Cape Horn Loop Hike

Overview

The Cape Horn Trail is one of the closest Columbia River Gorge trails to the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. It features wide-ranging views up and down the river, rocky cliffs and crags, streams and a waterfall. The route is well signed and has seen numerous improvements over the years, including sturdier trail treads and new overlooks. The trails here take advantage of slivers of public land surrounded by private property, so make sure you stay on the route. The key to completing a loop option here was the acquisition of land on the east facing rim just west of Biddle Butte , a 22 year process. In 1984, the Trust for Public Land accepted a loan from Gorge activist Nancy Russell and her husband to purchase the clifftop property of a proposed subdivision. The U.S. Forest Service acquired more land and, in 2006, the Friends of the Gorge Land Trust bought a home where the Nancy Russell Overlook is now situated. All these parcels are now administered by the Forest Service. Note that the loop is only possible between July 16th and January 31st in order to protect nesting peregrine falcons on the basalt cliffs of Cape Horn . You can still hike to some of the viewpoints at other times of the year, however (see the Cape Horn Overlooks Hike ). Keep your dog on a leash: There are numerous unprotected clifftop vantage points, and dogs have fallen to their deaths on several occasions. The last 1.2 miles of the loop is up paved Cape Horn Road, which is verged by private property. From the Park and Ride lot, walk past an information kiosk with its large map, and cross Salmon Falls Road to pass a sign for the Cape Horn Trail. Keep right at a junction to stay on the Upper Trail. Hike above a blackberry-choked gully, and pass a gnarly Douglas-fir. Switchback down to a footbridge over a creek, and then begin walking up a slope of maples and alders. Make a switchback on a rooty trail that rises past boulders draped with licorice fern. Seven more switchbacks take you up through sword fern, snowberry, and thimbleberry. Ignore

Trail Stats

Photos

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The loop hike at Cape Horn; road walk on Cape Horn Road in orange (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo/MapBuilder Topo

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Leafy woods on the traverse to Cape Horn Road (bobcat)

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View to Cigar Rock, Cape Horn (bobcat)

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Approaching Cape Horn Falls on the lower trail (bobcat)

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Pholiota mushrooms, Cape Horn Trail (bobcat)

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The "Tipping Tree" at Pioneer Point (Steve Hart)

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Sign at the beginning of the Cape Horn Trail (bobcat)

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View upriver to Phoca Rock, Cape Horn Trail (Dan Huntington)

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