5.8 hr
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. Given its distance from a trailhead, the mysterious workings at Wauneka Point are seen only by hardy day hikers and a few backpackers. The switchbacking Nesmith Point Trail is the best trail access to this destination, which gives you a chance to make a short diversion to the old lookout site atop a Boring volcano. The lope from here across the upper McCord Creek drainage takes you on the little-traveled Moffett Creek Trail to the final junction and ridge walk out to Wauneka Point. Not only can you inspect the various rills and pits, seemingly crafted by ancient humans, but the views are stupendous, taking in the prominences of the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge as well as the snowy peaks of the three closest stratovolcanoes to the north. From the trailhead, switchback at the old wooden water tank. Come to the Elowah Falls-Nesmith Point Trail Junction and go right in woods of big-leaf maple, Douglas-fir, hemlock, alder, vine maple, sword fern, inside-out flower, and salal. The trail veers to the left and winds up in mossy, leafy forest with a vine maple understory. Switchback up and cross a creek bed; then traverse up a mossy scree slope to an alder/ cottonwood slide and a running creek. Switchback at the old junction with the Gorge Trail: the trail west of here is abandoned having been taken out by a massive landslide in February 1996. You may be able to find the old signpost partially buried here. Recross the talus slope and head up more steeply. Switchback at a mossy cliff and switchback again to a spur that leads to a viewpoint above the trail: from here, you can get a view to Beacon Rock, Pierce Island, and Mount Saint Helens. Turn a corner and head in, crossing a mossy talus slope that provides shelter to a tribe of squeaking pikas. Make nine switchbacks up a mossy gully, and then head steeply up past old growth D
Trail Stats
0.0 km
1731 m
0 m
0 m
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Photos
400px-WaunekaPointMap1
400px-WaunekaPointMap1
250px-McCord_Creek_Meadows%2C_Moffett_Creek_Trail
250px-McCord_Creek_Meadows%2C_Moffett_Creek_Trail
250px-Moffett_Creek_Trail_above_McCord_Creek
250px-Moffett_Creek_Trail_above_McCord_Creek
250px-At_Nesmith_Point
250px-At_Nesmith_Point
250px-Tiger_lily_%28Lilium_columbianum%29%2C_Nesmith_Point_Trail
250px-Tiger_lily_%28Lilium_columbianum%29%2C_Nesmith_Point_Trail
400px-Trenches%2C_Wauneka_Point
400px-Trenches%2C_Wauneka_Point