Hello ya'll !! Yesterday my son son, a friend of his and myself drove to the a place nicknamed "jumping cliff" off the Washougal river. Long drive for us, about 4 hours, but so worth the drive! I had planned all along to hit a trail there. As we were looking for the swimming hole we drove past a trail head that turned out to be Three Corner Rock Trail.
After dropping the kids off I headed off to the trail. It was pretty awesome run. The trail start with a healthy climb up, starting at just about 300 feet up. I could feel the elevation gain. I reached 1289 feet at the highest point of the run. The round trip was about 7.1 miles. I would had loved doing the round trip (which is about 15 miles) but since I headed out without a map I set myself a realistic target to turn around an hour in the run (unless of course the trail was shorter). I took a break and turned around 55 minutes in. With steep climbs comes fast downhills and the trip back was a load of fast fun. Most the trail is fairly easy albeit narrow at times. The trail turns into dry creek's rock bed at times which ins't so much an issue on the climb up than down where I was being extra cautious as to not roll an ankle.
Looking up the trail description now I see that there was views and meadows probably no very far from my turn around ... So yeah I am bummed I didn't make it to any kind of summit. But the swim afterwards made up for that ten fold!. The best part of the run was jumping in the water after I got back. I stripped down to my underwear and joined the kids who had been hanging at the hole while I was running. It was reminiscent of one of my fondest memory from my teens: I headed out on a hike on a very hot summer day in CA while camping. I was following a river bed. I just loved doing that type of exploratory hike even back then. Several hours in, I was hot, sweaty and thirsty. I was walking by this random water hole. I stripped down to nothing and just ... jumped in. I still remember the cooling soothing feeling swimming in the cold water I felt as the water was submerging my body. The swim after the run yesterday felt just like that! It was amazing because although I still remember of that dip felt like 20 years later I really not expected I would get to experience it again in my life.
I am so glad we went there!
After dropping the kids off I headed off to the trail. It was pretty awesome run. The trail start with a healthy climb up, starting at just about 300 feet up. I could feel the elevation gain. I reached 1289 feet at the highest point of the run. The round trip was about 7.1 miles. I would had loved doing the round trip (which is about 15 miles) but since I headed out without a map I set myself a realistic target to turn around an hour in the run (unless of course the trail was shorter). I took a break and turned around 55 minutes in. With steep climbs comes fast downhills and the trip back was a load of fast fun. Most the trail is fairly easy albeit narrow at times. The trail turns into dry creek's rock bed at times which ins't so much an issue on the climb up than down where I was being extra cautious as to not roll an ankle.
Looking up the trail description now I see that there was views and meadows probably no very far from my turn around ... So yeah I am bummed I didn't make it to any kind of summit. But the swim afterwards made up for that ten fold!. The best part of the run was jumping in the water after I got back. I stripped down to my underwear and joined the kids who had been hanging at the hole while I was running. It was reminiscent of one of my fondest memory from my teens: I headed out on a hike on a very hot summer day in CA while camping. I was following a river bed. I just loved doing that type of exploratory hike even back then. Several hours in, I was hot, sweaty and thirsty. I was walking by this random water hole. I stripped down to nothing and just ... jumped in. I still remember the cooling soothing feeling swimming in the cold water I felt as the water was submerging my body. The swim after the run yesterday felt just like that! It was amazing because although I still remember of that dip felt like 20 years later I really not expected I would get to experience it again in my life.
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| Looking up-river at the swimming hole. There is a large cave that lies behind the jumping cliff too. |
I am so glad we went there!
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