Devils Hole/Three Benches Hike

Overview

Doug's Beach State Park is a windsurfer's launch spot and also a landing platform for paragliders who take off from the publicly owned slopes high above the Rowena Gap. It is to the lower benches of these slopes that this off-trail excursion takes you: the land here was scoured by the Bretz (Missoula) Floods but it is a wildflower paradise that also offers sweeping vistas from the Rowena Gap to The Dalles. You're likely to encounter deer, and rattlesnakes are possible, but your adversary of the day will be poison oak: it flourishes here, in and among the interesting rock formations, and you need to know how to recognize (and avoid) it before you begin scrambling around. This is a short excursion, off-trail, but not as easy as the mileage suggests. Do not venture too far east or west or you will be intruding on private property. From the east end of the parking area, walk 300 yards east and find a concrete culvert on the north side of the highway. Clamber up and out of the rocky gully that feeds this culvert and head across a grassy expanse towards a basalt face. Watch for poison oak everywhere! Head up to the left under the basalt cliff and make your way through clumps of poison oak, big root, and chokecherry to a steep, grassy slope which is a break in the rimrock cliffs. Scramble up here and find a rock cairn. From the cairn, head left and continue to rise to a grassy bench. You can pick up an old cattle trail here and continue hiking west. Drop into a gully and find a way across where there is less poison oak. Cross the draw, which is usually dry by mid-spring, and head up to a small bench. Rise from this ledge to a larger bench with a single oak tree at the base of a scree slope. Walk to the western edge of this bench and get a side-on view of the Ortley Pinnacles. Look down to your left and see the Ortley Lava Pillars on the rimrock. You can follow a deer trail down these and then return to the bench as you will have reached the western boundary of public land. From the east side of the bench, head up

Trail Stats

Photos

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