The living rock — spring wildflowers like phlox clinging to the ledges, the rare protected plants that closed the east face, a poison-oak warning, and the eagles, jays, and nesting peregrine falcons.
Take a good look at the rock face right beside the trail, because Beacon Rock is a garden as much as a monument. In late spring and early summer, these ledges and cracks bloom — little cushions of pink phlox and a scatter of wildflowers clinging to bare stone where you'd swear nothing could grow.
Some of the plants that live on this rock are genuinely rare, found in only a handful of places on earth. That's why the entire east face of Beacon Rock is closed to people year-round — roped off to protect species that grow almost nowhere else. There's one plant you'll want to NOT touch, though: watch for poison oak along the rock faces and the shadier bends — leaves in threes, often glossy, sometimes going red. Admire it, don't brush against it.
And keep half an eye on the cliffs and the sky, because this tower is full of life. Bald eagles work the river below; sharp little Steller's jays flash electric blue through the trees; and the true celebrities of this rock — the peregrine falcons — nest right on these walls, diving at over two hundred miles an hour. You're climbing through a living thing.
Photo: Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region · Public domain
