Beacon Rock

Friday, 3/7,  2014

Out to play on a beautiful day.  Climbed to the top, ate lunch, enjoyed the views.  Met some interesting people:  Char, who climbs the rock several days a week in around 17 minutes.  The Fish and Game employee from Anchorage that is planning on retiring.  He said the Gorge was so developed compared to Alaska.  No kidding??


Beacon Rock State Park is a state park of Washington, USA, in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, on State Route 14 about 35 miles (56 km) east of Vancouver, Washington.

The park takes its name from Beacon Rock, an 848-foot (258 m) monolith next to the Columbia River. The 5,100 acres (2,100 ha) park includes 4,482 acres (1,814 ha) of forested uplands across the highway from Beacon Rock, over 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of hiking trails, and 9,500 feet (2,900 m) of freshwater shoreline.  Hardy Falls and Rodney Falls are scenic highlights along the trail to the summit of 2,445-foot (745 m) Hamilton Mountain, which has a view of Bonneville Dam and points east. 

On October 31, 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived here and first measured tides on the river, indicating that they were nearing the ocean.From Wikipedia.  

Hike Description

Beacon Rock is one of the most prominent and distinctive geological features in the Columbia River Gorge, an 848-foot landmark that was once the core of a volcano — what remains is what was not washed away by the massive force of ice-age flooding. It is one of the tallest monoliths (singular piece of rock) in North America, along with California's El Capitan, Georgia's Stone Mountain, and Wyoming's Devils Tower.

The Beacon Rock Trail was built by Henry Biddle and Charles Johnson between 1915 and 1918. That makes it one of the oldest trails in our area. At the time, Biddle owned the rock, so he had complete latitude to blast and bridge his way to the top. Several trailside plaques commemorate his achievement.

Beacon Rock was originally named by Lewis & Clark on the Voyage of Discovery in 1805, but in later years was more commonly known as Castle Rock. The original name was restored in 1916 by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, at Biddle's request. Before Biddle purchased the rock and began trail construction, it had been slated for demolition — the rubble could have been used for either railroad construction or a new jetty at the mouth of the Columbia. Biddle's estate offered the rock and surrounding acreage to the state of Washington for $1, provided it be retained as a public park — a gift Washington initially declined until the state of Oregon indicated that it would be willing to maintain a state park on the north banks of the Columbia. Washington paid the fee in 1935, and the park now comprises 4,650 acres with nearly two miles of freshwater shoreline.

Today's trail follows Biddle's original alignment and it could hardly do anything else. After a short stroll through the woods, the trail hits the rock with a vengeance. It's not too steep and most of the surface has been paved over the decades at one time or another. You'll walk on rock, small patches of cement paving, concrete platform bridges and wooden bridges. The surface is good for normal athletic shoes. The entire trail is a near-continuous series of switchbacks, many of them less than 20 feet long and the trail loops over itself at least twice. I counted 52 switchbacks, while one of my sons counted 54 and the other came up with 49. That says less bad about our educational system than it does good about the distracting views. The trail is completely lined by handrails and is safe for all but the tiniest walkers.

Most of the trail is up the open, west side of the rock, providing views down the river of Angel's Rest and Cape Horn. With little shade or water, this part of the trail can be really hot in the summertime. Beacon Rock actually has two summits and the trail works around the south one and proceeds up the east side toward the higher, north summit. The trail is forested here, but the terrain is still rocky enough to provide great views of Hamilton Mountain and the river toward Bonneville Dam. At the summit, a few quite large stairs lead to the summit pinnacle. Here, trees block a bit of the view, but it's certainly worth seeing.

The wind is usually howling on one side of the rock and dead calm on the other side, creating a dramatic difference in the perceived temperature. You'll need a jacket most days, but you'll carry it a lot.

Source: http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Beacon_Rock_Hike

I often reread the journals of Lewis and Clark regarding places I visit or plan to visit.  

I have copied and pasted the portion of the Journal that is about Beacon Rock and the vicinity.  I highlighted several items: 

Oddly, I noticed an interpretive sign at the base of the rock that said L&C and the Corps passed here on 10/31/1805.  I came home and read the Journals for 10/31  and found that the Corps, to a man, were describing the area below Celilo Falls and the Dalles. The Corps started mentioning Beacon Rock and measuring tidal influence on 11/2, not 10/31.   There is also a discrepancy in the dates offered by Wiki.   Either way, they were here either 10/31 or 11/2, 1805.  It only depends on who you believe - - Wiki or the Journals. 

