Catherine Creek & Rowland Basin Hike – Columbia River Gorge

Escaping the rainy weather in Portland, this loop hike at Catherine Creek offered open skies and scenic trails with stunning views of the river below.

distance: 5.7 miles
elevation gain:  1,255 ft.
difficulty: moderate
best season: February-May
drive time from Portland: 1 hour 20 minutes
parking pass: none
hike description: OregonHikers.org – Catherine Creek-Rowland Basin Loop Hike

GaiaGPS track: Catherine Creek & Rowland Basin Loop Hike

The Hike

This loop hike starts at the Catherine Creek trailhead and heads up and over towards the Coyote Wall area before looping back through the Rowland Basin. About half-way on the trail is a great spot to stop for lunch with a big view.

At the trailhead, we took a former road and headed up a grassy slope, staying to the left and passing by the trails that head into Catherine Creek.

We passed by several ponds that were still frozen but beginning to thaw out.

The views behind us were so grand, we kept stopping to turn around and take pics. Though it’s too early for wildflowers, the ground in the area provided colorful interest alongside the trail.

These large power lines are visible from the start of the hike so it feels good to reach them after climbing uphill. Soon, we’ll be far above them. : )

After reaching the highest elevation on the hike, we turned and headed down towards a wooded area. This old road is lined with oaks on both sides, reminding me of a boulevard.

Around the corner from the road and uphill, we came across this great spot for a lunch break. We soaked in the views while sitting in the warm sun. It was hard to leave.

The next section of trail was quite muddy… a heavy and sticky type of mud that clung to our shoes and trekking poles. I’m not sure why the trail is so wide and torn up through here.

The next section alternates between open grassy areas and small sections of small oaks before heading back towards the river along a ridge.

The Rowland Basin, with rocky towers at Catherine Creek in view. In this section, we missed a side trail we were supposed to take and ended up at a different trailhead on the highway. Instead of walking the road, we backtracked up the steep hill to get back to the side trail we were supposed to take.

This talus slope looks intimidating… but it’s easy to hike up.

I didn’t take any additional photos, but at this point we were within 1/2 mile of the trailhead. The last section was wet with water from springs, then met up the trail that went back to the trailhead.