Hamilton Creek Loop Hike

Overview

The small town of North Bonneville supports paved trail network that interlaces residential areas with natural features. You can begin the Hamilton Creek Loop at a family of Bigfoot and pass more playful Bigfoot (or Littlefoot) carvings before you cross Hamilton Creek and skirt the eastern border of the Pierce National Wildlife Refuge. First, follow the white footprints of a Bigfoot on a paved trail to the left of a restroom building and playground. Oak trees shade a grassy expanse. Make a right, and keep circling the Discovery Loop, looking for more Bigfoot (or Littlefoot) carvings until you reach a sign pointing to the Hamilton Creek Loop. After turning left, you'll pass under Douglas-firs with the library to your right. You need to keep walking straight to use an underpass under Cascade Drive, and then go left to hike above tennis courts as the path parallels Cascade Drive, here lined by plantings of red oak trees. The paved path passes a picnic table and disc golf tees. It keeps along Cascade Drive to cross Hamilton Creek, where rehabilitation work has been done to improve spawning habitat for chum salmon. Then you should continue straight to cross Columbia Street with the Beacon Rock Golf Course to your right. Aldrich Butte commands the skyline back to your right, while Hamilton Mountain’s rocky fastness rears above. The path enters a residential area, where it crosses Pahatu Street. Next, turn right at an interpretive sign about the Ice Age Floods. The trail takes you between homes, and then makes a sharp left to parallel the fenced boundary of the Pierce National Wildlife Refuge. Pass a viewing bench that looks over an open expanse of the wildlife refuge. At the next junction, keep straight and then hike along a line of cottonwoods that separates you from Hamilton Creek. You'll see a Riparian Area interpretive sign, and then turn right to recross the Hamilton Creek bridge. To finish the loop, take the trail across Portage Drive, and go right to pass a Bigfoot settled in for an eternal baseball gam

Trail Stats

Photos

500px-HamiltonCreekLoopMap

500px-HamiltonCreekLoopMap

250px-View_up_Hamilton_Creek%2C_Hamilton_Creek_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

250px-View_up_Hamilton_Creek%2C_Hamilton_Creek_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

250px-Oak_parkland%2C_Discovery_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

250px-Oak_parkland%2C_Discovery_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

400px-Hiding_Littlefoot%2C_Discovery_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

400px-Hiding_Littlefoot%2C_Discovery_Loop%2C_North_Bonneville

Tags