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26 miles of hiking • 4500' elevation gain • 2 nights

My second backpacking trip ever in the Gorge. Spent the first night just after 7.5-mile camp, then the second night at Dublin Lake. Skipped Tanner summit because it was very foggy and no views anyway. There were red and black huckleberries, thimbleberries, and salmonberries at various places. Almost no views since got fogged in on the second day of the trip. Flowers on Tanner Ridge are nice, but well past peak. Also of note is the trail #433 (Eagle-Tanner Cutoff); I worried after previous reports that it would be hard to follow, but while it's thin and has a little blowdown, it's fairly traveled and mostly in good shape. The only brushed section is between Big Cedar Springs and Tanner trail #401, for maybe a mile. It looks like it got some brushing work recently, and also well flagged. Trail #401 is a little brushed between Tanner Spring junction and a little beyond Tanner Butte summit trail jct, then it goes through beargrass meadows kind of narrow but better. Once it re-enters the forest it's in great shape. Dublin Lake was nice and water not cold, but the air temps were in the 50's and windy so I didn't want to swim. Still, nice place to camp and also a lot of black huckleberries just getting ripe near water's edge. Many people camped at both 7.5 mile camp and the lake, but backcountry camps (at Eagle Creek crossing and Big Cedar Sp) were unoccupied.

I got a mileage from Douglas Lorain's book; his trip skips the summit and Dublin Lake and gets 4,300' in 25 miles.