Revision as of 09:24, 14 March 2007

Cedar Falls (Jeff Statt)

Cedar Mountain and Table Mountain from Aldrich Butte (Jeff Statt)

The Bonneville area from the top of Aldrich Butte (Jeff Statt)

• Start point: Dick Thomas Trailhead
• End point: Hamilton Creek Viewpoint
• Trail Log: Trail Log
• Hike Type: Dogbone
• Distance: 3.6 miles round trip
• Elevation gain: 1000 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: Year round
• Family Friendly: No
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

The Cedar Aldrich trail may not be the grandest of trails in the Columbia River Gorge but it is certainly one of the quietest. For those who really value solitude, this a bit of a unknown gem of an area with a lot of interesting history.

The Cedar Aldrich hike covers a little known section of the Gorge between Table Mountain and Hamilton Mountain near the town of North Bonneville, Washington. In fact, you may have hiked part of it if you took the short-cut hike up Table Mountain starting near Greenleaf Slough or Bonneville Hot Spring Resort, or if you climbed the fun little family-friend hike up Aldrich Butte.

This hike does cover two peaks: the aforementioned Aldrich Butte and the lesser known Cedar Mountain. It also gets you pretty close access to Cedar Falls (sometimes called ‘’Aldrich Falls’’, a falls often seen by sharp-eyed hikers from the Hamilton Mountain summit. It passes some pretty recent, and violent, slide areas left from the November 2006 floods, and walks you along a pretty section of Hamilton Creek.

This hike isn’t for everyone –not due to it’s difficulty (all told, it’s a rather easy 8 mile loop for anyone relatively in-shape) – but for the inconsistent trail conditions. There are whole sections where the trail seems to disappear into nothingness. Certainly a map/compass combo or GPS is required. (A National Geographic tpo file can be obtained by emailing [[1]].)

‘’Starting Out’’’ We start out the trail near the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort at the Dick Thomas Trailhead. Maintenance on the East lot of the small resort will restrict direct access to the trailhead road, but it is a short scamper to it from the main lot of the resort. The resort management has come to accept hikers parking their cars in their lots, but please be respectful of the facilities. You can optionally start at the nearby Aldrich Butte Trailhead. (start at the trailhead at walk the grown-over forest road up about a mile to Carpenter Lake – then follow the directions below)

The trailhead starts right off the access way for an underground pipeline. It should be easy to spot the east-west path of the pipeline as it travels behind the resort. Watch where the dirt road ends at the access-way and look for a faint path heading due north up into the forest. You’ll see a sign high up a tree about 30 feet up-trail. This trail is the Dick Thomas Trail, after the gentleman who worked so diligently to help build it. Some locals refer to the trail as “Steven’s Trail”. This short one mile stretch winds through the shady lowlands and connects the Resort to Carpenter Lake. Expect a few downed trees in this stretch because the trail is not maintained by the forest service (as are none of the trails referred to in this hike description). There area few marshy ponds through this stetch, but it is relatively uneventful otherwise.

Just before approaching Carpenter Lake, you start to see Carpenter Creek to your left. This is the outlet for the lake. It empties into Greenleaf Slough about a mile downhill from here. It won’t be long before you have to cross this small outlet stream over a few logs. The crossing is easy and uneventful even in wettest months. After the crossing watch for the lake on your right. Ok, we say “lake” – it’s more of a marsh at best. There is no visible water and you can walk out on the bog-like weeds. It’s recommended you do! There’s a great view of Table Mountain from here – along with a nice perspective of Sacagewea and Pappoose Rocks.. Locals say that there was a real lake here….actually quite recently! But it all but dried out after beavers left the area.

Just after you pass the lake, the Dick Thomas trail ends at a would-be dirt road. This is the Aldrich Butte road. The road is in pretty bad shape as a road, but quite nice as a hiking trail. You’re going to turn right at this point, and almost immediately be presented with another decision! The main trail/road curves hard-left, and a lighter trail continues north along the east side of the lake. This lighter trail eventually connects up to the PCT. This is the remainder of the short-cut portion of the Table Mountain Hike. We are instead going to follow the main drag to the left. If you have your map you’ll notice that we are starting behind (north of) Aldrich Butte at this point.

