A virtual solo meadow walk / hike up Coyote Wall with no talk, no music, no shots of my face in the camera... just pure nature, in 4K video.
A mere hour's drive from Portland, on the banks of the Columbia River Gorge's Washington side, rises a dramatic rock escarpment called the Syncline, the Bingen Anticline, but most popularly "Coyote Wall". A slice of Arizona or Utah in the PNW and looking like a canyon lost one of its sides, the Wall's trails attract walkers & mountain bikers like a magnet on sunny weekends.
Laced with steep paths that venture up, around, and into seemingly every nook & cranny of the lava-borne landscape (technically 'columnar basalt'), the area is especially appealing for the tundra-like meadows that morph into a green & surprisingly lush wonderland every spring, with creeks and even waterfalls hidden among its rolling hills. This hike explores all those features and more by approaching the wall from a decommissioned road, then veering on a path that climbs clockwise to the rim before venturing down its gentler eastern slopes, skirting an area dubbed "The Labyrinth". Enjoy!
For those still reading this far: thank you, first of all, as always for watching. I was unsure about working on this video for a long time (it was actually recorded a year ago) due to technical issues that frustratingly butchered the second half. In the end I decided it would be a shame to throw it all out, so I salvaged what I could... please excuse the shorter run-time and plethora of edits towads the end. Now that spring has sprung & the weather is better, I'd like to capture some more quintessentially PNW trails this year - think forests and coasts. Stay tuned!
Highlights:
00:00 - Intro
01:23 - The Road Beneath the Wall
05:15 - Passing Train & Eastern Gorge Views
11:38 - The Climb Begins
15:28 - Volcanic Rocks & Desert Parsley
22:31 - Pines on the Little Moab Trail
25:00 - (Brief) Squirrels!
29:01 - Rugged Vistas (+ More Squirrel Action)
35:03 - A Nice Shrub
36:20 - The Rim
37:20 - A Gentler Path Down, A Creek
39:41 - Waterfalls in the Shade
41:27 - Top of Mt Hood on the Way Down
42:35 - Tree Leaves in the Breeze
43:21 - Outro
Trip Stats:
* Distance: 3.7 mi / 5.9 km round-trip
* Elevation Gain: 680 ft / 207 m
* Trailhead GPS: 45.7006, -121.4016
* Restrictions: No fee; dogs must be leashed; watch for private land near trailhead
* Camping: None
Filmed April 2023. Please feel free to comment on the good, the bad, or the ugly; this project is an on-going learning experience.