Category: Central Oregon

Lower Deschutes River – 01/31/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 2, 2026
1 Comment on Lower Deschutes River – 01/31/2026

Our unusually warm and alarming dry winter continued through the end of January which has resulted an extremely low snowpack. While that doesn’t bode well for summer it provided plenty of dry hiking opportunities during the month, another of which I took advantage of before flipping the calendar to February. It was another solo outing so picked an area Heather had been to previously, the Lower Deschutes River, and planned a slightly different route than we’d done on our visit in 2018 (post).

I made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Salem to the Deschutes River State Recreation Area and parked in the overnight parking lot currently shown on Google Maps as the Old RailBed Trail Parking. There is a slightly closer trailhead which we parked at on our previous visit, but that section of the park was not yet open for the season. I had arrived just before sunrise and had expected mostly cloudy conditions. The forecast showed the sky cover gradually decreasing to 60% around 10:30am then starting to increase again. I had not anticipated how low that cloud cover would be. It wasn’t quite fog but it was about as close as you can come.

The overnight parking lot.

Old stagecoach at the parking lot.

My plan was to follow the Deschutes River for close to three hours then turn around and possibly hike the Ferry Springs Loop on my way back as we’d done in 2018. That detour would depend on the clouds though. I wasn’t willing to climb 500′ just to wind up in fog with no views. Plan B would be to return along the river unless I was seeing any ticks in which case I’d stick to the railroad grade as much as possible.

I set off on the Deschutes River Trail which is an old railroad grade.

The first mile from where I’d parked was new trail for me. Due to the low clouds the views were limited but the river was visible at least.

After a mile I came to a signed trail junction with pointers for the Blackberry and Riverview Trails.

These were new signs since my last visit, and they had also renamed the trails. The Blackberry Trail was named the River Trail in 2018 and the Riverview Trail was the Middle Trail. That’s neither here nor there though since I was sticking to the Deschutes River Trail (which was simply the “Bicycle Trail” in 2018). A tenth of a mile from this junction I passed a junction with the Ferry Springs Trail on the left.

The dirt Riverview Trail on the hillside below.

The northern end of the Ferry Springs Trail.

I continued on the Deschutes River Trail for another for another 1.1-miles to the junction with the southern end of the Riverview Trail. This was another new section for me.

A junco peeking out through some branches.

Caterpillars

Is that a break in the clouds?

Western meadowlark

Still a little early for flowers but I did spot these phlox about to bloom.

The Riverview Trail is just beyond the large signboard announcing the Lower Deschutes River Wildlife Area.

Just beyond the Riverview Trail junction I came to the southern Ferry Springs Trail junction.

The next 1.4-miles on the Deschutes River Trail to Gordon Canyon was a repeat of 2018.

This probably qualifies as fog.

American kestral

Some blue in the sky above the canyon.

Starting to descend into Gordon Canyon.

Gordon Creek

In 2018 we’d turned off the Deschutes River Trail here and visited Colorado Camp 0.2-miles downriver before heading back on the River Trail (aka the Blackberry Trail). This time I continued on going heading deeper in the canyon.

Colorado Camp is down the road on the right.

Looking back toward Gordon Canyon and some blue sky.

Shortly after climbing out of the canyon the trail passes the Gordon Cliffs below Gordon Butte.

Coming up on the Gordon Cliffs.

The cliffs have some interesting basalt formations.

Folds

Rock pigeon

Townsend’s solitaire

The “Eye”.

Mile four.

Magpie showing off its tail.

Cormorant

Common goldeneyes and a common merganser.

By mile five there was quite a bit more blue sky.

A sandy beach along the Deschutes River.

Mallards

Looking up toward Gordon Butte.

At mile six a train passed by on the far side of the river, one of several on the day.

It was a quarter to ten when I passed Mile 6 and given that I was likely moving at a little over 2.5mph I decided to make Mile 7 my turn around point. I did not account for there not being a post at Mile 7 so after another 30 minutes of hiking I turned around.

Mallards and common goldeneyes

I was spending a lot of time scanning the hillsides for bighorn sheep.

Seagull with a fish.

More common goldeneyes.

