Beacon Rock is the largest basaltic monolith in the Pacific Northwest and is one of the most popular short hikes in the Columbia Gorge. Two individuals built the trail in the years 1915-1918 by hand. Today, it would cost millions to do the same thing.

I can't believe I went on a spectacular and famous hike in the Columbia Gorge and got back by 11:30 AM! Lived here 37 years and this is the first time I went on this hike. Hiking time: 156 minutes and 31.75 seconds. 70 minutes climbing to the top and 50 minutes descending, and I guess 36 minutes enjoying myself on the summit. Anyhow, after all these years, finally got Beacon Rock out of the way. Round trip 1.8 miles, climbing 600 feet. The champion of all wimpy hikes. Took 97 photos, of which 45 made the cut. Took the 12-40mm and the 75-300mm lenses. Also took the tripod (no trekking poles) because the trail is easy and the poles would have gotten stuck in the many boardwalks.

However, I screwed up in my camera settings. Since I was shooting on a tripod, I wanted to shoot everything at ISO 100 and I stupidly left it on Auto ISO, and because I shot a lot of images in shadows, the camera selected high ISO. Therefore I was burdened in post-processing with the need to reduce image noise in Lightroom.