Sevenmile Hill Loop Hike

Overview

Sevenmile Hill stretches from Badger Creek to McCall Point on the Oregon side of the Columbia River and fronts a section of the Washington Gorge from the Klickitat River to The Dallesport scablands. There are no official trails between McCall Point and Badger Creek, although it is doable as a cross-country jaunt if you pay keen attention to private/public land boundaries. However, the Forest Service owns a substantial parcel of land on the southeast slope of Sevenmile Hill, and these open slopes, which exhibit some of the most magnificent flower displays in the Gorge in the spring, can be hiked to viewpoints overlooking the Rowena Gap and Devils Hole. In reality, you can hike anywhere on this property, but the description sends you on a loop to the western boundary fence, then to the north rim, and lastly down the eastern boundary fence. Hike up to the left of, but away from, the entrance road (Don't pass through the No Trespassing barrels), and keep up the slope after you cross a rocky draw. Soon walk over the top of a knoll with a small rock windbreak composed of granite glacial erratics (This whole lower face of Sevenmile Hill displays numerous erratics rafted downriver from the Rocky Mountains during the massive Missoula Floods at the end of the last ice age, 15,000 to 13,000 years ago. The periodic floods backed up here, sometimes to a depth of 1,000 feet, at the entrance to the Rowena Gap.). You will get a view of Mount Hood to the left and sweeping views back to The Dalles and the Columbia Hills. The slope here is thick with blooming balsamroot, lupine, milk-vetch, popcorn flower, tarweed, and fiddleneck, to name a few, from mid-April to early May. The dominant plant is the balsamroot which, in a good year, paints the entire hillside a dazzling yellow. Head up gradually to your left, reaching a draw. Walk across the broken fence line here and cross a small bench. Continue hiking up to your left. At some point, you should see the southwest boundary corner of the property and a fence line ahead. This is t

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