The Bitter End (Part I)

I was in Portland, Oregon this past weekend for some soccer and hiking. I have a lot of pictures so I’ll do multiple posts. I did three different hikes in the Columbia River Gorge on Friday. I’ll cover the first two hikes with this post. The first stop was Beacon Rock. Beacon Rock is on the Washington side of the Columbia River. It is 848 feet tall and 142 river miles from the ocean. The rock is the core of an old volcano. Before the Columbia River was tamed with dams, it was a landmark for the first set of rapids that were located a few miles upstream from Beacon Rock. Lewis and Clark named it Beaten Rock on their journey down the Columbia in 1805. They renamed it Beacon Rock on the return trip in 1806. Lewis and Clark also noticed that Beacon Rock was the eastern extent of the tidal influence on the Columbia River. The tidal influence is pretty impressive considering how far Beacon Rock is from the ocean. A trail up Beacon Rock was completed in 1918. The trail is 0.9 miles long. Here are some photos of the Beacon Rock hike.

Trail up Beacon Rock

Looking East from the top of Beacon Rock

Hamilton Mountain from Beacon Rock

Looking west from Beacon Rock

Columbia River and Beacon Rock from Bonneville Dam

After the Beacon Rock hike, I drove across the Bridge of the Gods to the Oregon side of the Columbia River. The next hike was to Wahclella Falls. The hike is a 2 mile round trip. Not too far into the hike there was a nice surprise in the hike. There was a waterfall that wasn’t in the trail data that I had. It was on a blind corner, and a bridge goes right in front of it. The falls is called Munra Falls.

Munra Falls

The hike to both falls was easy. The Wahclella Falls trail makes a lollipop loops. I recommend the right fork for better approach views of Wachella Falls.

Wahclella Falls

Wahclella Falls

Wahclella Falls

To Be Continued...