Eagle Creek – Tanner Butte backpacking loop, Mar 5th

This weekend was pure luck I guess. I got a free day of as the company was moving to the new building and weather was just perfect to get out there for the first backpack trip of the season. Not wanting to go too far from town, we decided to stick to a closer yet very interesting loop in the Columbia Gorge. The Eagle – Tanner loop basically combines two trials in a big loop that that can be done in either direction both offering great places to spend the night and views. Having read some reports, I though the better way to do it was anti clockwise. Originally the plan was to start early in the morning although the first day was not going to be too long, but since Mark needed to finish some stuff at work, we actually headed out there at noon. After leaving the car at Eagle Creek, we started our adventure by crossing the bridge and getting on the Columbia scenic trail, also known as trail 400, which travels next to the river without gaining a lot of elevation. Incredibly and unexpectedly, we got some really good vies of the Cascade locks from this trail.

Cascade locks from trail 400


After a short walk we came to an old forest road which was the original access road to the Tanner Butte trail. This road has been closed for some time making this trail a bit more difficult to get to although you’re just hiking on a road. Then we got to the Tanner Butte trailhead. That felt like the real beginning of the hike although by that time we were already about 3 miles from the car. Either way, after reading all the warnings which seemed kind of funny as you can’t drive there anymore; we started hiking up around some small, beautiful waterfalls. AS we were ascending, we got a couple of nice views of Table Mountain across the Columbia River. From that point on, the trail became a magical passage through dense second growth forests with almost no views. That obviously didn’t matter much as the forest itself was incredible.

Hiking through the forest


Near the end of the day we finally reached the side trail to Dublin Lake, our destination for the day and campsite for the night. As expected, we had to descend a couple hundred feet to get to the lake which is immersed in the forest and has no views. Still, it’s a great stopping point with one of the nicest campsites I’ve found. Not only we had a huge fire pit, but we had a sofa! Given, it was made up of rocks, but after a full day of walking, it was great to sit and rest in front of the fire while having dinner before going to bed.

Campsite with a sofa


On Saturday morning, before breakfast, I went for a short walk around the lake to take some pictures. Being so deep in the forest and with a foggy morning, it was hard to get descent shots but it was easy to take in the serenity and peaceful setting of it. After a nice breakfast and packing up, we headed back up to the main trail to continue climbing to the highest point of our trip, Tanner Butte. On our way we made several stops to enjoy the different shapes and views within the forest. As the hours passed, the weather was getting better and warmer to a point, when we reached a meadow before the final ascend to the Butte, when we had crystal clear blue skies. In that area, we found remnants of rabbits and other small animals as well as the cause for those… Cougars! We didn’t see any, but the tracks were fresh. From there, we continued up looking for any sign or mark indicating the route to Tanner Butte. According to the maps, the Butte is not on the trail, so to get to it, you have to scramble. At some point Brian found the market although it wasn’t on a tree, it had fallen and was lying on the ground. I have to say that this may be the most descriptive sign I’ve seen in the woods.

Pretty clear what’s up ahead isn’t it?


So we left our packs tucked away and scrambled our way up. Although not too long, the scramble is a bit difficult, but the rewards are very well worth it. As you start to get above the tree line, distant snow peak start appearing in the horizon. At some point, from the slope, you have a clear view that includes Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier. Going a bit further, you finally reach the summit which opens views to the South with Mt Hood right in front of you. At this point, all I can say is Wow! The views were so amazing and the day so nice that we spent nearly an hour at the summit. Putting words to it would be difficult so I’ll let a couple of pictures tell the story

At the summit


Our cairn and snow people


Mt St Helens


After that, the trip was mostly downhill. First we needed to get back down to the trail where we stopped for lunch and then continue on the ridge to the connector trail. The sign was not difficult to find but after getting on the connector trail, which starts descending abruptly to the Eagle Creek drainage, we found that staying on the trail was no easy task. On one side it was over grown and on the other, we had snow on the ground so we ended up losing the trail. Doing some navigation we were able to get back to it just to lose it again a couple of times until we were below the snow level. Roughly by the end of the day, with almost no light left, we finally reached Eagle Creek which we had to cross as our campsite for the night as well as the rest of the trail, was on the other side.

Crossing Eagle Creek


The final day of our adventure was hiking down the Eagle Creek trail back to the parking lot. This trail is probably, next to Multnomah Falls, the most visited in the Gorge so we were not expecting a lot of solitude. What we were expected though was a lot of really beautiful waterfalls. From those, there was one in particular that Mark and Brian suggested I checked. This fall is not on the trail so you have to scramble a bit to the side to see it. But once there, I can say it’s just amazing. I was not able to take a picture of the whole thing, but just seeing half of it was impressive. Here’s some eye candy.



Then, more waterfalls, more green scenery, more beautiful forest. Could there be a better way to start the backpacking season?