Camping at Viento State Park
09 Apr 2026April 09, 2026
We finished packing up the camper in the morning and headed toward the Columbia Gorge. Traffic through Portland was surprisingly busy for a Thursday around lunch time. We were going to stop at a different trail but the Historic Columbia River Highway had a “road closed three miles ahead” sign. The Angel’s Rest trailhead was right where we had to turn around so we just parked there and hiked up to Angel’s Rest.
The trail is about two and a half miles up to the viewpoint. The view is amazing but the wind was surprisingly strong up there. We looked at the views and then found a spot sheltered from the wind for a lunch of snacks.
We returned to the truck and continued the short distance to Viento State Park. Viento means “wind” in Spanish, and it is often windy in the Columbia Gorge, so I assumed that explained the name, but according to Wikipedia: “The name Viento was constructed using letters from the names of Henry Villard of the Northern Pacific Railroad; William Endicott, a Boston banker; and a contractor named Tolman” and the park is located where there used to be a railroad station named Viento.
We had left-over stew with instant mashed potatoes for dinner, then we took a short walk to Viento Lake, a surprisingly pretty little lake nestled between some giant rocks, the interstate, and the railroad tracks.
We also walked across the nearby railroad tracks down to the river around sunset. The lighting was very pretty and we watched a small cruise ship going down-river.
April 10, 2026
We tested a backpacking breakfast made by boiling water with freeze-dried fruit, then adding granola. We didn’t get a very early start, and for our first outing we walked under the freeway to check the two trails our map showed on the other side, but only one trail exists and it looked fairly short. We returned and got our bicycles out of Ted the truck and then cycled west on the Historic Columbia River Highway trail to Starvation Falls.
There is a trail near the falls that leads up to Starvation Ridge trail, but it appeared to be closed, so we continued west and passed Cabin Creek Falls. These falls are sort of hidden behind a huge rock.
Then we arrived at the Mount Defiance trail and Hole in the Wall Falls. The Hole in the Wall is a tunnel blasted out of the cliff in 1938 in order to divert the previous course of a creek that frequently caused floods. It is a really unusual waterfall and we were surprised we had never stopped before to see it. We parked and locked the bikes here.
The Mount Defiance trail climbs up the steep slope and quickly meets the Starvation Ridge trail. We headed back east on the Starvation Ridge trail climbing over a few ridges and crossing a couple of creeks, sort of following the power lines away from the Bonneville Dam. The trail is steep and we felt like we got a real workout climbing 1,500 feet but we only hiked a bit over two miles.
We stopped for lunch on a flat spot at the top of a cliff. We tested another backpacking meal: cold-soaked beans with couscous made into a sort of burrito on a tortilla, and then another option: a frozen burrito that we let thaw while we hiked. They were both fairly good. The frozen burrito really benefited from a little packet of Cholula sauce, and we somehow had far too much chile powder and not enough salt in the cold soak.
We crossed another creek and found the top of the closed connector trail, then after another steep climb we finally arrived at Starvation Ridge. We walked a bit less than half a mile up the ridge but it started getting very steep and we knew we still had to bike back to the camper and we haven’t been bicycling since November.
I was testing out the shoes I might bring on the Colorado Trail and they seemed to work well. They certainly got some good tests of steep up and downhill sections. Julie was wearing some new clothes she intends to wear while backpacking and they also worked well.
April 11, 2026
It rained a few times overnight but we slept fairly well despite the traffic on the nearby train tracks. It was still chilly and sprinkling off and on in the morning so we took our time and made some pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.
We got our packs and got the bicycles out from under the camper where they were sheltering from the rain. We rode under the interstate and then about a mile east to an unmarked road that accesses several power poles. We locked the bikes after pushing them out of sight up the very steep road. From the last of four power poles accessed by this road we met up with the Wygant Trail.
The downhill part of the trail looked very difficult to follow, overgrown with grass and brush, but going uphill the trail enters the forest and was easy to follow despite appearing un-maintained.
We found a lot of poison oak in the first mile or so but only a few blowdown trees to deal with. As the trail begins switch-backing up the steep slope there were more trees to climb over or under and some sketchy parts where the tread has eroded. We only recognized the intersection with the Chetwood Loop trail because we saw it on the GPS - the Chetwood trail is so overgrown that this intersection just looks like another switchback on the Wygant trail.
About half way up the slope there is a large washout that we crossed with caution - not for the faint of heart.
We stopped for lunch at one of several switchbacks which offer nice views of the gorge. We tested another backpacking meal: dried beans, TVP, rice, and powdered mole mixed with boiling water and then wrapped in tortillas to make burritos. This was very tasty and filling.
Closer to the top the trail was challenging to follow in some areas. There are some fairly recent blue diamond markers nailed to trees, but they only go for a mile or so and gave out when the trail enters some long sections of Oregon grape and other brush. We eventually made it to the cairn at the top of Wygant Peak, about four miles and two thousand feet up. We brushed off at least a dozen ticks and I had to tweezer one out from near my knee despite pants being tucked into gaiters and frequent checks. Unfortunately this gave me an allergic or other reaction, swelling my knee and calf for almost a week.
A nice thing about this trail is that although the slopes are very steep, the trail uses a lot of switchbacks and maintains a very reasonable grade for almost the whole thing. It also passes through several different biomes - the east-facing slopes seem drier than the west-facing slopes, and the vegetation changes with altitude. I can see why the area was made into a State Natural Area and I am sad that these trails are being overgrown and washed out.
The hike was another good test of my new shoes - lots of side-sloping trail where your feet can roll inside the shoe. There was also a lot of wet grass and brush and these shoes allow the water right in, but they also breath well enough that myt feet dried over time. I’m thinking I may need waterproof socks for through hiking with these shoes, though.
After we got back down we rode our bikes a little further on the Historic Columbia River Highway trail to where it is closed at Perham Creek - it looks like they are building a fancy new bridge there. Then we returned to the campground and had dinner.
April 12, 2026
After a breakfast of leftovers we crossed under the interstate again and walked up another powerline access road that is labeled on some maps as a water tank road. The maintained part goes up to some power poles and an old water tank.
From near the water tank there is a view of a really cool three step waterfall, but the view is almost entirely obscured by large trees. That is, you can tell there is a waterfall there, but photos just look like trees with some white stuff somehow in them.
An old road cut continues switchbacking steeply up the hill with an informal foot path. At about a mile and a half and 850 feet elevation up there is another obscured view of a waterfall and the trail ends although the road cut continues on across the creek and up the hill on the other side. I wonder why this road was originally built and where it goes/went.  We returned to the camper to eat some lunch and then headed home.