BCEP 2024: Team 08 Conditioning Hike Hardy Ridge

Activity Notes

In advance of the hike, please review the following section of Base Camp:

Introduction to Snow Climbing (Running Belay)

Base Camp Link

Carpool Link: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13wd3GDWv2sOG4CLO5fPT5SeJDIbk3NBuY5V2y5M8UbQ/edit?usp=sharing

Print out GAIA map: https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.6/-122.0434/45.6494

Print out Caltopo map: https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=45.65422,-122.023&z=14&b=mbt

Check weather (so you know what to pack for hike): 

https://www.weather.gov/

https://weather.com/weather/today/l/cd5a605a060bc3d304fc9b05c0dcd3d4fd2e136a2e98753680712d697b4cae56

Check trail conditions: (expect snow)

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/hardy-ridge

Hike Leader: Kirsten Jacobson

Hike type: Lollipop loop

Distance: 8.1 miles

Starting Elevation: 782 feet

Elevation gain: 2,175 feet

High point: 2,957 feet

Start time: 8am

End time: 4pm 

***The Discover Pass is required at the trailhead.***

Please bring gaiters for this hike.  We may see snow at the top.  (Check trail conditions - right now they are reporting as much as 1.5 feet of snow).  If you check weather and it will be in the 30s, please bring microspikes (if you have them).  (The weather is showing 70 degrees as of Monday but that could change).  Expect wind at the top (it is exposed with wonderful views).  Most of the way up you will be in shade under trees.  Bring a camera because the views are really nice along the top ridge.

***Bring 10 essentials, harness, helmets, carabiners.  We will be practicing running belay on our way back down from the top.***

From Oregonhikers.org website;

This loop hike at Beacon Rock State Park will give you views, solitude, and a great wildflower display in June. The loop is a combination of old logging roads and single track trail. Horses are allowed on the roads, but the foot trail over the crest of Hardy Ridge as well as the rough trail north along the spine of the ridge are hiker-only. The hike begins at the Equestrian Trailhead on Kueffler Road. You can examine the map in the parking area before starting, but all of the junctions mentioned in this description are marked with signs, and some of them have maps posted.

Behind the information kiosk, there’s a gated road and, to its right, a trail marked “Equestrian Trailhead.” Take either one – they come together shortly, and you’ll be following the gravel road up below a talus slope in Douglas-fir/hemlock forest with a sword fern and Oregon grape understory. A rip-rap buttressed section of road is where a slide took away the tread many years ago.

At the a four-way junction with the West Hardy Ridge and Lower Loop trails, keep straight, hiking through a mixed slope forest of Douglas-fir, hemlock, maple, alder, and wild cherry.

When you reach the junction with the East Hardy Ridge Trail, turn left to hike up a salmonberry-lined road track under a canopy of alder. A big looping switchback takes you on a traverse on the east slope of Hardy Ridge, and you'll soon enter a coniferous forest of same-age Douglas-firs and hemlocks, with the road grade becoming gentler. The Bridge Trail, which connects to the trail system near Hardy Creek, comes in from the right.

Continue up the track in deep forest to reach the road's end and the east end of the hiker-only Hardy Ridge Trail. This footpath switchbacks up in a hemlock forest with sword fern and Oregon grape forming the carpet. Looking at the trail bench, you can see that this entire slope was once scree that has been colonized by forest and a thin layer of organic matter. After two switchbacks, you'll come to a four-way junction turn right on the ridge crest. A little spur leads left to a fin of rock that offers views to Mount Hood and an expanse of the Columbia River Gorge, including west to Archer Mountain, east to Hamilton Mountain and Table Mountain, and across the river to Tanner Butte, Yeon Mountain, and Larch Mountain.

The trail along the ridge is a sometimes rugged user track. After winding through thickets of windblown noble firs, views open up to Mount Adams between Table Mountain and South Birkenfeld Mountain. The Bonnevile Dam also moves into view below Hamilton Mountain, which seems small and insignificant from this perch, and Dog Mountain can be seen upriver to the east. Phlox bloom in profusion on these rocky outcrops in spring. The trail burrows through thickets of Sitka alder and mountain ash with patches of bear-grass. After another rock outcropping, the ridge becomes almost treeless, and the views are expansive along the lichen and moss-covered crest. The summit block, Phlox Point, is visible ahead. The trail switchbacks up a short section of loose talus and reaches the summit after you pass from Beacon Rock State Park to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Horsetail Falls is visible on the Oregon side of the Gorge. To the east, Mount Adams shows itself, and Mount Hood dominates the southern horizon. You can expect the wildflowers on the ridge and at Phlox Point to peak from June to late July.

To complete the loop, return the three-quarters of a mile to the four-way junction with the Ridge Trail, and bear right. Switchbacks take you down through dense thickets and into a Douglas-fir forest. Enjoy westward views over the wide bowl of Duncan and Woodward creeks to Archer Mountain and across to Larch Mountain on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. Eventually, you'll reach the West Hardy Ridge Trail, bear left.

This open road track, which is also used by horses, is a level traverse under alders and vine maples and then gradually descends under a canopy of Douglas-fir. Past a horse hitch, the track gets a little brushier as thimbleberry thickets encroach. After a level hike, you'll stay right and drop to the junction with the Equestrian Trail. Here, make a right to hike the last mile back to the Equestrian Trailhead.

***See links below for map with directions. (See Meeting Location and Starting Location below).  This is close to Beacon Rock.***