Natural Features

BODIES OF WATER

Popular LAKES:

Wahtum

Dublin 

Bear

Mud

Also Found in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness are: North Lake and Hicks Lake                         

Major CREEKS:

Herman Creek

Eagle Creek

Tanner Creek

Other Creeks: Lindsey, Gorton, Herman, Slide, Mullnix, McCord, Tumalt, Hores Tail, Lindsey and Bridal Vale

FALLS

Punch Bowl

Oneota

Metlako

Loowit

Twister 

      

Tunnel

Other Falls: Grand Union, Lower Onita,  Tripple, Crown Point, Vertigo Mile 

MOUNTAINS

Larch

Larch Mountain's Summit Spire, Sherrard Point,

Defiance

Other: Chindere Mountain, Waucom Ridge, Nick Eaton Ridge

TRAILS

TRAILS

The Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness contains over 200 miles trails for absolutely stunning hikes. Users should plan routes thoughtfully and beforehand. Many of the trails contain stretches of steep cliffs or sheer drop offs and would not be suited to those who are uncomfortable with heights.

Within the wilderness area is 14 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. The other most common hikes are the Eagle Creek Trail, Tanner Butte and Herman Creek. I will discuss the latter three but there are plenty of  other hikes to enjoy.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mthood/recarea/?recid=79438#markaccess

EAGLE CREEK

This trail totals over 16 miles and goes in a loop. Since it is on of the most popular hikes in the area and is close to Portland it is heavily used, especially during the warmer months. If possible try to hike it on a weekday when the traffic isn't so heavy Some hiking guides actually break the trail down into sections. Whether you hike it in part or full you are sure to be pleased with the views.

Must see places on this trail include:

Metlako Falls

Loowit Falls

Punchbowl Falls

Tunnel Falls

Wahtum Lake

http://gorgefriends.org/display.php?modin=51

Look at the Natural Features Post to See More!! 

Tanner Butte

Tanner Butte trail is not for everyone. Tanner Butte itself is a common landmark for hikers because it can be seen from almost any high spot along the Columbia River Gorge. This make for a very strenous hike. It starts at the Wahclella Falls Trailhead but doesn't follow the trail, instead it leads to an 18 mile round trip climbing to an elevation  of 4,500 feet. It’s a steep hike and there is only one water source on the trail so hikers need to be prepared.

HERMAN CREEK

This trail starts outside of the wilderness and ends inside of it. It gets its name because it takes you up over the top over Herman Creek, with a side trail (steep) that leads down to the creek. A number of creeks and waterfalls can be enjoyed along the way. If you want to the trail continues on to Mud lake which is at its best from mid-to-late summer. This is much gentler hike that can be enjoyed by many.

Natural History & Ecology

GEOLOGY

A whole lot of upheaval occurred to create the Columbia River Gorge and in turn the terrain found in the Mark O. Hatfield wilderness area. Far from an expert on tectonic plates and volcanos my understanding of

what happened goes something like this:

When Pangea rifted from the moving tectonic plates North America was pushed away from Europe and Africa. It drifted into the Panthalassic Ocean (the ancestor of the Pacific). The Farallon plate eventually subducted on its westward side, creating island arcs (a group of chain of islands with an arc shaped alignment, often of a volcanic nature). This all happened somewhere between 90 to 150 million years ago.

The Columbia basin was under and inland see for many more millions of years until it eventually lifted up and drained of water between 40 and 20 million years ago. Much more recently, a mere 20 to 40 million years ago, a series of violent volcanic eruptions occurred changing everything. 6 to 17 million years ago floods of basalt lava flowed over and covered the Columbia River Plateu. This served to channel the lower Columbia River to the path it flows today. It also created the incredible basalt cliffs and rocks in the Columbia River area, specifically in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. Still, the tumultuous creation of the Columbia River Gorge and Columbia Basin were not complete. At the end of the last ice age, between 13,000 and 19,000 years ago (it seems like yesterday) ice dams that had held Glacial Lake Missoula ruptured. The Missoula Floods were the result. These floods moved with the force of the combined flow of all the rivers in the world combined and they occurred dozens of times over many thousand years. 

