We hiked north from the South Trailhead just off of SR 142 at the Twin Bridges over the Klickitat River. We hiked 6.3 miles round trip.
The air temperature was in the high 30's under overcast sky and weak sunshine but without any wind. so hiking conditions were pleasant as long as we kept moving.
We had the hike mostly to ourselves as we birded and enjoyed the views of the Klickitat River. We were serenaded by the burbling songs of the American Dippers on rocks in the river.
Our first two miles of hiking were on asphalt. When the pavement ended, the tread turned to gravel for another quarter mile or so. A sign at that point announced the end of the official, maintained trail.
Beyond that point, the road bed has been removed to restore salmon and steelhead habitat, the slope restored, and thousands of native plants have been planted along the riverbank. We continued onward following a boot path that dropped down to river level before climbing up to a narrow rock shelf along basalt cliffs.
Where the former road was located away from the river bank, the roadbed has been restored to dirt tread. We saw lots of deer sign along this section.
We turned around a couple of tenths of a mile short of the end of the hike at a backwater channel of the river that is impassible without wet feet.
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