Beacon Rock view from the Washington side
— — a basalt core left standing after the river took the rest.
Not only on a wall.
“Beacon Rock rises 848 feet from the north bank of the Columbia River, the worn core of an old volcano the floods cut down to. From the summit trail, the Oregon shore opens — Bonneville Dam to the east, the cliffs above Bridal Veil to the west, and the slow grey water in between. The river is wide here, and the wind is steady. from the studio
Beacon Rock view from the Washington side, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Beacon Rock is an 848-foot basalt monolith on the Washington shore of the Columbia River Gorge, roughly thirty-five miles east of Vancouver. It is the eroded core of an ancient volcano, exposed when the Missoula Floods scoured the gorge at the end of the last ice age. Lewis and Clark named it in 1805 as the point where they first felt the tide of the Pacific. The rock sits in Beacon Rock State Park in Skamania County, Washington; the summit trail looks south across the river to the Oregon side of the Gorge, from Bonneville Dam east to the cliffs above Bridal Veil.
What stands is the volcanic plug — the harder rock that filled the throat of a vent and resisted erosion when softer surroundings washed away. Henry J. Biddle bought the rock in 1915 and built the summit trail with hand tools and dynamite over three years, finishing in 1918. The route climbs about 680 feet in a mile, switching back along the south face on bolted catwalks and wooden bridges. The rail is the original handwork. Biddle's heirs gave the rock to Washington for a state park in 1935 after Oregon turned the gift down.
The trailhead is on Highway 14 in Skamania County, Washington; a Discover Pass is required to park. The summit climb is about two miles round-trip with fifty-three switchbacks, and the railed walkway makes it manageable for most fitness levels, though there is real exposure. Allow ninety minutes. Best light is mid-morning, when the sun crosses behind you and lights the Oregon cliffs across the river. The east face of the rock is closed seasonally for peregrine falcon nesting, generally February through July. Hamilton Mountain, in the same state park, is the longer alternative for hikers who want a half-day on the ridge.