There are three or four ways to modify the Coyote Wall hike to make it longer and/or more interesting. One of those is to add the Labyrinth. This is an area east of the wall that has some rock formations and little hills that makes you feel like you’re in a labyrinth (hence the name). There are multiple footpaths in the area so it’s definitely open for exploration but this time we just wanted to do a good loop including Coyote Wall. Time couldn’t have been better. It was a crisp November morning with some clouds in the skies and wonderful fall colors. We started the usual way as if going towards Coyote Wall but stayed on the road a bit longer to get on the Labyrinth trail. As with most of the trails in this area, nothing is official. There are multiple paths yet is hard to get lost as its pretty open and you can quickly get a sense of where you are. We followed a path that hikes on the west side of the labyrinth and took just a couple of short detours to explore around. After passing the labyrinth we continued up on open fields overlooking the west side of the Gorge towards the high desert. Mt Hood was showing his white cap in the distance and the sun was painting the hills in orange. At some point we got to a 4WD road in the upper section that connects back to the Coyote Wall area. We followed that road for a while and then made de decision to do the longer loop. This loop involves descending quite a bit towards the wall and then climbing back again along the border. There’s a shorter version where you can traverse without losing a lot of elevation but you meet the Coyote Wall at higher elevation and miss some of its beauty. Once we reached the Coyote Wall, we started climbing up again as the wind started to blow on us. It wasn’t necessarily cold but it was enough to prevent us from stopping at the usual stop at the top for a snack. Instead, we continued and soon came to the junction with the connector trail that goes down to the valley. I remember once seen deer in this area. Once we were down and shielded from the wind, we stopped for a well-deserved late lunch. We were not able to stay long as we noticed ticks getting on our clothes. After that it was a leisurely walk down thru yellow and copper covered trails all the way down to the car. Always a good hike.
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