My sister Julie and I climbed this trail to the summit of Observation Peak on a very warm summer day. We took the 132 trail up bypassing all the connecting trails on the left of us. After reaching the summit we sat and had our lunch with a beautiful view, interestingly I found a silver dollar sized piece of purple amethyst just laying on the ground. We then followed the big loop trail #158 until it connected with #194 which took us the long way back to our car. This was one of the tougher trails we'd taken at this time in our hiking career, we didn't see a single person all day on the trail. For solitude it is a wonderful place to hike.
We've also followed the trail to Soda Peaks Lake twice, which starts at the same parking lot and veers off sharply to the west. Very few other people are ever seen in the Trapper Creek Wilderness, and the trails provide a great workout. Way more enjoyable than having to deal with the crowds of people on other trails in the Columbia Gorge and not that far out of the way.
LCannon - Feb 26, 2006 8:33 pm
Route: Observation Peak Dates Climbed: 1989-1990My sister Julie and I climbed this trail to the summit of Observation Peak on a very warm summer day. We took the 132 trail up bypassing all the connecting trails on the left of us. After reaching the summit we sat and had our lunch with a beautiful view, interestingly I found a silver dollar sized piece of purple amethyst just laying on the ground. We then followed the big loop trail #158 until it connected with #194 which took us the long way back to our car. This was one of the tougher trails we'd taken at this time in our hiking career, we didn't see a single person all day on the trail. For solitude it is a wonderful place to hike.
We've also followed the trail to Soda Peaks Lake twice, which starts at the same parking lot and veers off sharply to the west. Very few other people are ever seen in the Trapper Creek Wilderness, and the trails provide a great workout. Way more enjoyable than having to deal with the crowds of people on other trails in the Columbia Gorge and not that far out of the way.