On spring days, the Eastern Columbia River Gorge can be a good destination to escape the rain in Portland and head to the sun. While it was lightly raining when we arrived at the trailhead, the sun came out for most of the day and it was nice and warm.

With a newly developed trailhead just off highway 14 in Lyle, Washington, this hike is on an old rail corridor. The first 1.5 miles are next to the highway without open views of the river, so I would recommend driving another 1.5 miles to park on either side of the pedestrian bridge. We hiked four miles out and back, with another 1.2 miles of backtracking and exploring to find out if another trail existed lower along the river in the first 1.5 mile section. There is a side trail, but it leads to small fishing paths before ending a short distance later. Back on the main trail, there are mile markers at every mile along the trail, and it’s very easy to follow without a map.

At the converted railroad bridge over the river, there are great views looking far below to the Klickitat River Gorge, with wooden platforms that Native Americans use for dip netting the salmon that run this river. After the bridge, the trail is along the fast moving river most of the way. The drier and scrubby looking landscape here is quite different from the western side of Washington, with large rounded hills, pines and oak trees, making it look much like the old wild west familiar in western cowboy movies.

On an overcast and cloudy day with light rain, the forest at Siouxon Creek was super lush and green. The hike starts by going downhill for about 50 feet, then heads towards Siouxon Creek. Before reaching the creek (which is as large as many rivers in the region), you cross a small tributary creek on a one-rail flat log bridge. A short distance ahead, a nice section of rustic campsites sits between the trail and creek, making for a great backpacking destination. The forest floor is covered with “nurse” logs, sometimes so many of them that it appears to raise the level of the ground around the trail. Staying above the clear waters of Siouxon Creek, the trail meanders gently up and down along hillsides and occasionally to flatter sections at the level of the creek.

At about 1.5 miles in, Horsetail Creek Falls is a lovely waterfall that spills down black basalt rock, which over many years has left deep grooves in the rock. A small bridge crosses the creek above the waterfall and over a small slot canyon with a deep emerald green pool of water. In another 0.2 miles, below the trail to the left, Siouxon Falls is a thundering cataract waterfall with a wide bowl-shaped deep pool that people sometimes swim in. Just past the waterfall is a side trail that leads to an open area for exploring a rocky section in the water at the top of the waterfall.

Back on the trail, it continues to skirt above the creek and through boggy sections of forest, passing a lower wide waterfall across the creek. Numerous side trails lead to more campsites, or good places to spend a little time enjoying the scenery. At 3.7 miles is a view of another deep emerald green pool just before a trail junction and a bridge over a split in the creek. Before the bridge is a long section of wide slippery rock with fast running water which we chose to not cross, so this was our final destination for the day.

This hike runs along the Salmon River for most of the way, and traverses a lovely mossy forest beside the river until a fantastic canyon viewpoint 600 feet above the river.

Salmon River

Trillium wildflower

Fairy Slipper wildflowers

Chocolate Lily wildflowers

Fawn Lily wildflowers

Oxalis wildflowers

Skunk Cabbage (yes, it does smell just like skunk)

unknown wildflower

approaching the canyon view

Salmon River canyon view: the river is several hundred feet below (unseen but heard)

Indian Paintbrush wildflowers

Salmon River

long view of the Salmon River

interesting rock feature

This hike has many great features: Rodney Falls, the Pool of Winds and Hardy Falls; beautiful streams; varied woodland wildflowers, and stunning views of the Columbia River Gorge from a steep cliff below Hamilton Mountain.

Instead of hiking all the way to the summit of Hamilton Mountain, we chose the cliff ridge below it as our destination. I had forgotten how steep this hike is and it has a few too many sheer drop-offs for my fear-of-heights-and-falling nature. If you don’t want to go as far as the cliffs, the waterfalls and wildflowers are well worth the trip, especially the viewpoint turnoff for Hardy Falls.

I was surprised at the great variety of wildflowers this early in the season. We saw Dutchman’s Breeches, Fairy Slipper, Striped Coralroot, Hooker’s Fairybells, Chickweed Monkeyflower, Trillium, Bleeding Hearts, Salmonberry, Yellow Wood Violet, Oregon Grape, Mountain Arnica, Wild Strawberry, Herb Robert Geranium and Oaks Toothwort.

I was especially excited to see the Fairy Slipper and Striped Coralroot.

Note: Washington does not accept the NW Forest Pass here and you’ll need a Discovery Pass, or pay $10 for the day.

The Cape Falcon hike begins at Short Sands Beach, so you can combine a short hike in the coastal forest with a visit to the beach. The hike goes through the forest for most of the way, and ends at the tip of the cape with outstanding views of the ocean all around. The headland has very steep drop-offs, and the adventurous can scramble down close to the end of the cape. After beginning in heavy forest, the trail goes through wet boggy areas that are usually quite muddy. Frequent coastal storms mean that there’s lots of blowdown on the trail too, so this isn’t always an easy stroll. In early spring, trilliums and skunk cabbage are seen (and smelled). Like most hikes along the coast in Oregon, most of the trees are sitka spruce, with a few old growth specimens, and plenty of ferns.

These photos document what it looks like to hike down to Crescent Beach. Starting at the Ecola Point parking lot, the hike goes through coastal forest, then descends to the beach. After the hike, we walked to the viewpoints at Ecola Point to photograph the beach we hiked down to.