Wildlife Week – Day 1: E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area 04/27/2025

We have been fortunate in years past to both have the ability to take 4 weeks of vacation each year which helped immensely in our completing our “500 featured hikes” goal last year (post). Heather’s job had changed in late 2023 resulting in her losing a couple weeks of vacation time each year so after taking a couple of weeks of unpaid time-off in 2024 to complete our hiking goal I have a few solo weeks in 2025. For the first solo week I went with a theme, wildlife week, and planned a series of hikes at various federal and state designated wildlife refuges/areas in the Willamette Valley.

I kicked wildlife week off with a visit to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area located just north of Corvallis (about 30 minutes from Salem). We’d hiked here in July 2022 (post) but had yet to check out the short Coffin Butte Trail located along Highway 99. Today’s plan was to hike that trail then revisit the Angling Pond from our first trip. There is a $10.00 daily parking fee at the 20 ODFW wildlife areas or you can get an annual fee for $30.00

I pulled into the Coffin Butte Trailhead just before Sunrise (6:07am) in hopes that it might be a colorful morning, but alas the cloud cover was solid.

This is a fairly straight forward trail that initially follows a wide grassy track as it climbs to a viewpoint overlooking the wildlife area. The trail then continues, steeply at times, up Coffin Butte to the boundary of the refuge. This upper section is rougher, more overgrown, and full of poison oak and there are no real views. The trail is also next to the Coffin Butte Landfill which means that it can be a bit smelly if the air is moving in the right (wrong) direction. That being said I did the full 1.6-mile out-and-back (455′ of elevation gain) just to say I had and hope that I effectively avoid the leaves of three.
The landfill to the left.

One of two pointers to keep hikers on track.

Sign at the viewpoint.

The remains of a bench at the viewpoint.

Buttercups and iris

The sign announces the “Summit 604′”, but the actual summit is further along the ridge on private property meaning the trail ends here.

A mariposa lily surrounded by poison oak.

After reaching the “summit” I returned to the car and made the one-mile drive to the Angling Pond Parking Area
The busy parking area.

I wandered a bit to the NE of the parking area on trails before returning to the parking area and re-hiking the lollipop loop we’d done in 2022. I changed it up a bit by doing the loop counterclockwise this time. Before returning to the car, I also detoured west along one of the refuge roads to see a little more of the area. There are ample opportunities to explore here, a sort of choose your own adventure. My hike today still only came to 2.7-miles with virtually no elevation gain, but I opted not to explore more in an attempt to pace myself over the next several days.
My route and the Coffin Butte Trail.

There were a lot of birds out, but the majority did their best to be heard and not seen. That being said I did manage to get photos of a few species making it a successful start to wildlife week.
Wandering on trails to the NE of the parking lot.

Apple blossoms?

Concrete structure left over from Camp Adair.

Turkey vultures

Turkey vulture

Heading for the pond.

There were all kinds of birds singing in the trees but nary a feather to be seen.

Iris

I believe this walkway is new since or previous visit.

There were quite a few folks fishing around the pond, and one great blue heron.

Wetlands across the trail from the pond.

Buffleheads

Pied billed grebe

Camas

Hooded merganser drake

Mallards

Killdeer and hooded mergansers

Sandpiper

Heading west through the wildlife area.

Hummingbird

Family of geese

Robin

Black capped chickadee

Northern flicker

Wetlands

Blackbird

Groundsquirrel

It was a good start to wildlife week and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing quite a few more critters as the week progresses. Happy Trails!

Flickr: E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area