Labyrinth and Coyote Wall, Dec 3rd

Since there wasn’t a lot of snow yet up in the mountain and it looked like it was going to rain – again, I decided to once again go east towards dryer lands. Coincidentally (or not) it seems this time of year, when we are transitioning from Summer to fall to winter, hiking on the eastern side of the Gorge is the way to go. So, this is another variation to the old classic loop that includes parts of Catherine Creek and Coyote Wall. Rather than start from the Catherine Creek trailhead though, his loop starts from a trailhead right in the middle. There are a couple of advantages to this particular route as some of it is not used by mountain bikers so finding a parking spot is usually easier. The first part of the hike starts going west on the old Hwy 8 route. If you were to continue all the way around, you’d end up at the Coyote Wall trailhead but instead, less than half way thru, there’s a trail that goes up towards Hidden Canyon. This trail quickly ascends thru rock formations and enters a forest pocket that looks almost like a piece from a fairy tale. Before coming out on the other side, there’s a foot path heading towards a rock outcrop that it’s worth visiting as it opens the views to the eastern Gorge.

The trail continues up passing by a couple junctions before reaching the Atwood Road that connects Catherin Creek with Coyote Wall. At that point it was the normal route heading west towards the wall with magnificent views of the gorge to the side. The only piece of scenery missing was Mt Hood as it was hiding inside a huge cloud. Wind was howling and got stronger as we got closer to the Coyote Wall view point. It was cold but the wind certainly made it feel like it so we bundled up once we got there and before continuing up to the upper view point. I had thought we would be able to stop there for lunch but the wind didn’t let us so we got in the trees until we found a more sheltered spot to grab a bite before heading back down.

To head back, we took the Crybaby Trail that follows the Wal ledge about half way but then veered to one of the trails that connected with the Little Maui trail. Again, this is a trail that is not as busy with mountain bikers and descends a bit further east offering more shelter from the wind. It also makes the return route a bit shorter when it lands back down on the old HWY8 which you take all the way back to the car. All in all, another great day.


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