Cape Horn Loop

Cape Horn is the last basalt headland on the Washington side of the western Columbia River Gorge, with cliffs dropping nearly to the river and a loop route taking advantage of twenty-two years of land acquisition. The Trust for Public Land, the Forest Service, and Friends of the Gorge Land Trust pieced together parcels of former private property to connect the upper viewpoints to the clifftop section. The 2006 purchase of a private home (demolished in 2008) made the Nancy Russell Overlook possible.

The route climbs out of the Park-and-Ride across Salmon Falls Road, switchbacks up through alder, maple, and licorice-fern boulders, then joins a powerline corridor with views to Silver Star Mountain. A series of viewpoints — the unnamed first overlook, Pioneer Point (the "tipping tree"), and the walled amphitheater at Nancy Russell Overlook — sit along the rim looking east up the Gorge to Hamilton Mountain and Beacon Rock, and south across the Columbia to Angels Rest, Devils Rest, and Multnomah Falls' Mist Falls. The lower loop drops to a waterfall section. The last 1.2 miles walks up paved Cape Horn Road past private property.

The full loop is only open July 16 through January 31 to protect nesting peregrine falcons on the cliff face. Off-season, the Cape Horn Overlooks out-and-back covers the upper viewpoints without the closure. Dogs must stay leashed — multiple dogs have fallen from the unprotected clifftop vantage points. The trail runs through slivers of public land surrounded by private property; straying off route creates trespass problems and has historically threatened continued access.