Curve one more time along the road, and you’ll see yet another junction with a faint trail. Again we are going to stay on the main drag which curves right again and starts heading up the backside of Aldrich Butte. (This faint trail heads northward, intersects the PCT and eventually empties out in the Greenleaf Basin at the base of the Table Mountain cliffs – be aware again, this is not a maintained trail!)

At this point we are gaining elevation steadily and traveling pretty well straight south toward the top of Aldrich Butte. Here, the road-like quality of the trail is most defined. . Incidently, this road was originally built in 9999 as an access to a gun-site at the summit of the Butte – the intention being to provide a defensive position for the Bonneville Dam in the late stages of World War II.. About half way up this straight section, keep your eye out for a junction on your right. This is the Cedar-Aldrich Junction. If you’ve been to the top of Aldrich Butte and would rather skip it, here is where you turn. If you haven’t, you should! There’s a nice clearing up there, with some great views of the entire Bonneville area. Looking north from the summit you can see a great view of Cedar Mountain (which we’ll climb later on this hike!). For a few people reading this description, you might be so satisfied with the view you may feel content to turn back at this point. When you’re up there, be sure to take the light trail up to the “true summit”. It’s wooded so it’s not quite so obvious. Here you will see the remnants of the old military position.

After you take a quite breather to enjoy the sights from atop the Butte, start heading back downhill. That tall mountain to your left will be [[Hamilton Mountain}Hamilton]]. Head back down about half-way back to the lake, and watch for the aforementioned trail junction on your left. There is a small clearing here. This is where the Cedar Falls Trail starts. There is some disagreement among locals about the naming of this trail – and the falls it takes you toward. In fact, there is a sign on a tree right at the start that says ‘’Aldrich Falls’’ trail. (If you look north here, there is a very light trail that heads north atop a ridge parallel to the Aldrich Butte road. There is usually a guided Mazama hike every year that takes that trail – it is NOT recommended to do alone)

We are now on the Cedar Falls Trail. It start back in a southerly direction past a low-flow seasonal falls. In decends into the valley between Aldrich Butte and Cedar Mountain in a series of long swithbacks. This is a very green, lush area – and the trail can be hard to scout at times….but eventually you want to get to the bottom of the valley to Cedar Creek.. (You may notice one trail junction heading uphill due north on your way down. This trail heads back up the west flank of Aldrich Butte and back down toward Greenleaf Slough.).

The Creek crossing is a bit tricky in the wet season but easy in the summer months. Stop here to refill your water and enjoy the cool breeze, then pick up the trail again. The ownership of the land in this section of the hike is a bit in question. Some of it is public, but there is a large section owned by the Girl Scouts. (There is no known plans for developing that area into a camp for day-use spot ). The trail turns left and follows the right side of the creek for a while. The trail starts heading uphill while the creek is heading downhill. Soon you’ll see a small 10-foot waterfall to your left – then the creek disappears into nowhere over Cedar Falls.. The trail opens up to a viewpoint here, and traverses a bit of a hillside. You’ll get another very unique view of Hamilton Mountain here. Keep your eyes out looking downhill to your left for a view of the falls. When the foliage is thick, and the flow is light it may be a bit hard to see, but it will be pretty obvious from the small canyon where it is positioned. There is a way to get down to the falls – we’ll discuss this a bit later.

Just after this viewpoint, the trail takes a hard turn right. Here you make your first decision of the day. This is the Cedar Falls Cedar Mountain Junction. Yes, it takes a bit of imagination to see a junction here. The trail up to Cedar Mountain goes straight up the poorly defined ridgeline. The path is a bit hard to track, so a GPS or map/compass combo is mandatory. If you’ve got the energy, this is a great little-known peak and

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder

Regulations or restrictions, etc

• No restrictions. Please be respectful of the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort parking lots and facilities

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Guidebooks that cover this hike

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