Larch Mountain

 There are no larch trees on Larch Mountain.  They must have had another reason to call it that.

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Larch Mountain is the highest point between the coast and Mt. Hood, Oregon’s tallest mountain.  As I wrote yesterday, it is the highest point between Japan and The Cascade range of mountains – from the Japanese Alps to Mt. Hood in Oregon, there is no point higher than Larch Mountain.

Sherrad Point is the name of this feature, the highest point of Larch Mountain:

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Looking west towards Camas, Washington:

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Walking up here, you have gained a little bit of elevation:

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This place, Larch Mountain, is 16 miles beyond the Women’s Forum Overlook in the last entry, on, appropriately, Larch Mountain Road.

Yesterday, I knew I wanted to go somewhere and take some pictures, but was unsure of where to go.  I was considering going to Beacon Rock, one of the planet’s largest free-standing monoliths, at over 800 feet high, but there was/is a wildfire on that side of the Gorge, and I didn’t want to get in the way.  The more I thought of it the more I realized how long it had been since I went to Larch Mountain.

In fact, the last time I was there was in my 2008 Caliber, the blue one that I traded in for the black one, which makes it more than three years since I have been up to Larch Mountain (there are pictures somewhere in the Photo Entries chapter in 2008 or 09)

It’s a nice drive, but more and more you have to watch out – it’s popular to park at Larch Mountain and then ride a bike down Larch Mountain Road – you can get some great speed up on the way down – but you have to keep a careful watch out for the bike riders because it’s a narrow road.  There is a trail here, down to Multnomah Falls, nine miles in length, but it’s all downhill from here, and it’s a good trail to hike DOWN (it’s all uphill, going from Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain).  Someone can drop you off at Larch Mountain and pick you up at Multnomah Falls

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Looking northeast from Sherrad Point, out over The Gorge.

 

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