Hamilton Mountain

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Difficulty: Moderate-Hard

Tier: 1

Review: Hamilton Mountain is located in Beacon Rock State Park on the Washington side of the gorge. When we got there, the temperature itself was not frigid, but the wind made it feel like winter was coming. Once we started on the trail, the tree cover provided much needed relief from the biting wind. Luckily I had a scarf, gloves, and multiple layers.

• 

It was a pretty steady incline most of the way up. My cardiovascular endurance is not as great as I would like, and the beginning of a hike is typically a struggle. This one was no different. Though, much like running, there is always a wall to bust through. Once I found that rhythm, it became much easier to keep going. Back to the trail. There were some nice viewpoints in various spots going up, thouugh there was a climactic view about 70% of the way through the hike. It was a majestic sweeping panoramic of the gorge. If it was a clear day, you would be able to clearly see Mt. Adams on one side of the river. On the other side, you can see the gorge running down toward the west. We found a large boulder overlook to sit on a take a snack break.

We finished the remaining ~30% of the hike in the packed snow, reaching the peak after about 2 hours from the trailhead. Since it was a lollipop route, we looped around a different way down. Before descending, we had to walk across a saddle-like feature, completely exposed to the wind. The combination of high elevation and no tree cover made for an extremely windy traverse to the other side. Almost enough force to knock me over if I wasn’t careful. Pretty fun actually.

On the way back down, it was a more gradual decline. We finished the hike in about 3.5-4 hours. Overall a great trail. If you love the journey over the destination, this hike gives you what you need. But the destination is also fantastic, with amazing views of the entire gorge and surrounding features. The hike is moderately-high trafficked, and seems to be well-maintained. Be careful with the snow near the peak, it got somewhat slick at times. The parking lot was nice. It was with multiple port-a-potties, and a playground. In case you still have pent up energy after the hike, I suppose.