With the dry cold weather holding and my friend Peter prodding me to hike, we got out to Munra Point in the Gorge for a beautiful climb.
For those who have not had the pleasure of hiking this "trail not maintained" trail, it is steep and exposed and includes a bit of scrambling. It is found by driving HWY 84 to exit 40, parking, and heading west on the Gorge trail #400. The first mile is fairly level along an access road. Himilayan Blackberries and Ivy sadly dominate some stretches of this approach. The view across the river to Table Mountain was very nice!
 Table Mountain
Peter and the dogs
Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the pics yet!
(note from Admin: I fixed the photo rotation for you)
After cruising along on the flats for about a mile, just before you come to Moffet Creek, there is a clear trail on the left and a sign stating, "trail not maintained." This is it.
The climbing is moderate at first and the trail is in good shape. There is a steep gully that is incredibly muddy in the spring but our weather was cool and dry so there was not problem.
The dogs are ready
After the gully, it is steep climbing on open slopes for much of the way to the top. Much of the way passes through twisted white oaks and some of it is fairly exposed. There are two sections of scrambling higher up, with the second one being about 12 feet long and too much for the dogs. We tied them up below and headed up to the very open peak.
The view up the top is all open slopes with great views.
View from top....Bonneville Dam
 The view to the west on the way down.
For those interested in the stats, Don and Roberta Lowe's book, "35 Hiking Trails, Columbia River Gorge" lists the hike as 2.5 miles and 1900 feet elevation gain. Most of the gain is in the last 1.5 miles so you'll get quite the leg workout. I had not done this hike in six years and loved every minute of it!
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