Travel Report: Trail Running and Hiking in the Washington Side of Columbia Gorge

The Columbia Gorge is exceptional. That's just a fact. I've spent many happy hours there but, invariably, they've always been on the Oregon side. This past week I took a three day trailrunning and hiking trip on the north side of the Columbia and I'm here to tell you: it's just as great. It's also undervisited compared to the Oregon side so it's definitely awesome.

Note- these entries are not for navigational purposes. Detailed hike and trail run information can be found at the Oregon Hikers forum, which is how I found these various sites

My first hike this weekend was Beacon Rock.

This was an awesome hike, not especially challenging if you're reasonably fit but definitely a workout. The trail is far too crowded and narrow to recommend trailrunning. The whole thing took me 45 minutes, which included a detour on the wrong trail, spending plenty of time taking photos and sitting on the summit. It's really an amazing piece of geology, one of the world's largest freestanding monoliths and the trail is paved with rails from the days of WW1 so it's summitable by nearly everyone provided they take their time.

Trail Sign

Trail to the top of Beacon Rock

Columbia Gorge from Beacon Rock

While the trek was a challenge it didn't quite scratch that trailrunning itch so I crossed the interstate and headed to the Hamilton Mountain Trailhead for the Pool of the Winds and Little Beacon Rock.
The first half mile or so was extremely challenging. The grade was steep and the pathway was narrow. The trail was fecund with spring growth.

Dat GAP tho

The Pool itself was an amazing little geological anomaly. The waterfall is forced through a narrow hole creating an awesome little microclimate. Despite heavy sweating in the hot June air after a couple minutes at the crack I was near shivering

Pool of the Winds

After the Pool I decided to extend my run back to the crossroads and follow it the other direction until I made it to Little Beacon Rock which was also very awesome.

Little Beacon Rock

Between the hike and the trail run I was pretty pooped and called it a day after just about 5K

The next day was one of the best trailrunning experiences of my life at the Falls Creek Loop

Now, I know you're not supposed to run with earphones. It's considered gauche, potentially unsafe and defeats the purpose of running in the great green outdoors.... but I did and it was great.

One of my favorite podcast guests (Jessica St. Clair) made a long-awaited return to one of my favorite podcasts (Comedy Bang Bang) and it was fantastic. As ridiculous it is to have emotional. sentiment towards a podcast creation it's hard to resist the charms of St. Clair's character: the inimitable Marissa Wompler.

Knowing the circumstances behind the absence of the character made her return even better. Her and her comedy partner Lennon Parham (and, of course, The Choctaw) were on their A Game and it made the run just fly by.

Getting to the trailhead was about forty minutes from Carson, WA where I was staying. It is in the Gifford Pinchot national forest and you have to follow an extremely potholed dirt road to get there

The scenery is gorgeous, you pass a couple of old forestry test plots where different types of Ponderosa competed against one another. Very old school "Growing America's Future!" Feel to the signage as well.

Anyway from the parking lot the grade is pretty darn steep.
It also happens to be a strava segment, which I did well on, I attribute my placing to the power of Womping it up.

This is followed by a fairly short side trail to the Falls Creek waterfall which is, without hyperbole, one of the best and most scenic waterfalls I've ever seen

Falls Creek

Then it was back to main trail for an additional climb to a higher plateau zone

I then returned back down the trail for an eight mile loop. It was a challenge but it was fantastic as well as undervisited. I saw a few mountain bikers at a couple different places but that was it for other people.
I've been to many waterfalls in the Gorge and Falls Creek was definitely in the top percentile.

My final hike was to the summit of Wind Mountain. This was also very steep and narrow. It could be ran but it wouldn't be safe for certain sections.

The hike wasn't overly challenging and the summit was a spectacular space.

Before reaching the summit there are a series of signs indicating that this is an archaeological site of long -term usage and ongoing sacredness to the Columbia River Plateau Tribes who are Indigenous to the area.

Great care should be taken to stay in the marked observation areas. The site has a palpable numinous liminality to it. The stone structures speak to great effort and devotion, to arduous physical spirituality on a bleak and windswept peak. They are a testament, written in the very rock of the mountain, to the specialness of the space. It's a stunning area and should be treated with respect.

Wind Mountain Summit

Stone structures related to Columbia River Plateau Cultures

Following the hike it's highly recommended you stop off at the Whistlestop Espresso Cafe. It was a charming little breakfast and sandwich place with excellent food and top notch coffee. It's a cozy spot with great eats.

