Something weird happened when I was making the map for this hike. I found an old track I made for it back in March of 2009. Yet I couldn’t remember if I had actually done this hike. From the views we got – though limited – I’m sure this is a hike I would remember easily. Looking at old photo albums, I found that in fact I tried this route back then but due to sow, we never made it to the actual viewpoint. I’m glad that this time we made it there because it totally worth it. Contrary to other hikes, this one was offered as an option by our friend Erin. We had been planning on going out on a hike with her for some time and finally the stars aligned and it happened so the three of us with Val got together, went to the Gorge and did it. Not only it was a fun day in the wood but the views were spectacular, even despite the fog and rain. We started from the Tanner Creek trailhead using a shortcut trail to the old Forest Road giving access to the Tanner Butte trail. It was mostly a new route for me that soon became a bit familiar. We traversed some dense, tall forest that looked like a drawing from a fantasy book. We didn’t see a soul there so that made it even better. For the most part while going up, we had rain on and off, but that didn’t stop of from pushing on. Erin led the way being more familiar with it as she uses it for training before her long trips. At some point we veered off from the Tanner Butte trail and stated following a much fainter path towards our destination. At first we traversed some steep slopes and then came to a ridge were we got a fast glimpse to the possibility of clear skies. It didn’t last long but as that was happening, we saw a knob with trees in front of us that looked like an island in the sky. The coolest part was that we were going in that direction. The trail climbed a bit to the highest point were, on clear days, you get some limited views of the Gorge but we didn’t stop there. From that point on, the trail drops about 600’ following a knife edge ridge so exposed that it almost makes you dizzy. For moments we couldn’t see more than 10 0r 15’ in front of us but we kept going. In front of us the clouds were moving and dense fog was preventing us from seeing anything. And then, there it was, the end of the trail were there’s no mark or anything, just a sheer drop of into pretty much nothing – or at least that how it looked that day. For a very brief moment, a hole in the clouds allowed me to see the Boneville Dam far below us and I got my bearings of where we were. I could tell that the views on a clear day must be incredible but I will have to go again to get those. For now I can comfort myself in knowing we got there and now I know where it is. We had a quick lunch perched on the ridge until drops of rain maid us move. On the way back, some of the views opened up a bit and we saw fast moving, low level clouds climbing the side of the hills. It was magical. Further down, once we got back to the avenue of the giant trees, we finally saw some patchy blues up in the sky and sun rays coming thru the trees. A bit in retrospect is funny to think that I started this hike with a bit of resistance because of the weather and rain.
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