Tam-A-Lau Trail & Beyond Cove Palisades State Park Lake Billy Chinook

9.2 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •

Our last hiking day of this long weekend and we wanted to finished it with another great hike! We decided to head out to the Lake Billy Chinook area and hike the Tam-A-Lau trail. It was quite cold this morning and thankfully the trail to the mesa was frozen solid, even when we returned. Climbing up the wall of the canyon leads to ever more scenic views of Lake Billy Chinook. During the ascent Mt. Washington, Jefferson and the northern part of the Three Sisters come into view. Once you get to the top of the mesa the view is nothing short of breathtaking!!! I could hang around those cliff walls all day and drink in the beauty! The loop trail on the Mesa takes you along the cliff walls for all but the return path. The trail is actually more like a triangle in shape.

We believe there are petroglyphs somewhere in the park but never really pursues the location. It would be interesting to come back and hunt them down as I've seen pictures that look very cool! The Tam-A-Lau trail is only six miles long, so we continued to explore the shoreline along Lake Billy Chinook. There were a few fishing boats out on the lake, but otherwise, we only saw one family and a single hiker with a dog the entire day. The park was open (and there is a fee) but the campgrounds were closed.

We did see one group of deer while on the mesa, and one group of deer in the campground while driving out of the park!

This place is quite beautiful and the Tam-A-Lau trail is definitely worth visiting!