1.3 hr
Overview
This short hike takes you to a scattering of large chunks of basalt that slid off the face of the Gorge in an ancient landslide. There are other eroded remnants and prominences in the forest nearby. You can scramble up to a viewpoint to get a vista across the Columbia River. Near the pinnacles is a waterfall that plunges down through a deep cleft, and you'll be crossing Herman Creek on your way to the Herman Creek Pinnacles. The route of the hike was affected by the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, but not severely so, and most of the forest canopy is intact. For a longer hike to the Herman Creek Pinnacles which begins at Cascade Locks, see the Herman Creek Pinnacles via the PCT Hike. The path drops from the trailhead, but then switchbacks up twice before traversing. There are two more switchbacks in shady big-leaf maple, hemlock, Douglas-fir woods. Reach the powerline corridor and cross it, heading up to the right to reenter the woods. Here, you'll begin to see the effects of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, with the understory burned away but slowly recovering and the conifer canopy mostly intact. The path winds through an area of large, moss-covered boulders, and then passes an old forest track leading off the left. (This track drops down to Herman Creek Road.) Pass around the nose of a ridge, switchback twice, and traverse up to the junction with the Herman Bridge Trail #406E, 0.6 miles from the trailhead. Bear right here, and descend the slope. At a talus opening, you'll get a view up to Nick Eaton Ridge. Bend left to follow an old road bed, and then hike along a forested rim. Switchback down to the Herman Creek Bridge, a large steel truss bridge, and get views up and down Herman Creek as it runs past a verge of alders, maples, and cedars. After the bridge, the trail becomes the northern boundary of the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. From here, the trail passes through a maple bottom where both maples and cedars were singed by the 2017 fire. The trail snakes up a moss-carpeted slope and continues ascending, crossing tw
Trail Stats
0.0 km
397 m
0 m
0 m
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Photos
400px-HermanCreekPinnaclesMap
400px-HermanCreekPinnaclesMap
160px-PCFalls1
160px-PCFalls1
250px-Hermanbridgefall
250px-Hermanbridgefall
400px-HCPinnacles1
400px-HCPinnacles1