Beacon Rock Revisited

As those of you who have read Tattoo will know, Beacon Rock is a special place for me.  It is a basalt monolith towering 848 ft over the north bank of the Columbia River about 35 miles east of my home in Portland, Oregon. My good friend Henry Wessinger introduced me to Beacon Rock a few years ago when he was trying to get me in shape for a possible climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  The climb to the top of Kili was cancelled due to complications I had as part of a drug study making it unsafe for me to climb to high altitudes, but Beacon Rock has retained an almost mystical place in my heart.  I go there several times a year, either alone or with friends. Much of the trail to the summit is on a sheer rock face, but is has been made accessible to casual hikers by a series of 54 switchbacks. The switchbacks have become a metaphor for how I deal with my Alzheimer’s disease, one step at a time, or as the Tanzanian mountain guides tell you, polepole,which roughly translates from Swahili as slowly, slowly.

The switchbacks are barely visible from the base of Beacon Rock.  When I was selecting photographs during the preparation of Tattoo, I realized I needed a good photo of the switchbacks. Unfortunately, the trail was closed because of COVID restrictions.

In July 2020 I tried to find some way to circumvent the locked gate, but the best I could do was get a photo from the base looking up at the switchbacks some four or five hundred feet above me with a 600 mm lens.  This is the photo that appears in the book.

Recently the trail reopened, and this week Henry and I went up the river to tie up for the night at the Washington state park dock at the base of the monolith.  In the morning we were greeted by the rare sight of a sun dog, or parhelion, next to the rising sun. I have only seen this phenomenon a few times in my life. It is a small rainbow-like light appearing at a 22-degree angle horizontally on one or both sides of the sun.  It is caused by refraction of light by ice crystals in the atmosphere.  This time it was only visible on the right.

Shortly after, we set off on an absolutely beautiful day, passing through the now open gate.  There were only a few other hikers on the trail.  At times it seemed that we had the Rock all to ourselves.

This view is from about half way up looking west toward Portland. The Columbia River is relatively narrow at this point, and the current is running quickly at about 8-10 mph.  You can make out the white turbulence in the water that translates into an exciting boat ride.

We’re on the way back down the switchbacks.  Still only a few other hikers are on the trail.  I can’t wait to come back next time.