After a short period of being inactive as I was out of the country for work, Val and I decided to do Hamilton Mountain as it provides pretty much everything you would want from a hike. It has good views, descent elevation gain and distance and is close to town. Even better, we scored with one of those crisp/clear early spring days. Also, since we were on our own, we took our time to get there and start without being rushed. We started climbing swiftly at first with few views of the Gorge but knowing what was to come. Shortly after we took the detour to Rodney falls and checked the Wind Tunnel. As always, I started thinking on ways I could get a picture from that viewpoint, but there’s so much water and mist coming out of the tunnel that it would be almost impossible unless you had an underwater camera case. From there, we continued and took the “hardest” route that follows the ridgeline with clear views of the Gorge as it goes thru numerous switchbacks. At about two thirds of the total elevation, we took a little detour to an incredible viewpoint on top of the Gorge. I’m not sure what’s the name of it although in maps it’s shown as “Climb”. Either way, getting there only requires a bit of a bushwhack but is very well worth the effort. We took a short lunch break at that point enjoying the views and the sun before continuing up. Then it was all the way to the vey uneventful Hamilton Summit. Since we wanted to do the loop, we continued on the ridge heading south to the old forest road and then down the “less difficult” trail. This trail has always surprised me as it seems to be kind of an afterthought or a back way to somewhere. It certainly doesn’t offer many views although it’s gentler on the knees which we both needed after not being too active.
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