![]() ![]() Adams is spectacular in its own right and at 12,280 feet, is actually taller than Mt. Often overlooked with its big sisters Mt. Once you reach the Trout Lake Valley area, you will come across terrific views of both Mt. To get there from Camas, it takes about 1.5 hours. It is a paved road up to the point of entry into the parking area. It is considered a “Point of Interest” and not a park. There are no sign posts with information – you need to read the history on the Forest Service’s website before arriving to fully appreciate what you are looking at. The hike is an easy 1.5 mile loop with beautiful scenery, wildflowers, and fascinating geologic history, but you do not have to do the full loop. There are rocks and roots sticking up that would be an issue for people with mobility issues. You can still cross the natural bridge in places. At this trailhead, there is an easy hike with little-to-no elevation change circling one of these gulleys. A few sections of the roof still remain, forming natural bridges across the gulley. The ceilings of those tunnels have long since collapsed, leaving gulleys partially filled with volcanic rock. Natural bridges were created when tubes of lava from ancient volcanic eruptions created tunnels. Adams dancing with the cumulus clouds.Day Trip from Portland: Trout Lake, WA Natural Bridges of Gifford Pinchot National ForestĪn easy day trip from Portland is a visit to the natural bridges of Trout Lake Valley in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. So my husband and I up Sleeping Beauty instead for bit of aerobic exercise and a spectacular view of Mt. But it was raining heavily that Friday afternoon and there was a fishing derby on the lake the next day. Not wanting to feel foolish about driving for 4 hours with a canoe strapped to the top of our car and not getting it wet, we headed for Goose Lake. Alas, I’d pack my wetsuit again next spring and be ready to head to the lake on a moment’s notice to try again. We arrived in mid-June having just missed the canoe-able-and I had hoped chilly-but-swimmable-period of Disappearing Lake. Like most of my wilderness adventures (see my blog on Banks Lake), I’m always a bit off on my timing of natural spectacles. ![]() The prairie fills up with rainwater and snow and, in late spring, emerges as a beautiful lake you can canoe and kayak on if you time it right. The water that fills a lava tube freezes and acts like a plug in a bathtub. Adams and is a prairie from mid-summer to late-fall and then, when the rains come the prairie begins to fill with water. It’s part of an extensive prairie south of Mt. It doesn’t show up on most maps or Forest-Service road signs. Not until I began my research on Washington Lakes and lake swimming and watched a 2014 episode of Oregon Field Guide (it’s just 6 minutes long, worth a viewing) did I learn about Disappearing Lake. Never once did I hear or read about Disappearing Lake or the lake from which the town of Trout Lake gets its name. A few times to hike in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and once to survey for the egg masses of the endangered Oregon Spotted Frog. Rainier for recreating, I have only occasionally visited this beautiful part of Washington State. You may also be familiar with Gifford Pinchot National Forest-the 1.3 million acres of forested land stretching north from the Columbia River gorge.Īs a day hiker who defaults to the Olympic Peninsula and Mt. Hood (second largest volcano in Lower 48), the town of Hood River, Oregon (famous as a wind-surfing, soft-fruit, and craft-beer mecca) and it’s sister town, White Salmon, Washington (white-water rafting, mellow non-Hood-River vibe). ![]() It’s part of the gorgeous South Prairie and functions as a wetland and prairie in the summer, a basin for holding rain, snow, and ice in the fall and winter, and a lake for a very short period in the spring. This is Disappearing Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest the Mount Adams Ranger District in Klickitat County. ![]()
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