While sitting at my desk Wednesday morning, and staring out the window at the unusually warm, sunny day, I made the decision to take Thursday off and go hiking. With such short notice I scrambled to pick a challenging trail. Initially I thought about driving up Hwy 6 to the Elk Creek Trail, sort of a 'training' hike. But Vanmarmot's suggestion to do this hike instead finally won out (after a friend at work also highly recommended it). So I found myself
really scrambling this morning to get my gear together, load up my GPS with the appropriate maps, and print out info and maps from the field guide.
For the first time in about 1400 miles (road and trail) I remembered to clear my GPS mileage counter before starting out. Good thing.
I started at the Beacon Rock Visitor Center parking lot (since the gate to the campground is locked Monday thru Thursday in the off-season) and headed up. My excitement was quite high, after seeing Vanmarmot's pictures and reading about the hike. This was my first hiking trip on the Washington side of the Gorge, which added to my excitement. However, knowing that I had a steep climb ahead, I tried to temper my pace and enjoy the show.
At first I felt rather lousy, since I went to bed at midnight and didn't sleep well. My 7.1 MP camera does not seem to match the quality level of most of the pictures I've seen on this forum, and it does little to enhance my aging mug. But, here I am at the bridge.
As I advanced up the trail, I began to realize that this would likely be the longest hike I've done in many years. When I reached this junction, I had a decision to make - take the easy way up, or the 'more difficult' Hamilton Mountain trail. I chose the path that offered the greater challenge, and I was glad I did.
I like just about every picture of these cliffs I have ever seen much better than my own, but since I went to the effort of hiking there, I figured, why not snap a picture?
From there I encountered some interesting sights, sounds, and... feelings. Sudden waves of mild vertigo hit me every now and then when I took my eyes off the trail to look out at the amazing hills, the river, and the cliffs around me. This reminded me that I'm not usually the first person to volunteer to hang off a cliff. While this trail is by no means a climbing route, it is definitely not suitable for young children. I took a short break at about the 1500 ft level, then forged on ahead to the top.
I was rewarded with amazing views, very strong and constant wind, and a shot of the summit sign. I'm sure this sign has seen better days, and since there was no room for me to add my own graffiti to the sign I decided to leave it alone.
Mt Adams is completely covered in snow, and here's my hastily taken picture:
The wind was howling at the summit, so much so that I found it necessary to crouch doubled over to avoid the feeling that I was about to get knocked off my feet. I took a rather short break there, and decided to head down a bit further and find a spot to take a break. I decided to stop at the trail junction take a 20-minute break.
Not exactly why I decided to share this photo, taken while I was lounging by the trail junction sign. Just me and the pile of goodies I dragged up the hill.
When I resumed the hike I felt much refreshed, and headed down the Hardy Creek Trail, much of which is apparently an old forest road. My recovering left knee still dislikes downhill hiking immensely, and on this trip (after a bit of downhill hiking) it started reminding me of that fact with every downhill step. I experimented with various ways to walk, and discovered that taking a longer stride but placing my foot down toe-first greatly reduced or eliminated the pain. I also tried other various ways to walk, which helped pass the time on the monotonous descent.
Fortunately when I reached my truck it was still in one piece. After the reports in another thread about trailhead break-ins I expected the worst. Nothing felt better than taking my *&^%$# beloved knee brace off and heading home, having hiked further in one day than I have in several years.
Overall stats, from my GPS: 9.52 miles, 3.25 moving hours, 2.7 mph average speed.
