Adventurers, are you ready to head to the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side? You’ll explore a county park, a wildlife refuge, a state park, and national forest land as you get the most of this area carved away by the river and ancient floods. You’ll use Highway 14 as your main pathway to exploration, and on the way you’ll explore rushing rivers carving potholes into rocks, see more birds than you can count, cross bridges and make wishes in forested pools, and check out an arch carved from rock. Camas, Washougal, and Stevenson will be our hubs of exploration, with yummy spots to treat yourselves afterward. To the river we go!
A river and falls adventure inside the city? Let’s do it, adventurers. You’ll park in the lot right off of 3rd Avenue in Camas and follow the wide path. Travel north along Lacamas Creek until you reach the mighty Lower Lacamas Falls, a bridge, and a large flat boulder beach. Turn left here, and hike along until you reach Pothole Falls at 1.2 miles. There’s an overlook with a steel cable, so watch little ones. Turn around and head back.
LENGTH 2.4 miles out and back
HIKE TIME + EXPLORE 1.5 hours
DIFFICULTY Moderate—very gradual elevation change, but a few exposed areas by the falls and river
SEASON Year-round; avoid super-rainy days but a good winter option for rushing falls
GET THERE Exit Highway 14 in Camas. The parking lot is on the north side of 3rd Avenue and 1st Avenue.
Google Maps: bit.ly/TimberLacamas
RESTROOMS None
FEE None
TREAT YOURSELF Cafe Natalia in downtown Camas whips up a mean pancake.
Clark County, Lacamas Lake Regional Park
(360) 397-2285
Twitter @ClarkCoWA
Facebook @ClarkCountyWA
Lacamas Creek flows from Lacamas and Round Lake to the Washougal River and creates Pothole Falls on its way. The potholes are made of sedimentary sandstone that eroded away because of water and weather—just like the way potholes on roads are made. In the winter, the creek is so full the potholes might not be obvious, but in the summer you should be able to see lots of holes. How many can you count?
A pothole in Lacamas Creek fills with water
Robins love to forage on the ground, and if you’re lucky, you might find one snagging an earthworm for a snack. Take a moment to forage on the ground yourself for an earthworm, and listen to its sing-songy notes at bit.ly/TimberRobin.
An American robin (Turdus migratorius) gets some lunch
This ivy’s name contains the word helix, which means “spiral” in Latin. Do you think it might be because of the way it swirls around the trees? See if you can bend your body around your co-adventurers in a spiral and give them a big hug. What do you think park managers have to do to fight away this aggressive, invasive species?
Can hear a chip-chip coming from the ground or in the shrubs? It might just be the little butterball, the yellow-rumped warbler. Listen to it closely at bit.ly/TimberYellowRumped. Both males and females have a yellow patch on their rump.
These toothy-lobed leaves may remind you of maples, but during spring and summer, the white papery flower with five petals makes it stand out. Parviflorus means “little flower” in Latin. When you get home, take a sheet of paper and see if you can crumble it to create your own parviflorus.
Adventurers, today you seek the mystical Pool of the Winds. You’ll start by campsite 10 at the Beacon Rock State Campground on the Hadley Trailhead, as it’s a bit of a gentler grade. You’ll go up through a forest of old logging stumps in Hadley Grove, named after the first superintendent of the park. Can you see the tree rings on the stumps? Then you come out to a junction from the Hamilton Mountain Trail. Power up at the power station and look down at the Bonneville Dam, generating power for the Pacific Northwest to enjoy. Then head up into the forest, cross a couple of bridges, and then go to the first deck down to see Hardy Falls. Come back up, turn right, and hang out on the bridge at Rodney Falls above Hardy Falls. You can go below the bridge and play in the rocks as well. Finally, go up just a bit more for the Pool of the Winds. Hope for a rainbow and make a wish for your family. Head back the way you came, and stay the night if you’d like at the campground where you parked.
LENGTH 2.6 miles out and back
HIKE TIME + EXPLORE 1.5 hours
DIFFICULTY Moderate—not too many hand-holding spots, but a definite elevation gain on the way up; nothing a power-up stop can’t fix
SEASON Spring through fall; spring for wildflowers and fall for a more powerful waterfall
GET THERE Take Highway 14 to just east of Beacon Rock State Park. Take Kueffler Road past the first parking lot to the second Beacon Rock State Park Campground parking lot, and park in the gravel near the Hadley Trailhead.
Google Maps: bit.ly/TimberPool
RESTROOMS At the campground
FEE $10 day-use Discover Pass available on site (with a credit card by Beacon Rock or with cash/check at the iron ranger near the trailhead) or annual Discover Pass
TREAT YOURSELF Grab some burgers at the Beacon Rock Cafe at the Skamania General Store just a few miles east on Highway 14.
Washington State Parks, Beacon Rock State Park
(509) 427-8265
Twitter @WAStatePks
Facebook @WashingtonStateParks
This plunge waterfall tumbles 80 feet in two tiers from 7-mile-long Hardy Creek, named after Ebenezer Hardy, who owned this land back in 1865. The creek eventually makes it all the way down to the mighty Columbia River.
The bridge connecting Rodney and Hardy Falls
Look for Hamilton and Table Mountains on your way up the trail. Around 1,000 years ago, a piece of Table Mountain slid off and dammed the Columbia, allowing Native Americans to walk across. The modern structure is named for the ancient rock dam, the Bridge of the Gods. Have you crossed it along the Columbia River before?
Hamilton Mountain soars to 2,445 feet
In the summer, you can play “love me, love me not” for a long time with this daisy. Threadleaf fleabane has a central yellow disk and can have over one hundred rays shooting out from each. These flowers are big nectar producers, so make sure to keep an eye out for butterflies!
