Beacon Rock and Hamilton Mountain

Columbia River, Beacon Rock far left in distance

I-205 north across the Columbia River, then east on Highway 14 for 28 miles. The eastbound highway view of Mount Hood is way better on the Washington side for some reason. I guess when you're on I-84 you're at the base of the Oregon side Columbia Gorge cliffs, and so Hoody is hidden.

Beacon Rock. Hamilton Mountain in the rear.

This was my first time hiking 848-foot Beacon Rock. Claimed to be one of the northern hemisphere's largest free-standing monoliths, it is the throat of a former volcano. Oooh! The rest of it got eroded by the Columbia River millions of years ago. It's just shy of a mile to the top on a paved and railed trail. EASY. I made the mistake of bringing my entire pack though, so I had a rougher time than the regulars overtaking me with just a small Evian in hand. I should have figured it would be a quick trip to the top.


Looking northeast I could see the peak of Hamilton Mountain, at 2,400 feet; my next stop. Back down Beacon Rock and across the street to the Hamilton trail head. Nice and shady trail, with a steady 600-foot climb for the first mile. Then it descends to a beefy wooden bridge spanning Rodney Falls.


Above the bridge a side trail takes you right up to the fall's first tier where you can watch it furiously plunge into a small pool creating a misty whirlwind within its circular rock walls.


The trail from here leads you up to Hamilton Mountain via 2 miles of very steep switchbacks. Definitely not for the couch potato. Even though I've been working out a bunch lately, I still had to take numerous breaks to catch my breath.

I finally got to a clearing, a nice rock outcropping with a view of just the tip of Mount Hood to the south. Breezy up there. The guttural call of a raven sounded excitingly nearby, and suddenly three of them soared up right in front of me, acrobatically, in the hot updraft blowing against the cliff face a few feet away.

Bonneville Dam

I found a little path around to the front of the cliff and a tiny place to sit, so I sat. Perched there only inches away from a sheer 2,000-foot drop, I could see the whitewash of the river far below pushing through Bonneville Dam, and a bird's eye view of... well, a bird's eye. This time three turkey vultures came soaring down to check me out - I wish I had my camera ready for that, as one of them came within 15 feet! Awesome!!

Looking down on Beacon Rock from Hamilton Mountain

I didn't make it to the tippy top, several hundred feet higher. I figured this was good enough, and besides it was late afternoon. The way down went pretty fast, though hard on the toes and knees. All in all, a very good hike. I'd do it again. Somebody join me next time? :)

I was somewhere on the edge of that cliff to the right