2011 Edition
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The Klickitat Rail Trail begins at the
Lyle trailhead.
The second segment begins at the
Pitt Trailhead and
goes to the Horseshoe Bend Road Trailhead.
This is the third and final segment which runs from the Horseshoe Bend Road
Trailhead to the Harms Road Trailhead.
The Horseshoe Bend Road Trailhead is about 4 miles East of Klickitat, off of SR 142.
The Klickitat Trail sign is small and easily missed.
This is the gate to the
trail leading back to Klickitat. It's worth the 2 1/2 mile
(x2) hike, IMO, even though it dead ends at the washed out trestle.
We will be doing this hike from the Harms Road Trailhead.
GETTING THERE: take the Lyle-Centerville Hwy which starts in "downtown" Lyle.
(turn North at the red Lyle Cafe building).
Travel 15 miles to Harms Rd. Turn left on Harms Rd. Go a half a mile to the Swale
Canyon eastern trailhead.
When you get to the trailhead, you want to head off over this old train trestle.
Going the other way will take you to the yet-to-be-built trailhead on the
Centerville Highway.
Here's today's crew. Bev (Center, white jacket was our very informative group
leader. Bill (far left) is with Fish and Wildlife and also provided a wealth of
great information about the canyon, wildlife, history and so on. This was an
excellent KRT event that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a really
fun afternoon.
This segment is a 13 mile trail.
A look back at the trailhead after crossing the first of several trestles.
Turning right on Harms Road up ahead will take you back to the Centerville Highway.
The hike starts out with a trail that looks mostly like this. High desert in
the early Fall.
And lots more trestles. It took a LOT of volunteer work to redeck the surfaces
of these structures to make them safe for hikers and cyclists.
The concrete container in the foreground held water for the steam locomotives
that ran through here.
As we continue along the trail, the growth becomes a lot more lush.
We saw quite a few hawks and evidence of a large black bear who's been by recently.
It was a perfect day. After a week of non-stop rain, we had mostly blue
sky and temperatures in the high 60's. Perfect for hiking.
Government regulators put a stop to the KRT volunteer efforts to redeck these
old train trestles for reasons that probably only make sense to a bureaucrat.
As you can see, the trestles that the KRT volunteers repaired are now in excellent
condition. This trestle, which Government regulators DON'T want repaired, has many
rotted timbers and is generally dangerous to hike across much less ride a bicycle on.
My heros....
There are still a few colorful weeds around which is to Julie's liking.
This was a very fun hike. We really enjoyed walking along the old track bed
wondering how times might have been when trains ran through this area. We saw
bear tracks (made by a BIG bear...), lots of hawks, deer and at least one eagle.
There's also rattlers, elk, cougar and coyote out here. All sorts of wildlife
calling Swale Canyon home. Including the Easter Bunny, The Great Pumpkin or somebody...
And it was wonderful having an experienced guide pointing out things as we went
along.
On the last couple of miles, though, you get the impression you just teleported
into the Ozarks. There are large caliber bullet holes in pretty much everything,
including this car. And some of the "domiciles" out here defy description.
Our intrepid leader guided us to a safe and successful conclusion.
Thanks for a great day Bev, and the KRT Team!
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