Quarry Crags, east of Hood River, between HCRH and RR

[Chip Down]

Driving east from Hood River on I84 a couple weeks ago, I noticed some fun-looking peaks and cliffs and crags, maybe about halfway to Mosier. Decided to go exploring. Plan was to start at dawn at the Hatfield West trailhead, following the HCRH east from Hood River, exploring everything of interest. There was no time pressure, because I knew I'd always be close to a ribbon of asphalt that would be easy to follow back in the dark.

Arrived around dawn, but got a bit of a late start because there were some fun opportunities to explore a bit to the north and west of the trailhead. It's a crazy mish-mash of roads and trails and a quarry and some great peaks and viewpoints. And there's that iconic peak that looms over the parking lot, looking impossible to climb from some perspectives, but it's easy on the other side.

Headed up the HCRH maybe an hour or two after dawn. First stop was the grassy viewpoint across I84 from Koberg Slough. I thought I could make out some interesting terrain through the trees as I walked the HCRH, so went to explore. It was worthwhile, but only because it was so accessible, requiring just a couple minutes of bushwhacking to get to the grassy slopes.

After that I realized I needed to be more selective if I wanted to get to the really good stuff, so when I got back on the HCRH I continued east until I saw some peaks that might be unclimbable. There we go, that's what I wanted. This written description will be hard to follow, but the image below should help clarify. Headed XC to a wide flat saddle between a couple peaks, but on the way I got distracted by the wreckage of an old car that I'm pretty sure isn't visible from HCRH. Hiked down to check it out. Front end was pretty much gone, but the engine block and bumper and stuff showed up a bit downhill. Turned out to be an Impala. Back up, and continued to the saddle, where I discovered the peak to the north was a actually a fin. From the saddle, it looked like a narrow spire. Continuing around to the east side, I could see it wouldn't be that hard to climb its rocky/grassy/mossy east slope to the true summit, gentler and further back than what appeared to be the summit when viewed from the saddle. However, the exposure was terrifying. I'd bet a paycheck on it, but wouldn't bet my life I could do it. Looking the other direction from the saddle I saw a trio of steep peaks that aren't visible from HCRH, or maybe they are but they don't appear impressive because they get lost in the rocky backdrop of the dominant peak in this area, the one with a pair of USGS benchmarks. For purposes of this TR, I'll refer to it as Benchmarks.

From the saddle I dropped northeast and looped behind Benchmarks, exploring a fecundity of fun terrain, until I came up through a breach, turned west, and walked gentle grassy slopes to the summit. On the way I added to a couple cairns, creating one that was so precariously balanced I'm sure it's already crumbled into just a heap of rocks. Found a mylar balloon caught in a tree, which made me chuckle, as I had just celebrated a birthday the day before, and had cake in my pack, so it was nice to have a balloon too.

After visiting the top of Benchmarks, I dropped to the pond and looped around back to the saddle again. From the saddle, I went east again, around the north side of Benchmarks, but higher than before. I knew I'd cliff out eventually, but was shocked to discover a narrow climbable gully running between two of the needles. It exited at a small grassy patch, and I followed this to a tilted wide saddle between the needles and Benchmarks. Stopped for lunch (see yellow dot on pic). Continued back to the top of Benchmark on the much-harder western side. This terrain is more complicated than it appears in the pic, and it was fun seeing how the parts of the mountain fit together. It's one of those peaks where you constantly wonder if your route will be continuous, or if you'll hit a dead end. From a routefinding perspective, it was a blast.

See that green spot marked "traverse tree"? Things started getting rough here. It wasn't particularly difficult, but everything was unstable and untrustworthy, and a tumble could have dire consequences. But I had explored a couple other summit routes that didn't pan out, and this traverse seemed like my best option. I traversed east until I could go no further, then straight up until I quite abruptly popped onto the gentle grassy slopes east of the summit. What a relief. I had a lot of fun scrambling around, but there were a few dicey moments where I knew I'd better not look down, times when I had to move decisively and quickly before I chickened out, situations where I knew downclimbing would be tricky if I had to back down. It felt good to be able to throw my pack down and flop myself down in the safe comforting grass.

Dropped back down the eastern slopes again to the breach/saddle where I had earlier arrived from the north, and then climbed up, continuing east, into a fun maze of ridges and peaks and rock and grass. Eventually the typography* mellowed out, and it was little more than rolling oak savannah, tilting down towards the river and denser forest to the east.

