Dave Goes Outside: Gillette Lake and the first hike of the year

It's been a while since I updated, and it's not like I haven't gone out, but things have been slower. December was the rainiest month in Portland history and thanks to some landslides and storms we kept mostly indoors. Our last hike of the year was Mid-December, a quick and easy Multnomah Falls - Wakeena Falls loop of five miles in the rain. I didn't even take my camera. It was nice to see the falls and the creeks roaring again after two dry winters.

Then once we got back to PDX after an extended holiday break, it snowed and the city shut down. So we finally got around to going on another hike this past weekend. I was eager to see what damage the storms had caused, and to explore something new. It was expected to rain and neither of us are in good shape, so we chose a long but very low level hike near Table Mountain that we hadn't done yet.

It's a simple hike along the PCT that weaves through the old landslide of Table until it eventually starts climbing the mountain later on. The hike starts at the Bonnevile Trailhead next to the Washington side of the dam. This used to be the starting spot of Table Mountain hikes. From here Table Mountain's summit is 7.5 miles away, making a 15 miles + hike. This was a hike best reserved for dedicated people. Then someone discovered a way to chop that hike down to 8 miles by parking at the Aldrich Fire Road so now that hike is solely for masochists.

These days there is pretty much no reason to start at this trailhead unless you want something easy and flat. The trail starts at the TH, quickly meets up with the PCT coming from across the Bridge of the Gods, then goes through several clearcut forests and powerline roads till you see a pretty lake and a modest overlook before meeting up with the Two Chiefs trail. I'll be honest, I did this hike purely for the OCD hiker who wanted to mark it off on his map. My map of what I've hiked in the Table Mountain area is now very complex.

It's 4.5 miles to the Two Chiefs junction, so 9 miles in total. It's long, but you only gain 700 feet of elevation the entire trip, so the only tough part is the distance. And if you do it in the rain, which we did, because we are stupid. The landscapes were actually amazing but I didn't take a lot of pictures due to the rain. People don't usually hike in this weather for obvious reasons, but there is a certain charm to how everything looks in the gray mist. It's very fantastical and eerie.

The trail starts at the parking lot, goes up a hill and then wanders through the woods. The recent storms have ravaged this area, trees and branches were down everywhere. You meet up with the PCT after a half mile, then enter the first clearcut. This is an old clearcut. There are some views to the Benson Plateau to the south behind you and to Table to the northwest. Soon you are back in the woods on the side of a short ridge. This area was a nightmare of damage. Trees down everywhere. It's going to take months to clear this out, even with chainsaws.

Past the downfalls is the second clearcut. The trail opens up into a rocky hillside and climbs a little bit through the mess, under some powerlines, then descends to surprisingly pretty Gillette Lake. The lake has a greenish hue that makes it look tropical. It's a nice spot with lots of campsites. Cross a stream, go through more clearcut, cross another, bigger stream, and head up into the forest. Soon you'll hit the Greenleaf overlook, which is really just a clear spot in the trees to the south. Half a mile more and you hit the junction and we turned around.

The rain started hitting hard on the way back and the trip was wet, cold and miserable. Because the rain kept up we never actually stopped moving and took a break, so we walked 9 miles straight, which wiped us out despite the lack of elevation.