Sunny, springtime – time to hike – 5-23-2019

Taking advantage of a sunny day to get up into the southern Cascades of Washington. With the snow gone, I hiked to the site of the old fire lookout up on Three Corner Rock. The last time – many moons ago – I was up here was with my first little corgi, Toffee.

So, it was time to get the Little Man – Cuillin – up here while he still can – he is 12. The hardest part was finding the right forest road to go up.  Just out of Stevenson, the Rock Creek Road dips and another road goes up. They were not posted and the upper road looked more trafficked.  The traffic was because of log trucks, naturally. Finally, after a half hour up this road, I retreated and found the correct road.

At last, heading on the correct road, I passed by a pretty waterfall – Steep Falls you pass after several miles.

From the dim alcoves of memory, I remembered the falls being on the correct approach road. Higher up, I took the left branch at the big junction of roads at Rock Creek Pass and parked at the spot where the Pacific Crest Trail – PCT – crosses the road and headed south.

The Hike begins

The hike is fairly short (round trip of around five miles) and only 800 feet of elevation gain – which is about the limit for Cuillin now.

We got to the junction with the Three Corner Trail walking up past avalanche lilies. We hiked up the final part, an old eroded road, gaining the summit plateau. There is a microwave station on one side. The rock on which the old lookout was located is on the opposite side of the plateau.

There used to be an old shelter up here close by the microwave towers, but that seems to be gone now, or at least, overgrown.

Three Corner Rock Summit

Walking up the rock to reach the lookout, you start up an old concrete pathway. The path ends before you get to the top with some of the rocks fallen away. Here, you make a couple of 3rd class moves to get around the rockfall and gain the top. Toffee – the Little Girl – was small enough and light enough to lift up to the top. Cuillin has ten pounds on her and is much larger.  Stay there, big boy!

The views were great.  Silver Star off to the west.

Future possibilities beyond Three Corner Rock?

Hood beckons to the southeast, but so does an approach to Table Mountain I had not thought of before. Table Mountain is my favorite viewpoint in the Columbia River Gorge. It used to be a tough hike of about 9 miles round trip. The south half of Table Mountain collapsed long ago to form the natural Bridge of the Gods. From the top, you get an excellent appreciation for the geological events of the past. The old trailhead from the south near the Columbia River – near North Bonneville – is closed off by new property owners. Now, the hike is now much longer. 

If you are going to do 15 miles, you might as well not have so much elevation to worry about – almost 5,000 feet. Coming in from the north on the PCT over Birkenfeld Mountain, you mostly traverse instead of stiff climbing.  There was a road off the north side of Table going as far as the little pass where the power lines cross over South Birkenfeld Mountain.  Have the alders changed that path to impassable in the years since I followed it?  A question for the audience and for the future.

Return

The only people we met that day drove up as we were getting ready to return.  They were out trying to check out Bigfoot sightings and asked me if we had seen anything – we hadn’t.  Returning the way we came, we stopped at the old water trough. Not very useable in its current state. The original lookout was serviced by horses and mules originally.

 A quick stop at Steep Falls, where I mistakenly left my plastic map cover.

and a final stop in Cascade Locks before the return trip home. Thunder Island Brewing here in its first location near the old locks with Table Mountain soaring above. The new brewery is sited above in the main part of the little town. Same good beer, but more people since it is easier to find.

May 23, 2019.