Aldrich Butte Hike

Overview

The popular hike to the top of Aldrich Butte on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge suddenly became a great deal lengthier in 2017 with the closure of the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and Spa, which hosted the former Dick Thomas Trailhead. With that site now under different ownership, the only legal access to Aldrich Butte involves a long approach via the Pacific Crest Trail over the forested, hummocky landscape of the Bonneville Landslide. The view from the summit of Aldrich Butte is beautiful, overlooking the Columbia River and the Bonneville Dam / Eagle Creek area. While not a classic 360-degree panorama, it's a worthy final destination, especially if you walk out onto the vertical meadow on the front (south) face. Foundations Recovery Network (the new owners of the former Bonneville Hot Springs Resort) are sensitive to the recent and sudden changes and are partnering with Bonneville Trails Foundation to develop other trailhead access. However, those options are not available for the short term, so the Bonneville Trailhead is the only option for now. The hike starts at the Bonneville Trailhead, on the Tamanous Trail. Ta-mah-no-ous is a Native American word translated roughly as "vision quest". Young men proved their readiness to be adults by going on a search for guardian spirits. From the parking lot, you start out on a gravel road, but quickly divert up a wooded path that starts straight uphill (Incidentally, if you continue down the gravel road another 100 yards, you'll see where the nearby train track enters a tunnel). It won't be long before you have a nice viewpoint to the south overlooking the river just east of the Bonneville Dam. There won't be much more in the way of views for a while. It is somewhere in this trail section where the route crosses over the top of the aforementioned tunnel...but you'll be hard-pressed to see where! After a little more than half a mile from the trailhead, you'll come to a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail. Turn left and you'll be heading toward C

Trail Stats

Photos

Trail photo

Outcropping of the Eagle Creek Formation on Aldrich Butte Road (bobcat)

Trail photo

The route to Aldrich Butte from the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort (bobcat) Courtesy: Gaia Topo

Trail photo

Bonneville Dame and Benson Plateau from Aldrich Butte (bobcat)

Trail photo

Table Mountain and Sacaquawea and Pappose Rocks from Carpenters Lake (Jeff Statt)

Trail photo

The footbridge over Carpenters Creek, Carpenters Meadow Trail (bobcat)

Trail photo

Looking eastward from the top of Aldrich Butte (Jeff Statt)

500px-AldrichButteMap

500px-AldrichButteMap

250px-AldrichButteSummit

250px-AldrichButteSummit

250px-AldrichButteTrail

250px-AldrichButteTrail

250px-SacagaweaAndPappose

250px-SacagaweaAndPappose

250px-Table_Mountain_above_Gillette_Lake%2C_Bonneville_Slide

250px-Table_Mountain_above_Gillette_Lake%2C_Bonneville_Slide

250px-Gillette_Lake%2C_Bonneville_Slide

250px-Gillette_Lake%2C_Bonneville_Slide

400px-AldrichButteView

400px-AldrichButteView

Tags