewpoints!

Trail was mostly well maintained and easy to navigate but I was happy to have Gaia map to confirm since this was my first time. Normally I wear hiking boots but was wearing old running tennis shoes and I was ok (probably would be better in hiking shoes!). We saw some almost ripe berries, and saw black bear poop and then a small black bear on the hardy spring trail. It was right before we connected back to the main trail, a couple hikers and a dog came by pretty quickly after it ran down the hill and didn’t see it.