Spent a few nights at Beacon rock state park camping and utilized the access trails from the campground to swing up to Hardy Falls and then continued on to Hamilton mountain.  Trail is is good shape and you spend the entire time going up.  Total elevation is in app shot below.  We did stop at the mid point where there is a shelf to take in some views.  The trail to this is extremely skinny and slippy here lets just say would not be good since the cliff is tall and straight down. Wanted to take in the view from the top so we continued on.

At the top the bugs were annoying to say the least.  We had planned to hang out for a while but didnt have the bug spray with us so we opted to head back down.

Cool trail and glad we made it.  Camping at BR state park however is highly over priced at $32 night for a standard campsite, no hook ups.  Clean facilities and showers available for an extra .50 on top of the nightly fee.

Happy Trails!

We went up with our dog. We had a great trip. Parking was slim, and we parked in the overflow lot. It was a little crowded but not too bad for a holiday weekend. Zero wind, sunny and cool made for the perfect hike. Saw bald eagles soaring and nesting and the views were phenomenal.
There was poison ivy along the trail at the top...so be careful. The bugs were TERRIBLE if you stopped moving. But worth it for the views.

I'd originally intended to try the Dog Mountain shuttle this weekend, but the morning got off to a slow start and by the time I was ready to go it was 11am, so I decided instead to try Hamilton Mountain. 

It was still pretty far away from my parents' house, and despite the sign at the bottom of the turnoff saying the Hamilton Trailhead parking lot was full, I headed uphill, hoping some spots were available because it was so late in the day. 

I was in luck. A state park employee monitoring the lot told me a few places had opened up and pointed me into the lot. 

The trail is so nice and wide with very little brush in the corridor; the best kind of trail during tick season! I got a great start and powered up to what I thought was the summit in less than 40 minutes. Obviously, this was not the summit -- there's no way I was hiking 3+ miles in 40 minutes. So I slowed my roll and took it a little easier on my way to the true summit, enjoying the surroundings, and the quiet. It seems most people make the same assumption  I did -- that a high point about 2+ miles in is the top. There are a couple of pretty eroded social trails here to support this assumption, and it seems like a lot of hikers get off here, thinking they're done. 

So I had the summit to myself for quite a while! I enjoyed views of Mount Adams and Hood, as well as Table Mountain and the Bonneville Dam. The river had an incredible current in it from the dam, visible from my 2400+-foot vantage point. 

About 15 minutes before I was going to head out, a bunch of groups arrived at the summit at once. Despite having about 15 people total, we all fit fairly well and all were polite and respectful of each other's space. 

I had thought I might try the loop from the summit, but I'd stayed at the top for a long time and didn't have the time for the extra two miles that route would have added on. So I headed down. I made good time despite a slight roll of my ankle (welcome to hiking season, I guess). I had time to stop by Pool of the Winds (my favorite spot at this park) and ran the last section of trail past Pool of the Winds back to the car. 

Despite being really reluctant to drive that far today, I'm happy I did. I felt great for the drive home!

Awesome, awesome trail! I definitely underestimated the challenge of the hike especially from pool of the winds to Hamilton Summit. The rock steps and semi precipitous scrambles could be vertigo inducing for some and I definitely wouldn't recommend coming down Hamilton as it would be easy to slip or trip if not paying attention. From pool of the winds to the top carrying my son in the pack I got pretty hot and starting at 8:20 AM on the trail mitigated what could have been a particularly hot climb. The peekaboo views of Adams and Hood made for a satisfying payoff to the hike. Paintbrush, and chocolate lilies were abundant towards the top along with Trilium in the forest and phlox along the balsalt cliffs. The flower show is pretty spectacular about a half mile below the summit. 

We took the Hardy Creek Trail back to the trailhead making a loop. The lower trail was lovely as well. A shorter hike to pool of the winds is also a great option if you have limited time. The Beacon Rock Trail and Hamilton Mountain Trail along with Cape Horn the day before made for a great short gorge exploration. The saddle past the summit along the ridge is an awesome lunch spot and there is a nice picnic table at the cutoff for the Hardy Creek Trail. Didn't find any ticks but heard some reports of some.