FIRE

Naturally occurring fires have not been a big problem in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness Area. Man made fires are a different story. Last October a 13 acre fire caused parts of the Eagle Creek trail in the Wahtum lake area to be closed down. According to the Hood River News out of the 75 fires to break out in the Mt. Hood National Forest only 7 of them were caused by lightning (McCarty, 2012). Sadly most of the damage to this place we are trying to protect is coming from humans, largely because they are not following the rules and regulations for using the area. The Forest Service did act to put out this fire as quickly as possible. 

Plant Life

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

The Mark O. Hatfield is home to numerous, and diverse species of plants. The Wilderness also has

many species that are relatively rare and some that can only be found in this region. A few of them are shown:

          

Chocolate Lily

 

Glacier Lily

Columbia Kittentails
(Synthyris stellata)

Bitter Root

Columbia Desert Parsley

TREES 

The Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness is well known for its Old Growth Dough Fir Forests but it boast other trees as well:

DOUG FIR

PONDEROSA PINE

HEMLOCK

CEDER

Birds & Animals

BIRDS & ANIMALS

Typical animals such as Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Black Tailed Deer, Squirrels, Hummingbirds etc. live in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. A few rarer species also make their home there, like the Larch Mt. Salamander. Others like the California Condor are trying to return. 

Larch Mt. Salamander

War Ozuel

Pine Marten

Bald Eagle

Spotted Owl

Coho Salmon

Pacific Tree Frog

California Condor

Native American History

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

Native Tribes 

The fertility of the Columbia River Gorge and the surrounding land made it a prime spot for many Native American Tribes to call home. Archaeological remains date back thousands of years in the area but no one is sure exactly when the first peoples arrived. There is a strong argument for the fact that remains may not still be in the area from the earliest peoples but that doesn't mean they weren't there. As discussed in the Bridge of the Gods, flooding and other natural disasters could have wiped away remains of those peoples. 

Local tribes often fished, hunted, and took trips for spiritual purposes all along the Columbia River. Tribes that didn't reside right next to it would travel to fish from its, then, plentiful waters. It was not uncommon for tribes to visit each other and even spend part of a year living with neighboring tribes. 

Due to the constant moving of the people, tribes who may have used or traveled through what is now the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness may have included:

Clackamas, Sahaptian, Chinookan, Molallan, Multnomah, Tualatin & Santiam Kalapuyan

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/or/county/clackamas/IndianMap.html

http://www.native-languages.org/oregon.htm

When Lewis & Clark first arrived in the area many of these tribes were eager to trade . Relations were positive and many of the tribes were eager to build relations with the white man. Unfortunately, relations did not stay positive. As more and more people moved onto the lands the Native Americans possessed, illness brought by the settlers, and their greed for land caused tensions. Misunderstandings and misconceptions only served to fuel the fire. Eventually, the United States Government chased most of the peoples off their lands and onto reservations. Treaties were signed and then violated by the U.S. Government regularly.  Man-made alterations of the Columbia River Gorge over the last hundred plus years caused greater problems for the Natives and their way of life. More recently with the creation of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area, the U.S. Government has been working to try and improve the situation. Many Native American's still use and hold sacred the Columbia River Gorge and surrounding lands today.  

Bridge of The Gods 

Although there are no eyewitness accounts of the landslide, stories live through the legends told by Native American tribes. A popular legend describes how two competing brothers were separated by the Columbia River, but reconnected when the Great Spirit built the Bridge of the Gods. When their two tribes began to fight, the Great Spirit destroyed the bridge. The rapids were the remnants of the collapsed bridge (Bernyce,B, 1996).

Explorers and Early Non-Native Use

RIVERS

No navigable rivers are located in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. Flowing bodies of waters are numerous, but they are creeks that are not suitable for  running in a craft. While in this area there are no   water craft activities, however it does over look the Columbia River. The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific northwest and is the 1, 243 long waterway that connects the Great Basin with the Pacific Ocean. 