From the journals:

[Clark] November 2nd Saturday 1805  [9]

 

       Examined the rapid below us more pertcelarly    the danger appearing too great to Hazzard our Canoes loaded, dispatched all the men who could not Swim with loads to the end of the portage below, I also walked to the end of the portage with the carriers where I delayed untill everry articles was brought over and canoes arrived Safe.    here we brackfast and took a Meridn.    altitude 59° 45' 45"    about the time we were Setting out 7 Squars came over loaded with Dried fish, and bear grass neetly bundled up, Soon after 4 Indian men came down over the rapid in a large canoe.    passed a rapid at 2 miles & 1 at 4 miles opposite the lower point of a high Island on the Lard Side, and a little below 4 Houses on the Stard. Bank,  [10] a Small Creek on the Lard Side opposit Straw berry Island, which heads below the last rapid, opposit the lower point of this Island passed three Islands covered with tall timber opposit the Beatin rock Those Islands are nearest the Starboard Side, imediately below on the Stard. Side passed a village ofnine houses,  [11] which is Situated between 2 Small Creeks, and are of the Same construction of those above; here the river widens to near a mile, and the bottoms are more extensive and thickly timbered, as also the high mountains on each Side, with Pine, Spruce pine, Cotton wood, a Species of ash, and alder.    at 17 miles passed a rock near the middle of the river, about 100 feet high and 80 feet Diamuter,  [12] proceed on down a Smoth gentle Stream of about 2 miles wide, in which the tide has its effect as high as the Beaten rock or the Last rapids at Strawberry Island,—    Saw great numbers of waterfowl of Different kinds, Such as Swan, Geese, white & grey brants,  [13] ducks of various kinds, Guls, & Pleaver. Labeach killed 14 brant Joseph Fields 3 & Collins one.    we encamped under a high projecting rock on the Lard. Side,  [14] here the mountains leave the river on each Side, which from the great Shute to this place is high and rugid; thickly Covered with timber principalley of the Pine Species. The bottoms below appear extensive and thickly Covered with wood.    river here about 2½ miles wide. Seven Indians in a Canoe on their way down to trade with the nativs below, encamp with us, those we left at the portage passed us this evening and proceeded on down    The ebb tide rose here about 9 Inches, the flood tide must rise here much higher—    we made 29 miles to day from the Great Shute—

11. Identified on Atlas map 79 as the "Wah-clallah Tribe of Shahala Nation," probably the same people also referred to as the Watlalas, an Upper Chinookan-language people. The term Shahala is from Chinookan áx̣l(a), "upriver, above," and áx̣latk, "those upriver." These people, who resided along the "Cascades of the Columbia," are often labeled under the general name of Cascades Indians. Like many Chinookan-speaking peoples, this group was greatly reduced by disease later in the nineteenth century, with most of the survivors eventually joining the Wascoes on the Warm Springs Reservation or the Wishrams on the Yakima Reservation. Hodge 2:922; Spier, 21, 24; Berreman, 18–19; Hajda, 67, 119–20. The village of nine houses was in Skamania County, in the vicinity of present Skamania. Spier & Sapir, 167–68, vaguely place several villages of the Cascades Indians in this area. The village observed by Lewis and Clark may correspond with a known archaeological site, where test excavations encountered evidence of late prehistoric occupation. Warren (RSWA), 10–11. Prehistoric occupation in the Cascades area has a limited time depth, as all sites investigated to date are situated on landforms created as a result of the Bonneville landslide around 800 years ago. Minor, Toepel, & Beckham; Minor (PH). (Return to text.)

12. "Phoca" or "Seal rock" on Atlas map 79. "Phoca" is Greek for "seal." Lewis and Clark's name has been restored to this formation, rising about thirty feet in the Columbia River. The name is for the harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardii. See October 23, 1805. The rocks in this area are basalts of the middle Miocene Yakima Basalt Subgroup of the Columbia River Basalt Group. (Return to text.)