Hamilton Mountain, March 2010

In this post, I'm going try embedding two short videos. I hope it works!

I had a day off and wanted to go hiking. I'd been listening to the weather reports, though, and they weren't looking too good. good, in the normal sense, that is. On the other hand, every hike I've done in highly inclement weather was a real joy, and every one of them has made me feel vibrantly alive. So I often plan on going hiking places where I know I'll get a little wind in my face. Hamilton Mountain is one such place. It's a nice climb on the Washington side of the Gorge that's not too crowded during the winter weekdays I normally hike it.

The weather started off deceptively nicely. Though I had driven through rain, I parked in dry weather, and hiked up through the second growth forest in scattered sunlight. I thought to myself "where's my nice weather, now?"



As I got higher, I could see down into the Gorge a little bit, and things started turning around. Clouds started to fill up the horizon. Here's Beacon Rock and the River from one vantage point.



On the way up, I met two college age girls who were basically running down the mountain in the opposite direction. They were wearing cotton hoodies and running shorts. They didn't have backpacks (they had a little water), and they were freezing! I was wearing wool underwear, fleece insulation, and great rain gear. I was hiking uphill, too. Some people amaze me!

I arrived at the first big views just as clouds were cutting off views across the high country across the Gorge. So I took a look down at the rockslide slopes at the base of the mountain. Don't worry, this photo looks like it was taken mid-air. It's a lot safer than it looks, actually:



Around this time, I noticed that the trail had become a stream. Here's what a trail looks like if it's not maintained. All it needed was a few waterbars, and the water rushing down this long section would simply wash down the side at the waterbar. I took the time to put one in myself (it's basically a 5" ditch that drains the water out the side). It took me 10 minutes, using a 1" thick stick. Surely someone at Washington State Parks knows how to do this? They ought to fix it, too, because the stream is just taking the trail down with it. Oh well.



I took a spell to sit and eat a snack. I could hear yelling down the trail, so I looked down and saw two men and two dogs nearby. These talkative guys leap-frogged me for the rest of the hike. Unfortunately, they were going about the same speed (I am much diminished, nowadays), and so we were always bumping into on another. Not my cup of tea. And on such an ugly day, I'd really expected the solitude. It wouldn't have been bad but for the off leash dogs running all around and the guys splitting up and walking at a distance from one another. It meant that I was always in the middle of yelling and dogs.

Here they are, as I walk up the west face of the mountain. Note the cool wind blown clouds.



Here's a video of the same scene:



Obligatory Summit Shot:



From here back down, the scenery closed up, and clouds and spitting rain and snow took over. It was glorious. And cold. I took a long break, hoping the other guys would get out of there, but it didn't quite work.

Finally, here's another video, showing the weather near the summit.



Hope you enjoyed reading this.  Really do, because it was a pain to set up!!!