Whistletop Espresso and Wind Mountain

This was my final activity in the Gorge and it was a great one. Each hike or trail run I did was an extraordinary experience, really of the utmost. The scenery was amazing. I found the Washington side of the Gorge to be much more rural and laid back than the Oregon side which comes off I-84. It was a good time!

Speed and Distance

Interesting strava data today

Looks like my total speed average is just under 6 MPH (5.98)

But when I look at my data since Xmas via my Garmin

I can see definite improvement

Training is in a good place. Tapering before Foot Traffic Flat and my first marathon.

Heartbreaker Half: Race Report + Recap + Review

Heartbreaker Half was one of my very favorite races I've ran this year. It was definitely on the quaint side but what a nice comparison to the whole megarace vibe like the Shamrock. The course was hilly, the medal was meager but the total effect of the race in whole was of a charming delight in support of charity and suffused with positive energy.

It was located in... I want to say Hillsboro? Out yonder in the western boonies off of 26 in a farming community characterized by rolling hills, lush greenery and the difference of scale and grandeur between the residences. It seemed like a hardscrabble rural community confronting rich newcomers with 8,000 sq foot homes who only want to farm protected viewscapes. But that's neither here nor there. It was very pretty.

The starting area was Liberty High School which was a real John Hughesian place. It felt like real Americana. Tons of signs promoting extracurricular, clean and expansive facilitiess and a big banner with the college admission or post-graduate plans of every graduating senior. It just had a real nice energy to it.

Course itself was quite attractive. Two loops of a road track featuring rolling farmland, great old trees, a variety of houses and farms and a real cool old pioneer cemetery.The loops were extended out for an additional mile through the addition of “Heartbreaker Hill,” a separately timed uphill climb around mile 4.

The grade was not overly challenging but I certainly could feel it. It was on the way to rejoin the road for a second loop that we passed what was far and away the coolest part of the course. There was a huge old wooden rail trestle; completely out-of-place and incredibly alien to the landscape. It dominated the horizon, looking like the wall the natives of Skull Island erect to keep out Kong

I would google this trestle (aka the Dick Road trestle which, hey don’t laugh...) later and found out that it is the site of numerous urban legends and ghost stories. I did not witness any phantom hanging specters myself but I did get a real kick out of seeing this fantastic piece of vintage America. Later I’d find out that the trestle is, incredibly, still in use as a train crossing. This is something I’d love to see.

By the end of the race we had all substantially spread out and there was no one in front or behind me except for a young woman with the same pace. We had a greatly competitive final mile that added a frisson of challenge before crossing the finish line together.

After the race I was extremely heartened to receive an email from the organizing charitable body describing some of the inspirational stories of some of the people who raced. These people included former drug addicts and homeless runaways being united with their families for the first time in years. I have felt the transformative power that comes with recognizing ones ability to transcend your own beliefs about your body. Completing something you never believed you’d be able to has real carry-over benefits for the rest of your life. It’s one of the ways in which improvement through hard work in any field can really help instill a dynamic and transformative mindset.


This was an excellent race by any rubric. It supported positive charities, its organizers ensured an inclusive race experience and the course was just gorgeous. I’m very excited for next year

Race Report: Timberline Half Marathon

I write this sore and pained. Quads, glutes, a nasty hangnail. Yet I am happy. This was my first trail race and it was a real challenge but I feel rewarded and ready for another go next year now that I know what to expect. What an awesome and challenging race! I definitely misjudged quite a few elements of the race which did give me a couple hiccups but that was all on me. Excellent course; excellent organizers, excellent race!

Timberline Half

Up before dawn and a darkened city greets me. It's fleet week in Portland and I can see the lights of the coast guard patrol ships cruising the channel. It's bracing and crisp outside and the sky seems clear. I nuke my bowl of quinoa flakes with frozen fruit and rhodiola powder. This is going to be my very first trail race and I'm excited to do it but not looking forward to the drive.

Out on highway 26 things were looking grim. It was raining a bit and the fog had a bite to it.

By the time I got there things had cleared up. Parking was on the side of the road and the participants seemed modest in number and enthusiastic. It was much colder than I anticipated. I didn't really grasp that Timothy Lake was 3200 feet higher than Portland. So I was chilly and so were others. The people who brought a daybag were the smart ones.

god bless our second amendment right to shoot signs in the forest

The pre-race packet pickup was professional and prompt. The announcer was good, the crowd milled about.

