Nesmith-Tanner Traverse Hike

Overview

NOTICE: This trail is closed until further notice because of damage from the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. Please check the list of Columbia Gorge trail closures before you plan for a hike. This hike starts the same as the Nesmith Point Hike but then goes down a different trail to a different trailhead. You'll need a second car or someone to pick you up. This hike starts in the John B Yeon State Park parking lot. This place might be the highest theft lot in the gorge. Leave your valuable things at home! You'll start up the trail, pass an old water tank, switchback and come to a trail junction, all in the first 50 steps. Take the right trail fork, marked as the Nesmith Point Trail #428. The first mile of the trail doesn't climb too steeply. You'll pass a former trail junction with the Gorge Trail #400, headed west. This trail was completely wiped out by a 1996 landslide. Some books say it's gone permanently, some say it will be rebuilt. You'll have to look for yourself. This hike continues up the Nesmith Point Trail and here we really mean UP! Switchbacks are the norm here, and their pretty steep ones too. You'll get several viewpoints served up as rewards for your climbing. You'll be able to see Mount Adams, Mount Saint Helens and most of the Washington side of the gorge, as well as good looks at the huge 1996 landslide that started from Nesmith and closed the freeway for days. After about two miles of heavy climbing, things get a little easier when you reach the rim and bear right at Corky's Corner. You'll traverse up the edge of the McCord Creek bowl, still climbing gradually, until you reach the Nesmith Point Trail-Nesmith Point Road Junction about five miles from the trailhead. Turn right on the road and hike about 500 feet to the end of the road and the location of an old fire lookout above the steep red cinder slope at Nesmith Point. Trees have grown up here, but you'll still have a good view to the east. For a better view continue down a small path past the lookout and the old lookout outhouse. A short d

Trail Stats

Duration
4.4 hr
Length
0.0 km
Elevation Gain
1325 m
High Point
0 m
Low Point
0 m
Grade
—

Photos

Tags

apr-oct difficult due to elevation gain point to point (car shuttle)