![]() ![]() Push up the rocky, uneven trail past a draw in the side of the gorge. The trail rises across slopes of basalt rock that present windows out of the forest and across the Columbia River toward Washington. Moss clings to tree trunks, downed logs, and a few boulders. Make the obvious left turn to continue toward Angel’s Rest, rising gradually through a forest of broadleaf maples. Starting from the main trailhead, walk to the west side of the lot by a kiosk and safely cross to the south side of Historic Columbia River Highway where a sign and staircase mark the start of Angel’s Rest Trail.Īs the hike gets underway, you’ll come to a merger with the trail from the overflow lot. A connector trail from this parking area unites with the main trail. If the parking lot is full, travel west on Historic Columbia River Highway and make the first left up to an overflow parking area. Already new plants are thriving and old trees are rotting, while insects, animals and fungi are all playing their parts in the cycle of life.Angel’s Rest Trailhead has a parking area on Historic Columbia River Highway by exit 28 of Interstate 84 (approximately 25 miles from Portland). Our hearts might still ache in the wake of the fire, but the forest has long since moved on. Nature doesn't mourn what was lost – it's our memories of that loss that linger. At the bottom of the trail, soft and squishy with mud, moss still clings to rocky hills and ferns still spring forth from the depths of the earth. Watching it explode into flames last year was devastating, and since then many of us have been itching to get back, to see what became of our holy land.Īngel's Rest is a disheartening reminder of the destructive power of fire, but also a reminder of the resilience of nature.Īs you head back down the trail through the forest of snags, past newly revealed views of the gorge, you quickly return to a familiar green landscape. Where you expect to see a comforting blanket of green, you'll find nothing but a patchwork of black and brown – the gray of naked deciduous trees offering the lone sense of natural order.įor many of us in the Pacific Northwest, the Columbia River Gorge is indeed a temple, a place we go to worship and connect with something bigger than us. ![]() Standing in communion with the nature that surrounds, swallows, holds you in place, you can truly feel the power of the land.īut glancing down to the forest below, the heart can't help but sink just a little at the site of burned trunks and barren land. It remains a place where you can soak in the majesty of the natural setting, where you can sit and rest in awe. This view, at least, is the same as it was before the fire. Here, hikers disperse along the wide bluff, rocky and covered in scrubby brush, where a jaunt to any edge offers an incredible view of the Columbia River rolling serenely underfoot through the gorge. Some light clambering is required to reach the very top, but it's worth the extra effort. The hike up to Angel's Rest feels something like a pilgrimage to the ruins of a temple, the land still sacred but indelibly scarred. The terrain toward the top is rock and mud, and can be hard on your feet as you walk. Small deciduous trees, now bare after fall, fill gaps alongside patches of woody brush.Īs you follow the switchbacks to the top, look down and you can spy fellow hikers as they climb, exposed through branches that barely offer cover. It's as if they were placed there by hand – or rather, as if the flames should have set them at odd angles, not left their remains so rooted in place. Here, at the edge of the cliff overlooking the gorge, blackened snags stick up unnervingly straight.
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