Two weeks ago a friend came into town for his birthday and requested a hike. We took him to
Elowah. The next week we went straight back to Elowah to go on a big group hike with some of Keeley's co-workers. That makes Elowah officially my most visited hike. I love that place but I probably won't go back anytime soon, unless it's for Nesmith Point instead.
But this weekend we finally got something fresh in our systems. We are still quite unprepared for the extensive hikes we'd like to do this summer, so I picked a relatively mild one that we'd never done before that I figured would be a good workout but not a killer.
Two Chiefs trail is the final major hike option for the Table Mountain area.
The description on Oregonhikers.org doesn't make it sound like much more than a relatively untrafficked jaunt through the woods to a mild viewpoint of the Table Mountain cliff from below. So I went in excited for a new hike that I have yet to see but my expectations were fairly low. I ended up being genuinely surprised and greatly enjoyed the hike. The payoff is worth it.
The Two Chiefs trail is accessed from the same trailheads you'd use for
Table or
Aldrich Butte. Either the Bonneville Hot Springs parking lot or the unofficial dirt fire road under the power lines that many use as the "Aldrich Trailhead". The dirt road entrance shaves at least a quarter mile off the hikes, so it's worth it in certain situations. You also don't need a pass or anything to park there, the only downside is it looks kind of sketchy but we've been twice with no issues.
The first part of the trail climbs up this old fire access road. It's a wide and rocky ATV friendly path. The first quarter mile is fairly steep and muddy with high amounts of girlfriend crankiness, but after that first climb it levels out till the junction mess at about a half mile in. Once you reach the boggy meadow that used to be Carpenter Lake, the trails get weird. Ignore the trail coming in from the right (That's the path from Bonneville HS). Then you hit a hard left turn with a smaller trail heading straight. This is the Two Chiefs trail.
The trail is wide enough for two for the most part and in surprisingly good shape. It's muddy in places, mostly from streams coming down the mountains and briefly taking residence on the path until they find a point to continue downward. The first mile, from the parking lot to just past carpenter lake, is in the miserable wet and boggy basin area. This area is always humid and buggy, which for the gorge is rare. But once you loop past Carpenter Lake and begin to climb again, things improve. After Carpenter Lake it becomes a nice trek through the woods. You never have to climb too hard for too long, and the rest of the elevation is barely noticeable. You'll get fleeting glimpses through the trees at distant views, but no genuine viewpoints. Not yet.
After 3 miles you'll see the shape of Table looming through the trees over you become more and more obvious. The ground begins to get rockier and mossy, and you see large boulders hanging out in random spots. You are entering the debris field from the 300 yr old Table Mountain landslide, the famed landslide that tore off the entire south side of the mountain and dammed the Columbia River, leading to the Bridge of the Gods Indian legend.
At about 3.5 miles the trees clear and everything opens up into stupendous views. Above you to the north is the giant cliff face of Table Mountain. To the left of the peak is the Heartbreak ridge cliff section, and the two big walls are the Two Chiefs the trail is named for. To the Southeast you get a great view of the Cascade locks area, Eagle Creek, The Benson Plateau, Herman Creek, Indian Point, Dog Mountain, and even to the hills east of Hood River. The ground here is almost all rocks covered in moss, as trees struggle to get a foothold in the landslide.
It was clear an old path goes up the landslide to the base of the cliffs for more exploring fun, but we were scrunched for time so we declined. The trail continues well past the landslide area towards Greenleaf peak, but we felt we'd gotten a good show so we turned back here. Back to the car gave us 8 miles exactly, with 1400 feet elevation gain. My feet hurt, but I felt good.
