When you drive east on Hwy84 past Hood River, you can see a huge vertical basalt wall on the other side of the Columbia. That wall is known as Coyote Wall and frequented by mountain bikers. For us hikers, Coyote Wall offers a great destination to either check out the wildflowers in early spring, or to find a dry spot when it’s pouring rain in Portland. I’m not sure if there’s an official trail that defines the loop or not, but finding your way around it fairly easy. Since weather was not looking good and while we still wait for snow, Val and I decided to hit this trail for a change. It was a crisp day with consistent winds blowing from the west which made it a bit nippy but beautiful. Needles to say, we were welcomed with pretty amazing views of the western side of the Gorge and also of our trail ahead as grey clouds moved fast above us. Fearing the rain, we climbed at a steady pace enjoying the colors of the dried vegetation contrasting the dark grey of the sky. Up at the top, we found plenty of wind that prevented us from stopping for a snack so we continued and, instead of the longer loop, we took the connector trail that descends steeply into the valley to connect with the lower trail. We did lose some time on that connector as the leaves almost hid the trail from view but were rewarded with the sight of a deer resting in the woods under a ray of sun. Even though the deer left when we passed the first time, we saw it again, in the same spot, when we went back retracing our steps trying to find the way. It was a shorter hike than what we were expecting, still a great day out there
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