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Dublin Lake,
Columbia River Gorge |
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All week I have been wondering how much further I should have gone the week before to find the Tanner Butte Trailhead. Recently discovering a web site that I can print a topography map out at work, I printed one yesterday and set out to find this, to me anyway, elusive lake.
Following the same route that I took last week, I passed the power line junction and kept going another half of a mile. The trail past the junction met up with a creek, far below, flowing though the Tanner Butte trailhead itself.
I stumbled onto the Tanner Butte trailhead and thought of myself a bit of a fool for last week's assumptions.
At the trailhead, I noticed a pair of gloves sitting on one of the sigh posts. I also noticed several waterfalls that graced this entrance to Dublin Lake. This place was an eerie one as it seemed that people once flocked here and now, only a few per year perhaps.
The trail lead up and over the fall's sources, then through some tick woods. I crossed under more power lines and again, began to climb. Things got a bit steeper than they were up the falls, but nothing to bring on a sweat in the cool morning.
After about 4 miles, 2 miles of it being route finding, I post holed to the junction of Wauna Point. I decided that again, with all the post holing, I will leave the lake for another weekend. Being new to backpack, I had to know where to draw the comfort zone. I knew that I was only at 2700 feet and had another 1300 to go before dropping to 3500 at the lake. I would need some snowshoes to make the effort a little more efficient.
I plopped around for a bit, falling in holes created by downed limbs in the snow, and had a sit. This really is a beautiful place, this gorge. Although the vine maple makes route finding and hiking in general hard, the next trip, I was determined to discover the elusive lake.
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