Who Would have thought that we would be able to do this in the Mid-Fabruary without going though few feet of snow on the ground and heavy route-finding to be on the correct trail. Well, with the winter being well below par, this was nothing more than a summer hiking. We ran into couple of snow patches, the biggest one being couple of feet wide. Very Sad!
Now, on the hike part -
Day 1 - We started form Herman Creek TH and followed the Herman creek trail down to the PCT, going through the bridge on the herman creek. After taking PCT, We had long switchbacks with occasional views. At 4.5 miles, we got to a pretty decent size opening. That was our lunch break. After soaking in the views, It was time to put the packs on march upwards towards Benson Plateau. For the remaining 4-5 miles, there aren't many views. At 10 miles, ~4000 feet of elevation gain, we reached Camp Smokey. That was the goal for the day. We setup our tents and went down to the spring to get water for dinner.
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| Camp Smokey |
Day 2 - Our plan was to go further south on PCT towards Herman Creek trail with couple of detours up to Chinidere Mountain and Tomlick Mountain. Trail was very easy to follow. A mile further from Camp Smokey, views opened up for a while. We were able to see Mount Adams across Herman Creek. Views from Tomlick Mountain were amazing. Day 2 wasn't easy with those two detours. After getting down from Tomlick Mountain, it was all downhill. We took that very gladly. Crossing Herman Creek wasn't a big problem, We were able to cross it on a log with dry feet. We decided to get to Camp Smokey and spent the night.
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| Tomlick Mountain |
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| Herman Creek Drainage from PCT |
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| View from a side trail after Camp Smoky |
All in all, this was a bonus because, I have never backpacked in the Columbia Gorge before, because it is so close to home and typically when I can backpack in summer, I would want to go further out from home and higher in the Alpine country.
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