Indian Point - January 18, 2014

There are few bad hikes in the Columbia Gorge. Some hikes on the wrong day aren't perfect tens, such as when you encounter too many people on the trail, scramble through particularly gnarly weather or forget the trail whiskey in the car. But even on these days the hike is usually still a five or a six, especially when you're in good company.

Columbia Gorge with Mt. Adams in the background.

Then there are hikes that are so good that even on a bad day in the pissing January rain they can be nothing less than an eight or a nine. And on days when you catch them under perfect conditions, they break the scale at an eleven. Indian Point is one of these hikes (7.5 miles, 2,700 feet), and on January 18th it was nothing less than spectacular.

The day started in east Portland at the designated rendezvous point. Four of us piled into a single car, headed down I-84 and met a fifth team member at the Herman Creek trailhead just east of Cascade Locks. Although the temperature was in the thirties, conditions were nearly perfect - the morning fog had mostly burned off, giving rise to a bluebird sky. We quickly geared up and headed into the woods, stopping soon to shed a layer.

The early part of the trail system leading to Indian Point involves several forks in the road. Taking the wrong spur will lead to other adventures, but it won't bring you to the legendary promontory. We had to check the Sullivan guidebook more than once to confirm we were on the correct route. Confident in our pathfinding, we continued plodding up the trail at a steady pace. Some of the hikes in the Gorge - such as Dog Mountain - hit you hard and often. Indian Point is more forgiving. The hike contains a healthy 2,700 vertical feet of elevation gain, but it is evenly distributed.

Wind Mountain, Dog Mountain and others in the fog

After a few hours the trail crossed into a winter wonderland with a thin layer of frost and unmelted snow, and we reached a spur that descended a quarter mile down to the point. The words "epic," "amazing," and "bomber" are often overused (especially by me) when describing a kick-ass hike. But Indian Point on this day deserved an encyclopedia's worth of superlatives. As we down-climbed through the trees to the rocky outcropping, the combination of snow and frost on the trees, scattered fog patches across the river and unobstructed view of Mt. Adams brought about a synergy of awesome sauce. We lingered for a few minutes at the base of the point, soaked in the view and scarfed down a snack before retreating to a place more sheltered from the wind.

On this day, none of us decided to climb up Indian Point. Here's a video from 2012 when my friend Nate and I scrambled to the top.

Tip of Mt. Hood and the Herman Creek valley

Back on the main trail, we gained another few hundred feet of elevation before topping out in the woods on the Nick Eaton Ridge and descending down its backside. We found an ideal rest spot with a view of the tip of Mt. Hood and the Herman Creek valley. From there, the trail zig-zagged down the mountain for a few miles, skirting in and out of the woods before linking back up with the trail we started on earlier in the day and returning to the parking lot.

Lessons learned: always choose to go hiking in winter when the conditions are good (as opposed to staying home and watching sports); add Indian Point into the wheelhouse of Gorge hikes (it's as good as the Dog or Hamilton Mountain); and hiking with young kids can be fun (one of our team members rocked the trail at less than two years old - and did awesome).