2011 Edition
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GETTING THERE: Start at the
Starvation Creek Trailhead (I-84 Eastbound, Exit 55) and
head along the freeway on the Mount Defiance Trail for about 0.2 miles. Turn left and
ascend the steep and rocky Starvation Cutoff Trail. 0.4 miles up this little nightmare,
you'll come to a 'T' with the Starvation Ridge Trail. Turn left here and you'll soon
come to a great view of the Columbia River Gorge. From here, the trail switchbacks up
past other great Gorge viewpoints for about a mile. After a while the switchbacks run
out and the trail steepens. It goes up and level, up and level, gaining a lot of elevation.
After about three miles, you'll come to a 'T' trail junction. Some maps call this new
trail the "Mitchell Point Trail" and some the "Warren Lake Trail", in either case, it's
numbered 417 and unsigned. Turn right here and descend about 100 feet in 0.3 miles to Warren Lake.
We left the trailhead at a little before 09:00 but the days are so short that we weren't
able to make it all the way to Warren Lake. We got within 1/3 mile of it.. and planned
to make the hike a loop, coming down the Defiance Mountain trail. We decided to head back
at a little after 13:00 and barely made it back to the trailhead before dark.
We'll come back in a few months when the days are longer and do the whole loop including
going up to the summit of
Mount Defiance. Our return trip trail report can be found
HERE.
It was cold and pea soup fog for most of this hike. We did get above the clouds
after a few thousand feet of elevation but it was just plain cold... and the trail
was very icy...
Trying out my new Nikon P7100 which is not performing nearly as well as my D7000..
or even as well as my 10 year old Sony. Need to get back into the manual.
This view, looking South towards Mount Hood, was much more impressive in real life.
Took these at the Starvation Ridge viewpoint on the way back. Getting dark at 15:30
and the fog was even thicker than it was when we arrived.
This hike was a good cardio workout and we wanted to scout the area anyway. But it was
a bummer that we didn't get to go the whole route. Plus, we really didn't get much in
the way of views due to the low ceiling. This is still a better route to Defiance
compared to the traditional Mount Defiance trail.
But... we didn't see a soul all day which was a BIG plus! No Multnomah County, Obama
loving, commie, America hating occupy whackjobs running around with their stupid dogs
off the leash.
Back at the trailhead and not a minute too soon... getting dark...
And a quick zip over to Starvation Falls before it got totally dark.
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