Passing the former site of Free Bridge. An 1887 bridge built by Wasco County allowing for a free crossing of the river. The bridge was upgraded in 1905 and apparently blown up in 1914 by someone opposed to it, possibly someone(s) who operated a competing toll bridge.

The remains of Free Bridge.

Four cormorants standing on rocks and two common mergansers.

My turn around spot. This was about 10.5-miles from where Heather and I had turned around on our Macks Canyon hike along the river in 2018 (post).

I had gone four tenths of a mile beyond the 7-mile mark. I was happy to be heading away from the sun as I headed back which made the views better.

Passing the Free Bridge site again.

I had started to think it wasn’t going to be my day for spotting bighorn sheep but then I spotted something a little off top of a cliff up the hillside.

Can you spot it?

She had spotted me.

We watched each other for quite a while before she decided I was no threat and went back to grazing.

That was the only sheep I saw but given how seldom we are even hiking in bighorn sheep habitat, it was more than enough. After she went back to eating, I continued my hike.

Another access road down to an outhouse and camps.

Great blue heron

When I got back to the Gordon Cliffs, I found the clouds/fog again.

Gordon Canyon

At Gordon Canyon I turned off the Deschutes River Trail and onto the unsigned Blackberry Trail.

As I made my way along the grassy track I occasionally checked to make sure, I wasn’t picking up any ticks which can be an issue here in both winter and spring. I saw a lot of birds but no ticks.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Geese and common goldeneyes.

I took a spur trail back up to the Deschutes River Trail before reaching the southern end of the Ferry Springs Trail to give myself that option if the cloud cover wasn’t too much.

Rock wren

Ferry Springs Trail on the right with the Riverview Trail ahead on the left.

Looking up the Ferry Springs Trail gave me no confidence that I would get any views along that trail, so I went with Plan B and turned onto the Riverview Trail.

Nope

The Riverview starts at a rock arch and heads uphill to the right of it nearly parallel to the Deschutes River Trail.

Looking down at the junction from the Riverview Trail.

After 0.4-miles on the Riverview Trail I came to a junction with a pointer for the Blackberry Trail. I had the choice of sticking to the Riverview Trail or dropping down to the Blackberry Trail. Both would lead me to the Lower Deschutes Trailhead. I decided I’d rather be closer to the river, so I dropped down.

I turned right on the Blackberry Trail and followed it 1.4-miles to Lower Deschutes Trailhead.

Song sparrow

Blackberry bushes along the Blackberry Trail.

The empty Lower Deschutes Trailhead at the end of the dog area.

From the Lower Deschutes Trailhead I walked up the park entrance road 0.4-miles to the Old Railbed Trailhead.

Geese

Oregon Trail information.

My hike came in at 14.8-miles with approximately 400′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Despite the cloudy conditions this was a nice hike. The trails were not busy and there was a good amount of wildlife. The highlight was seeing a bighorn sheep on a hike for the first time since 2019. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lower Deschutes River

Tags Bighorn sheep, Blackberry Trail, Colorado Camp, Deschutes River, Deschutes River State Recreation Area, Ferry Springs Trail, Free Bridge, Gordon Butte, hiking, Lower Deschutes River, Oregon, Riverview Trail

Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Criterion Tract – 05/25/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 28, 2025
1 Comment on Criterion Tract – 05/25/2025

After spending the night in The Dalles, OR we got another early start and drove south on Highway 97 to Maupin, OR. On the south side of the Deschutes River near the southern end of town we turned right (west) at a signboard for the “Deschutes River Rec. Area” and followed this narrow road 3.9-miles to a small parking area at a locked gate.

The road beyond the gate passes through private property but the BLM has an easement that allows hiking (and wheelchairs) along the next 4.5-miles of the road.

We had hiked in the BLM’s “Criterion Tract” in 2023 (post) as part of our goal to hike at least part of 500 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s guidebook series (post). That hike was one of the “part of” hikes where we started at an alternate location and took a different route to the hikes main goal. In this case that was Stag Point, a viewpoint above the Deschutes River. We had started from Highway 197 above Stag Point for that hike while the hike described in Sullivan’s “100 Hikes Easter Oregon” began at the locked gate. He describes an out-and-back hike from the road to Stag Point, but various trip reports in the Oregon Hikers Forums showed loop options using the road easement as a return route. A good map, GPS and route-finding skills are important here since there are no official trails, just a collection of old jeep tracks and game/cattle trails.