TRAIL BLAZING

The first and most famous non-Native explores to reach the Columbia River Gorge Area were Lewis & Clark. In October 1805, they arrived in the Columbia River Gorge. As their journey continued along the river until they reached the Cascades they likely spent time enjoying the incredible scenery that is now designated part of the Hatfield Wilderness Area. Interestingly enough as they traveled through the more westward parts of the Columbia river they were accompanied by escorts from the Nez Perce. "Chiefs Twisted Hair and Tetoharsky, announced they were returning home because, from this point, they no longer could serve as diplomats and translators. Since the expedition had left the Rocky Mountains behind, these chiefs had voluntarily traveled with them, going ahead to introduce the white strangers to Columbia Plateau tribes who spoke languages related to theirs"( Discovering Lewis & Clark Columbia Gorge, 2009). As Lewis and Clark traveled along the Columbia they met with local tribes. Specifically the Sahaptian, Chinookan. Generally realations between Lewis & Clark and the Native Americans were posative. In some instances one tribe would warn that they were at war with another ant that for Lewis & Clark to associate with them would risk havig their enmeies engage in agression toward Lewis in Clark. Still, relations were generaly good and much was learned by both people.

                                                                  

           

           William Clark                                                                                        Meriwether Lewis

Links for Lewis and Clark:

http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2719

http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2729

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/

http://lewisclark.net/

http://lewis-clark.org/

http://www.nps.gov/lecl/index.htm

Numerous European explores would follow Lewis and Clark but two have left a lasting impact on the Columbia River Gorge are Samuel Hill and Samuel Lancaster. Both had numerous dealings in the Pacific Northwest the left one of the greatest marks when the build the Columbia River Highway. This historic road runs along the Columbia River Gorge and sits just outside the wilderness area. 

Hill was a successful business man who had turned his sights on seeing better roads in the state of Oregon. Lancaster hired engineer Samuel Lancaster to build an experimental road on his Mayhill ranch. Lancaster did experimental work with road grades, designs and paving materials. On February 9, 1913, Hill invited representatives to come and witness the success of Hill's work. The representatives must have responded favorably because on February 28, 1913 stat lawmakers created the Oregon Sate Highway commission. Shortly thereafter Hill became a member of an advisory board for these roadways. By August the decision to build the Columbia River Highway was made and Lancaster went to work. He hired a man named John B. Yeon, a retired lumberman, to oversee construction. Yeon was so determined to see the completion of the project that he took a dollar a year for compensation. In July of 1915 the highway officially opened.

It may not seem like the Columbia River Highway has much direct relationship to the Mark O. Hatfield wilderness aside from running along side it. Reality, is quite the opposite. The highway opened up an unprecedented desire for recreation and tourism in the Northwest. This led to the building and use of many area for recreation that have now been designated with various protections. Some area are now National or State Parks and National Forest. One of these Areas that was opened to recreation and influenced by the Columbia River Highway is the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, part of which is now designated as the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness Area.

All of the movement towards recreation that occurred during this time lead to the creation of the Eagle Creek Campground which is considered the first Forest Service campground built in the United States. In addition it featured the first flush toilets found in one of their campgrounds. The campground was built in 1915 and was soon connected to the Eagle Creek trail, built in 1916, which runs through the Mark O. Hatfield wilderness. More about the beautiful and popular trail can be found on the Wilderness Features post.   

Links To Columbia River Highway

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/HCRH/Pages/index.aspx

http://www.hcrh.org/

http://www.columbiariverhighway.com/columbia_river_highway_history.htm

http://oldcolumbia.blogspot.com/

Lancaster & Hill Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Lancaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Lancaster

TRAPPING, MINING, LOGGING

 Trapping, mining, and logging have all been done in the wilderness area in the past. Thankfully, none of these were done so heavily that they left the area unable to be preserved as a wilderness. The old growth forests stand as a beauty and have survived much of the reckless logging that occurred in Oregon prior to an awareness of the need for preservation. Most of what remains as the mark of man with the exception of a few roads that extend in to the wilderness are the areas where trails were blasted out of the sides of the cliffs.