Hospital Hill is a hiking area on privately-owned land above Bingen, WA. The trailhead I use is 2 miles from my home. There are numerous trail segments that be connected into many different loops. Many are on old roads long since closed and impassable to traffic, while some are single track trails. The owners (The local Kreps family) run cattle on the land for a few months each spring.
This hike is one of my favorites. It goes up a berm on the side of what appears to be an old farmer's ditch, except that it is much too steep for such a use. Up higher it gets to a new viewpoint over the Columbia River. If you live in the region and have noticed the steep grass hill above Bingen when looking across from Hood River, this viewpoint is the top of that hill. I take the road version back down to make it into a loop. This was April 9, 2009, and the flowers are starting to come out.