.The narrowness of the trail meant that people would be exiting singly out the starting gate. I tend to get bashful via pace carrol. I'd rather pass people than get passed. So I lined up towards the rear behind some guy rocking a shirt from a desert Ultra which made me feel like I was in reasonable company.

The first mile-and-a-half or so was a Grade A Shitshow and it's my fault for not lining up closer to the front. Some of the people who left early in the pack that were walking within half a mile deserve some blame as well. The usual jostling and ranking that occurs in the first km of a race as people find their pace was much more spread out. The terrain was steep, the earth slippery, and it took a while for everyone to sort out their space

terrain was tough

Once things had settled out it was much nicer. My eyesight is myopic AF so my race face is a mole squint. In more forested sections of the run I think I might have missed a turnoff or a root if I hadn't latched on to a guy with a solid maintainable pace of around 10:00. On a road race this would be among my slowest times but on a muddy trail with tons of puddles, 11,428 tree roots (I counted) and some unstable rocks this felt great. I was really glad I latched on to someone who didn't mind guiding me and who had a similar pace.

Paul Eton my peloton pal

The first nine miles or so were marshy and forested with just occasional glimpses of the lake. There were vast fields of skunk cabbage which filled the course with a scent reminiscent of pungent Kush.

challenging terrain, blurry photo

I have a few thoughts about the more technical portions of the race. The cognitive load of this race was much more taxing than on road races. The demands of proprioception are significantly increased on uneven and dangerous terrain. This had a subjective effect of a much more mentally demanding process. Our brains are designed to find the easy way out through the usage of mental heuristics, simple hard and fast rules that help with decision making. When they really click in it's a sort of autopilot. Consider the commute you can't even remember or the time-passing glide of a long and familiar run. Having to be much more mentally engaged on this race was an interesting sensation.

Aid stations were well staffed, there were three of them full of enthusiastic volunteers. The final distance of this race was supposed to be 14.5 miles, my Garmin read 13.7 but I'll chalk that up to satellite issues.

Here are my official results which, y'know, aren't great. Top 50% total but definitely in the lower percentile for my age/gender. Still I was pretty pleased with the results of my first trail run and I think with more assuredness on my feet I should be able to do a better pace. The pace results are based on their course measurement of 14.5 miles which explains the slightly faster pace than on my Garmin.

supremely middle of the pack

after race

After race was as well organized as everything else: lots of snacks, massage stations, cheering spectators.

I was very happy with the race. Next year I think I'll try for the full. All in all it was a fantastic experience and a very enjoyable time!

This race was a fitting swan song for my Hoka One One Clifton 2. They retired to live with their family in Sussex.

plus there's a Dairy Queen on the way back which tasted better than a tub of carageenen and corn syrup has any right to do.

the greatest DQ I ever ate

Running rave review: Steel Bridge to Tillikum Crossing Waterfront Loop (also I geek out about the USS Oregon)

This may be the most common run I do (87 times so far according to my Strava data) and it's always a good time. 4.3 miles or so of riverside running crossing two bridges (which is fun, bridges are fun) with tons of strava segments to keep up your interest and competitive urge (and because it's Portland where there are tons of elites the KOM will be a real challenge).

There are sections right on the water which means fishermen a fishing:

occasional sea lions

Love locks and bridges and views:

after the snowstorm

boats of all sizes:

the severed mast of a 19th century battleship*:

the end of the USS Oregon

USS Oregon in happier days

The waterfront offers transient indigents aplenty and for a brief moment in spring dozens of blooming cherry trees

And, of course, a submarine!

It's mostly flat, fun, and solid stuff.

You can extend it out to 5.5 miles by running from steel to the Broadway bridge along Front avenue, doing the bridge stairs like Rocky, crossing then running past Moda and back to the eastbank esplanade

*a fascinating ship
The Oregon was connected to Presidential history. It was ordered built by then Naval Secretary Teddy Roosevelt, nicknamed “McKinley’s Bulldog,” honored with a valedictory speech by a young Lyndon Johnson and personally ordered scrapped by FDR

• Her 66-day journey from San Francisco to Florida, while being chased by the Spanish fleet, riveted the nation’s attention and provided a strong argument for the necessity of a Panama Canal

• The ship served in Cuba, the Philippines, China and Siberia.

• She “Escaped” harbor while unmanned during a typhoon and was found weeks later over 500 miles away
• Smokestacks have been stored at the Zidell Yards in Portland out of view since 2013