Herman Creek Pinnacles round 2

After 4 weeks of doing the hard stuff we decided to take it a bit easier for a gentle hike. Thank goodness we did, because it was a humid scorcher today with no wind to speak of and the wimpy 1000 foot climb over 3 miles felt much harder than it should have.

We did this round a little differently than last time. Last time we parked at the Bridge of the Gods, did the 2 miles to Dry Creek falls and then the extra 2 miles to the Pinnacles. This time we started at two different trailheads and met in the middle.

Keeley has just started her Marathon Training for the PDX marathon in October. Since she's always wanted to run in the Gorge, we formulated a way to do it. I'd drop her off, drive to her ending trailhead, park, and fart around by myself until we met up. That way she can get her exercise and I don't have to run. I hate running. I have a lot of friends who swear by it but I've always found it to be a painful slog. Running offers me nothing I enjoy that I can't get in a more pleasurable way via a walk, hike or bike ride so I'll let the other people get nasty callous feet.

For this hike I dropped her off at the Bridge of the Gods trailhead, then I drove several miles down the road to the Herman Creek Trailhead, the same starting point for Indian Point. We decided to meet at the Pinnacles then come back my way. For her, that was a 4 mile run. For me, it was a 2.5 mile hike. For both of us, it was about 1000 feet of elevation. I wanted to do this so I'd have a valid reason to explore the Herman Creek cutoff trail and mark it off on my map. 

I set off from the trailhead, made quick time up to the powerlines, and got to the first junction. The left path goes up to Indian Point and all that jazz, the right path goes down and crosses Herman Creek, heads west at a gentle incline, and eventually meets up with the PCT coming down from the Benson Plateau. A short jaunt on the PCT west and boom, Pinnacles. Signs at both junctions indicate that the distance between the 2 is 1 mile. That's some BS, it's more like 1.5. On a hot windless day that extra .5 hurts a little more.

The trail is mostly wooded and on a low grade incline up or down. Close to the Pinnacles you have to cross a few talus slopes with sweet views up at the cliffs and so so views across the river at Stevenson, WA. Which happens to be probably the least visually interesting part of the gorge. You do get a little peek at Greenleaf and Table mtns though. The trail is littered with Western Columbine flowers. We met at the pinnacles, rested, then came back the way I came. We stopped under the bridge over Herman Creek to chill and saw a cool frog. The End.

Next weekend we tackle Silver Star. That should be a good one.