Cape Horn Trail

Location: Out and back from Park and Ride to falcon nesting grounds-8.2 miles
State: Washington
Distance: 8.2 miles
Fees: None
Facilities: Toilets at Park & Ride (yay!!)
Scenery: Maple forest, wildflowers, great gorge views and a waterfall.

     This is one of the closest hikes from Portland on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge making it a great hike if you're not up for a road trip. You do not need to cross any toll bridges either. It's probably about a 45 minute drive from south east Portland. To find this trail drive east on Hwy 14 from Vancouver 26 miles, turn left on Salmon Falls Road and park in the Park & Ride lot. If you need a pee break, take it here!

     The trail starts across Salmon Falls Road from the parking lot at a well-signed trailhead.  This trail starts with a comfortable climb through maple forest dotted with wildflowers in spring.  Switchbacks lead up to three great viewpoints of the Gorge.

This is a good place to do your own impression of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive signs found around here.

Andrea pointed out that this would be a very nice trail to run as we saw a few trail runners pass us by. She might be hitting it up sometime in the summer to test it out.

    When encountering any forks along the trail, keep left towards the gorge until the trail turns inward. Between February 1st and July 15th, you'll begin seeing signs warning due to Peregrine Falcon nesting season. You will be unable to continue on with the looped trail and will need to double back a bit. When you reach the old forest road take a left and continue until you see Cape Horn Trail re-emerging on the left.  Continuing on, you will follow the edge of a farm until you reach a paved road. Cross over to our first prime planking location of the hike...

Disclaimer: this one takes a strong core and good balance

When you're done planking on various surfaces, continue left on the trail and join up with the gravel drive that will lead you back into maple forest and a circular stone viewpoint dedicated to Nancy Russell, founder of Friends of the Columbia Gorge. From here you can see Beacon Rock to the East and Angel's Rest across the river. This is a great spot to rest, have a picnic, or more planking.

     After the viewpoint, the trail descends back into the woods toward Hwy 14 and through a tunnel, which leads under the highway.  After this, there's only a little over .5 miles to the nesting ground.  Check out the waterfall viewpoint before heading down to the bridge over the creek where the barrier will be. 

Outside of nesting season you can turn this into a 7 mile loop trail, which takes you to a second waterfall as well as a train tunnel overlook and then back to the Park & Ride lot via Cape Horn Road.  We will revisit this loop later in the season. Stay tuned...