Aquifolium means “holly-leafed.” In the summer, you can see these big blue berries hanging off. Carefully feel the sharp, serrated edges of each lobe.
In the early summer and fall, these stems are straight-up and have narrow alternate (every other) leaves with white hairs. The little clusters of yellow and white flowers look like pearls. What do you think is something fun you could do with the little pearls? The painted lady butterfly loves this plant to lay eggs in, so look for caterpillars here.
Adventurers, let’s go check out a special arch in the rock that has significance to Native Americans. First, you head right at the trailhead on a road marked 021. It rolls up a small bluff before dropping down to Catherine Creek. Cross the bridge to find an abandoned horse corral and homestead in the small valley. Hang out here for a while as you explore and think of who used to live here and what significance the rock arch could have had. This is a short adventure; a trail continues around but you’ll turn around here and head back to the car.
LENGTH 1 mile out and back
HIKE TIME + EXPLORE 1 hour
DIFFICULTY Easy—minimal elevation gain and a perfect trail to stop and explore
SEASON Year-round unless there have been recent snowstorms; plentiful wildflowers in early spring
GET THERE About 26 miles past Stevenson on Highway 14, turn north on Old Highway 8 and the clearly signed parking area will be waiting for you on the north side.
Google Maps: bit.ly/TimberCatherine
RESTROOMS Across the road from the parking lot
FEE None
TREAT YOURSELF Stop by Everybody’s Brewing 7 miles west in White Salmon. The mac and cheese on the kid’s menu and big open tables make this local stop a must.
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
(541) 308-1700
Twitter @CRGNSA
Facebook @CRGNSA
This small mammal loves grazing on grass and hanging out on warm rocks with friends. See if you can find any signs of the pika, including small scat balls or its tracks, which have a bounding pattern, with the front two at an angle and the back two parallel.
The flow of basalt that created the arch is part of huge basaltic flows that arrived over millions of years. Geologists can tell which flow it came from by looking closer at the rock. You can tell how different sediments were mixed in as the softer rock eroded away to create the arch. Find a rock on the ground and chip away at it with another rock to try to make your own arch, and think of how powerful forces must be to make that happen.
Walk over the log bridge to get to the other side of Catherine Creek, and step down and feel its waters. This creek drains into the mighty Columbia River. Send two leaf boats on down to meet the river, and watch to see who wins.
See if you can find some of these three-needle bundles. What other things come in threes in the world? Imagine how you might make a tea out of these as Native Americans did. Be sure to look under the ponderosa for tracks or scat, as wildlife loves to eat the pine’s seeds.
Catherine Creek is one of the first areas to bloom every year, so look for the large green bushes of Columbia desert parsley and its bursts of purple flowers in early spring. Its roots are huge and were used in a variety of ways by the Native Americans. If you have paint at home, try to recreate its flower bursts by drawing the stem and then splatting paint with your fingers.
We’re going birdwatching on the Gibbons Creek Wildlife Art Trail, adventurers. We’ll head straight out, cross two bridges over Steigerwald Lake and Redtail Lake before turning back around at the gate at the end of the year-round trail instead of doing the longer loop available part of the year. Along the way, focus above and in the water, walking slowly and quietly and appreciating the huge number of bird species that stop here at these wetlands—like a gas station on a big, long road trip.
LENGTH 2.1 miles out and back
HIKE TIME + EXPLORE 1 hour
DIFFICULTY Easy—flat and ready for you to spot some birds
SEASON Year round; great for winter and October to May is best for wildlife viewing
GET THERE Look for the nice big sign and parking lot just south of Highway 14 about 3 miles east of Washougal.
Google Maps: bit.ly/TimberSteigerwaldLake
RESTROOMS At the trailhead
FEE None
TREAT YOURSELF Visit WildFlour Cafe and Cupcakes in Washougal for sandwiches and sweet treats.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge
(360) 887-4106
Twitter @USFWSPacific
Look for the grove of bigleaf maples on your way in on the trail. There is a weird surprise inside one of the stumps. Can you find it? Roundheaded wood borer beetles attack dying and dead trees, and you’ll see a few holes in the trees made by these beetles. There is a large tribute statue to a beetle inside. Don’t worry, it’s not real.
The treasure hidden inside a bigleaf maple stump
Can you spot these turtles as they gather together to hang out and bask in the sun on logs? When it’s warm out, they bask up to six hours a day because they are cold-blooded. In the winter, they like to hibernate at the bottom of ponds in the mud—they can hold their breath longer than any other air-breathing vertebrate (animal with a backbone) in the world! Try breathing in deep and hold your breath for four seconds and then exhale—could you imagine doing that for five months?
Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta)
Canada geese can be aggressive, especially during the breeding season, so be careful, adventurers. These black and brown birds are easy to spot in the sky, because of their loud honk and their V-formation in flight. Can you make a V-formation on the trail with the people you came hiking with today?
A pair of Canada geese (Branta canadensis)
The familiar duck quack is the sound of a female mallard. Males don’t quack, but instead make a quieter, rasping sound. See if you can spot them dabbling (tipping forward) for plants, insects, and other small invertebrates and animals in the water. Can you try dabbling for a snack at your next power up stop?
A male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) cruises on the lake
The refuge employees make it easy for you to contribute to citizen science. Make sure to check the wildlife sightings board on your way in to see what other hikers have seen along the trail. What do you hope to see? Make note of any species you found on your way back to help others when they go on the trail.
Notes on the wildlife seen at Steigerwald Lake