From the parking area we headed uphill past a rusty gate and picked up a clear path.

Phacelia

Fleabane

Thistle

Madia

There was a lot of really nice lupine along this lower portion of the hike.

Fiddleneck and lupine

The first of several deer we spotted during the day.

The distinctive cliffs behind the lupine are across the river from the parking area so we were almost always able to tell where we had parked.

This jeep track would veer to the left to pass between the smaller hills and cliffs ahead.

Western meadowlarks could be heard throughout the hike.

The view south.

Desert yellow fleabane

The view west.

Mt. Hood peaking over the canyon rim to the NW.

Mt. Hood

Butterfly on yarrow

Grasses and wildflowers added color to the landscape.

The route became very faint at times.

Balsamroot

Looking back at the route so far.

View from the trail after passing between the hills and cliffs.

An old fence.

Mt. Hood and Lookout Mountain (post).

Buckwheat

As we continued to follow the jeep track views of the Deschutes began to open up.

Rough eyelashweed

Paintbrush

A short detour to the cliff edges just over 2-miles from the rusty gate led to a nice view.

We continued to follow the jeep track beyond the viewpoint as it veered away from the river to hug the hillside.
Another stretch of faint tread.

It was often easier to see the road ahead than below our feet.

Balsamroot and lupine

Grand collomia and lupine.

Spreading dogbane

Digging in.

Small water trough (empty).

View from the water trough.

Haven’t identified this bird yet.

Looking back at the route again.

Approximately 0.4-miles beyond the water trough the jeep road turned more steeply uphill climbing to a newer barbed wire fence and the BLM boundary.

Mt. Hood again.

Ochre ringlet. There were hundreds of butterflies.

Looking at the climb ahead. At this point most of the rest of the hike would be in direct sunlight, and it was already getting warm.

Buck

Buck number two.

We had to get pretty high up before we could see Washington’s Mt. Adams and even once it was in view the lighting made it hard to make out.

Mt. Adams

The newer barbed wire fence at the public land boundary. This is around 3.5-miles from the parking area.

Hawksbeard

After taking a warm break at the fence, we turned right (south) along the fence line. The jeep track had gone through the fence onto the private land, so we were now relegated to following cattle/game trails.
The fence went up and down steeply so that meant we got to as well.

Crow

Fritillary

Cattle trail

Western kingbirds

A milkvetch

Another butterfly on balsamroot.

Stag Point is the high triangular point along the plateau in the foreground.

Zoom in on Stag Point. (The lone post on top gives it away.)

First and only brief view of the top of Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Jefferson

After approximately 0.8-miles along this newer fence we came to a corner where an old rusty fence continued straight.
The newer fence turned left at the corner.

We began following the rusty fence line which Sullivan said came to an old road in another 0.4-miles.
Onion

This rocky gully was a little tricky to cross.

Checkerspot

Old stone structure along the fence.

Western meadowlark

Lark sparrow

After following the rust fence for maybe 0.2 of a mile we decided we could cut a little distance off our hike by heading diagonally cross country toward Stag Point since we could see it from where we were.

Probably cattle bones.

Checkerspot on fiddleneck.

We came upon the road after 0.3-miles of following cattle trails.

Balsamroot and Mt. Hood from the road.

We turned right onto the road and headed downhill. At this point we discussed if we really wanted to head cross country to Stag Point. Since we had climbed up to it on our previous trip, and the hike today had already provided extensive views we opted to skip Stag Point and just continue our loop on the road.

Phlox

Indra swallowtail

Checkerspot

Another checkerspot

A blue or copper of some sort.

The old road made a series of switchbacks below a stock pond gaining views again of the Deschutes River.

Oregon sunshine

Skipper

Colorful rocks

Looking back up along the switchback section.

Gate along the road at the end of the switchbacks.

Beyond the gate the road straightened as it descended below some cliffs.

Allumroot

Cusick’s sunflowers and desert yellow fleabane.

Cusick’s sunflowers

As we descended the road we were alerted to the presence of a western rattlesnake when it loudly hissed and shook its rattle.