Came back west on the HCRH, stopping on the way to hike up to the top of the peak in the lower right corner, which offered a grand overview of some of my accomplishments. Lingered over my first beer of the day, then down to the pond, passing what appeared to be a landfill on the way (a variety of garbage that suggested it was domestic refuse). Passed the pond up close, and it smelled like death, with an oily sheen. I knew it would be dark soon, so found a comfortable spot at the base of Benchmarks where I could have my second beer and settle in for a long break.

When there was no light left, I hit the HCRH westbound, stopping to get a pic of the lights of white salmon/bingen (I guess) through an arched portal in the stone barrier wall, and that's the last time I saw my phone. Realized it was missing at my car. I scoured the TH, walked back to the wall (maybe a mile or two), but no luck. In desperation, I even did something illegal but immensely fun in one last attempt to find it. I won't publicly state what I did, but use your imagination. I damaged nothing, left no unsightly evidence. If anybody finds that phone before water destroys it, they'll have a few cool pictures that I wish I could post here.

Weather notes: Rained on the drive to the TH and on the drive home. I took a chance and carried no raingear. Never a drop all day, warm and calm, perfect day.

Equipment notes: Used my axe extensively, on dirt and moss and trees/brush, and drytooling on rock. Possible I could have gotten by without it, but was glad to have it. Never used a rope, but there was one spot where my route was dictated by a perfect anchor, a solitary tree, and some other spots where it might have come in handy, so it was definitely something that improved my day even if it was always in my pack.

The two pics I have are because I sent them from the field before losing the rest.

*dammit, I keep doing that, but I'd never write "typographical map"

[Chip Down]

My phone was recovered, so a few more pics:

[Chip Down]

The Impala:

[Chip Down]

Other man-made stuff:

[Webfoot]

How did I miss this report? Surely this is "View 700" I asked about in another thread, posted after this.

[Chip Down]

Hi Webfoot. Indeed, I too wondered how you missed it, but was delighted by your question anyway. I mean, what are the chances I'd explore some un-named point, only to see somebody ask about it a couple weeks later. What fun!

[Webfoot]

Now having read your report I would like to take the easiest (safest, least technical, least brushy, fastest) route to Benchmarks, at least for my first outing. I quickly sketched a route starting from the shoulder of the freeway based on your tip in the other thread. I am concerned about the talus slope and the north side of the main saddle. There appears to be a (game?) trail across the talus that I would try to follow. Would you comment on the route I've drawn? How thick is the brush in the saddle? (I am attaching a KML path to this post.)

scramble path.kml

(19.63 KiB) Downloaded 227 times

[ssinfo503]

Great TR. This will be my next adventure

[Chip Down]

Webfoot, I couldn't figure out a way to open your kml file on my phone or PC. I'm posting a jpeg that shows my approximate route. As a reference, notice the spot where I84 veers a bit to the south.

Tips: It's not that far. Use I84 and HCRH as size cues, and you'll see it's not a big hike. You can easily mess up and take multiple attempts, and still not hike all that far. Yes, there is an abundance of game trails. Although there are a few cliffy areas to avoid, I found routefinding to be intuitive and straightforward. I never felt uncomfortably anxious or frightened. Of course, YMMV. If you're really apprehensive and want to be sure of success, go a little further east on I84. Looked to me like the terrain was much more gentle over there, except for difficulties right at the start (no big deal; if you fail 10 minutes from your car, you haven't lost much). Good luck! And if you can post your kml in a dummy-friendly format, I'll take a look at it.

edit: forgot to address the brush question.
Nah, it's not brushy at all. Possible some hikers would feel uncomfortable with steepness or exposure, and some hikers with limited off-trail experience might worry a little about routefinding, but brush isn't a concern at all. It's all wide open.

[Webfoot]

I made it! I started farther to the east as you mentioned. The talus slope which I was concerned about was stable and not a problem. The hardest part of the route I took was a loose area in the trees at the top of the talus just below the big saddle, which I found just walkable (no hands needed) but I slipped and caught myself a couple of times on the way down. (I was following a game trail.) So you were right, it's not even a scramble, just a more difficult hike.

However fear of my own clumsiness kept me from walking on the actual summit; I had to crawl. Chip, you've got to be half mountain goat to have looped that hill the way you did. The "traverse tree" appears to be growing out of an angle-of-repose scree slope.