![]() Descending from here, you'll cross the Mist Creek Footbridge on a slightly blackened log. Hike through a grove of large red alders, and soon pass the Angels Rest Trail-Lily's Lane Junction, signed for Devils Rest. The trail gradually ascends through more scorched conifers and then passes through a thicket of young maples and bracken to enter a soggy Sitka alder bowl with numerous seeps. Pass below an andesite talus slope, and then rise to a lovely intact grove of old-growth Douglas-fir, hemlock, and western red-cedar at a creek crossing. Continue east on the Angels Rest Trail, which drops above the Dalton Creek bowl through a fast recovering carpet of Oregon grape, phacelia, snowberry, and bracken. From this area of crown fire, there's a good view down the spine of the Angels Rest promontory to the Columbia River. ![]() After a couple of switchbacks and more good views, you'll come to the junction with Foxglove Way, your return point. Return along the ridge crest, and proceed beyond the junction with the spur trail to continue on the Angels Rest Trail #415. Scrubby alders and few stunted oaks survive up here, and the east wind can be extremely fierce on certain fall and winter days. To the north, Larch Mountain and Silver Star Mountain in Washington are on the skyline, while an expanse of the Washington Gorge, from Cape Horn to Hamilton Mountain and Beacon Rock, is on display. You will scramble among layered pillars of platy andesite getting views down to the Columbia River as well as west to Sand Island and the tall buildings of downtown Portland. An additional three short switchbacks convey you to a talus slope traverse, after which the trail enters a dense thicket and then switchbacks up to a junction at the crest of the Angels Rest promontory. Four more switchbacks take you higher in a scrubby landscape of snowberry, ocean spray, and 1991 fire snags seared black by the 2017 fire. Switchback twice more to get a look up to the keyhole or "eye" at the point of Angels Rest. Switchback twice, and get another view of Silver Star Mountain from a viewpoint at a section of split-rail fencing. Views are more open now, and you can see up to the cliffs of Angels Rest as well as the entire profile of Washington's Larch Mountain and Silver Star Mountain to the north. The trail turns at a reinforced switchback, and then traverses up a slope of maples to switchback again and head out to the Gorge face, where you'll encounter brushier terrain recovering from the 19 fires. Continue up under alders and maples to cross Coopey Creek on a footbridge. The trail leads up through a hazel thicket, and another spur takes you to the base of the upper tier of Upper Coopey Falls. Hiking up, you'll see a short spur leading left to get a view up the creek of Upper Coopey Falls. A clifftop viewpoint gives you a look down to 150-foot Coopey Falls, which spills down to property owned by the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. Cross an open talus slope to get views to down to sheep paddocks below, the Columbia River, Phoca Rock, Cape Horn, the Prindle Cliffs, and Silver Star Mountain. Vine maple, thimbleberry, and sword fern form the understory, and occasionally there are patches of poison oak. Hike up a forested slope where the bases of large Douglas-firs bear scorch marks from the 2017 fire. The trails from each converge just above the lower parking area. There are two parking areas, one above the other at the Bridal Veil intersection on the Historic Columbia River Highway. Throw in a couple of waterfalls and gushing Wahkeena Spring, and this loop offers an eminently satisfying outing. The 1991 Multnomah Falls Fire scorched the slopes between Angels Rest and Multnomah Falls the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire was more extensive, but your descent from Devils Rest will be on user-maintained unofficial trails that were undamaged or little damaged by that blaze. ![]() Most of the area you will be traveling through was affected by two recent fires. Angels Rest is an andesite lava flow from Larch Mountain, while Devils Rest is one of the 99 Boring volcanoes. The two destinations do have something in common, however, as both are manifestations of the Boring Lava Field, only a million or so years old compared to the 15 million-year-old Columbia River Basalt flows. Devils Rest, ironically 900 feet above Angels Rest, offers no views whatsoever at its mossy rock summit although there are commanding views east from clifftop perches nearby. Angels Rest indeed offers heavenly vistas from its exposed promontory 1,500 feet above the Columbia River. The lollipop loop from Angels Rest to Devils Rest encapsulates a variety of experiences at this western end of the Columbia River Gorge. ![]()
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