Unbelievably this was only the second rattlesnake that we’ve encountered while hiking. It gave us a jump scare but stayed in its defensive position and kept an eye on us while we left the road to give it a wide berth before hoping back onto the tack.
Looking back up the road toward the snake.

The still coiled snake to the right of the track.

After that bit of excitement we continued down the road a short distance before arriving at an even fainter jeep track heading steeply downhill.
The fainter jeep track split off here to the right. It’s really hard to see it in the photo but was a little more obvious in person.

It is necessary to use this jeep track for the loop due to the other road entering the private landholdings just a little further on. The jeep track stays on public lands which extend all the way across the river here making it the only area where one can legally descend down to the access road.
The goal was to aim for the knoll ahead then find two junipers that were relatively close together and descend between them.

Looking back up from the jeep track.

The view upriver with a private house.

From the knoll the tops of the two junipers were visible.

Going between the two junipers.

The hillside was steep so we carefully picked our way down through the bunchgrass, eventually picking up a faint path that led us down to the road.

Looking back up at the two junipers.

We turned right on the road for a 4-mile road walk back to the gate at the parking area. It was flat which was welcome, but it was late enough in the morning that there was virtually no shade being cast from the canyon walls. It was in the low to mid 80s so we were feeling the heat. As road walks go it wasn’t bad aside from the heat with lots of views of the river along with a number of bird sightings. There were a few cars and closer to the parking area we encountered a number of anglers. Before reaching the road the only people we’d seen was a group of four people coming up the rattlesnake road, presumably from the private land at the end of that road which is owned by the Portland Deschutes Club.
It’s a checkerboard of public and private land along the road. While this portion of the road is open to hikers, public fishing along the riverbank is limited to the public land portions. No trespassing signs line the road in the private sections.

Heather spotted this rattlesnake off the side of the road. We couldn’t tell if it was still alive and didn’t really want to find out.

One of the few bits of shade along the road walk.

Probably some sort of flycatcher.

There were a lot of osprey along the river.

There were also quite a few Bullock’s orioles.

Mock orange along the river.

Mallard

Bindweed

Another unknown bird and an angler in the river.

Cliff swallow

Dove

More osprey

Portland Deschutes Club Gatekeepers House

Visitors hiking in along the road must check in and then sign out at the Gatekeepers House but since we didn’t come up the road we hadn’t checked in so we couldn’t check out. Heather did use the shade along the road here for a break from the Sun though.

From the Gatekeepers House we had 2.5 more road miles left and we wound up using just about every bit of water, including the extra water we’d brought with us, to get back to the car.

Geese

Common merganser

Yarrow covered hillside.

Rock formations above the road.

The distinctive cliffs on the opposite side of the river from the parking area.

Arriving back at the parking area.

The loop came to 11.8-miles with approximately 2100′ of elevation gain.
Yellow is our track from 2023.

This was a beautiful albeit challenging hike made even more difficult by the warm temperature. That being said it was enjoyable. There are other possible loop options and routes in the BLM land here if you’re comfortable with route finding and not afraid of some challenging terrain. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Criterion Tract

Tags BLM Access Road, Bullock's Oriole, Criterion Tract, Deschutes River, hiking, Oregon, Rattlesnake, wildflowers

Bend/Redmond Blue Mountains - North Blue Mountains - South Central Oregon Fort Rock Hells Canyon Hiking John Day Klamath Falls Lakeview Newberry Crater Ochoco Mountains SE Oregon Steens Mountain Wallowas

Eastern Oregon

Back in 2016 we set a goal for ourselves to hike all 500 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes…” series of guidebooks post. In 2020 we completed the first of these books covering the Central Oregon Cascades (post). We followed that up by completing a pair of books in 2021 starting with Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast and Coast Range” 3rd edition (post) followed up by “100 HIkes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington” 4th edition (post). Southern Oregon & Northern California was completed in 2023 leaving us with Eastern Oregon.

In 2023 we pivoted from the 3rd edition of Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” to his renamed 2022 1st edition “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” book. This was to avoid needing to make the tedious drive on horrible roads to Dug Bar in Hells Canyon which had been replaced as a featured hike in the newer edition.

