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I was looking for a new trail run and had a lot of fun here on this loop trail, but here are important things to consider: If you are facing the beautiful Gorge, the trail to the right (the.5 mile section) is dangerously steep with lots of trip and slide hazards. This makes sense because you descend in .5 miles on this side compared to 1.5 ish miles going down the other way. Running this section is not recommended and was simply not possible for me. You can hike this safely, but still take extreme caution. One mistake in some sections could lead to extreme harm or even death. I realize that seems dramatic, but I think bad things can happen here for the reckless or distracted). This is the section with a ladder. Take your time and be safe here. Once I arrived safely at the bottom within about 10 minutes, I found plenty of safe trail running opportunities. The Hemlock Gorge Trail can quickly be picked up here by crossing the suspension bridge. Skilled trail runners can enjoy a scenic and challenging run on the Hemlock Gorge trail from here. I turned right off the suspension bridge and headed toward the Class A campground. This trail is very runner friendly and leads to a much more challenging run on the North Rim Trail. The North Rim Trail appears to head up- I did not go far on this trail. I ran up the 1.3 mile section of the Overlook Gorge Trail which was a very challenging and safety appropriate run for me.
The pics below begin with the very steep section down that...
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Dog owners, please read.
This is a beautiful park with one portion of the trail that is genuinely dangerous to take your dogs on.
The easiest way to experience this loop is to hike clockwise, starting to the left of the parking area. The walk down traverses switchbacks down to the river. The hike up includes incredibly steep inclines, root-bound steps, a very narrow bridge and a ladder. All along very steep edges.
The images of the ladder posted here are misleading. It is much steeper than it appears online. Coaching my dog up the eroding rock face on the left side of the ladder is perhaps the most terrifying thing I’ve experienced as a pet owner. And my dog loves to climb and scramble!
Just a word of caution before taking on the latter half of the trail beyond the swinging bridge (which is very cool!), don’t push it. Turning around there and heading back the way you came in will still give you a very...
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The Gorge Overlook loop hike was great. We only passed one other pair the entire time. We were there around 11:30 on a Friday, just after Labor Day. I would recommend entering the trail on the right. It is much steeper going down this way and more gradual coming out. If you look at the topography you can tell that this will be the case. It is a 2.5 mile hike and took us just under an hour. We took our time and stopped a couple times. If you just want to check out the overlook it is a short walk, accessible to most I would say. There are actually 2 overlooks. The one to the right might even be wheelchair accessible but I couldn’t swear to that. I’ve never seen the parking lot full but there is a spillover lot just to the east of the main overlook parking. This might be the best parking option for those...
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