Even after the near-fall, and the shock of the near-fall, the vista at Chickie’s Rock was worth the, err, trip. The views up and down the river were breathtaking, and had I climbed down a couple of the rock scrambles I might have captured even better images.
There is a hiking trail running from the Overlook Trail to a more ‘family oriented’, AKA easier to visit, segment of the park a mile and a half south of Chickie’s Rock. Not wanting to be caught far from the car after dark I hiked back to my vehicle and drove to the other vista. The entrance is on the left side of the road northbound from the Columbia exit off of Route 30, and only a few hundred feet of the exit. Had I come to this park first I might never have gone to the Rock itself, as the views up and down the river were wonderful. I arrived at sunset, and despite my having a point and shoot camera managed to capture some of the majesty of day’s end as the sun sank behind the hills. I hiked about two and a half miles that day, but as usual when I reached an overlook I traveled much further.