The criteria for checking a hike off our list is to hike a portion of Sullivan’s described hike or, at least visit the main attraction(s) he identifies for the hike. For 67 of the hikes we completed the books described route. For the other 33 hikes various factors contributed to us not completing every option of each featured hike. For some we started at a different trailhead, others had portions of trail(s) closed when we visited, and several had additional options that we did not do.

Of the five regions Sullivan breaks his guidebooks into, the Eastern Oregon region is the largest and most diverse. The area covered in this book includes hikes in Oregon east of the Deschutes River in Central Oregon and from Klamath Falls (western most hike) east to the Idaho border. There is however one hike in Washington west of the Deschutes across the Columbia River from The Dalles, OR. It also includes one short option in Idaho (eastern most), one featured hike in California (southern most) making it his only book with hikes in more than two different States. The northern most hike is not the one in Washington. That honor belongs to the Wenaha River near Troy in NE Oregon.

The hikes involved several wilderness areas: Oregon Badlands, Mill Creek, Spring Basin, Strawberry Mountain, North Fork John Day, North Fork Umatilla, Wenaha-Tucannon, Eagle Cap, Hells Canyon, Monument Rock, and Steens Mountain. Missing from this list are the Black Canyon (post) and Gearhart Mountain (post) wilderness areas which had featured hikes in earlier versions of Sullivan’s book that we’d completed, but were removed in the 2022 edition due to wildfire damage.

In addition to the 11 designated wilderness areas there were hikes in two National Monuments, the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon and the Lava Beds National Monument in California, and one National Volcanic Monument, the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

Following is a list of the 100 featured hikes and the dates we visited.

#1 Cottonwood Canyon – Hiked 5/27/2017

#2 Columbia Hills – Hiked 4/4/2015 & 4/17/2021

#3 Lower Deschutes River – Hiked 6/9/2018

#4 Macks Canyon – Hiked 5/26/2018

#5 Criterion Tract – Hiked 05/28/2023

#6 Trout Creek – Hiked 10/12/2013

#7 Willow Creek at Madras – Hiked 5/27/2024

#8 Cove Palisades – Hiked 6/16/2018

#9 Gray Butte – Hiked 6/13/2015

#10 Oregon Badlands – Hiked 5/15/2016 & 12/24/2016

#11 Pine Mountain – Hiked 7/30/2012

#12 Paulina Falls – Hiked 8/9/2011 & 9/16/2017

#13 Paulina Lake – Hiked 8/9/2011 & 9/16/2017

#14 Obsidian Flow – Hiked 8/9/2011

#15 Crooked River Wetlands – Hiked 5/29/2024

#16 Chimney Rock – Hiked 9/22/2017

#17 Steins Pillar – Hiked 5/8/2013

#18 Juniper Hill – Visited* 5/27/2024

#19 Mill Creek – Hiked 7/31/2012

#20 Lookout Mountain – Hiked 6/12/2014

#21 Walton Lake – Hiked 6/17/2017 & 6/18/2021

#22 Spring Basin – Hiked 4/22/2017

#23 John Day Fossil Beds – Hiked 4/30/2016, 4/22/2017 & 9/17/2017
Painted Hills Unit

Clarno Unit

Blue Basin Unit

#24 Sutton Mountain – Hiked 4/30/2016

#25 Spanish Peak – Hiked 7/19/2021 & 7/20/2021

#26 Madison Butte – Hiked 5/28/2024

#27 Wildcat Basin – Hiked 7/24/2018

#28 High Lake – Hiked 7/26/2018

#29 Strawberry Lake – Hiked 7/25/2018

#30 Malheur River – Hiked 6/17/2021

#31 Canyon Mountain – Hiked 7/22/2021

#32 Monument Rock – Hiked 7/21/2021

#33 Bates and Sumpter – Hiked 9/17/2017

#34 Olive Lake – Hiked 9/18/2017

#35 Granite Creek – Hiked 9/21/2017

#36 North Fork John Day River – Hiked 9/19/2017

#37 Mount Ireland – Hiked 7/9/2022

#38 Baldy Lake – Hiked 9/20/2017

#39 Crawfish Lake – Hiked 8/16/2018

#40 Anothony Lake – Hiked 8/16/2018

#41 Elkhorn Crest – Hiked 8/12/2018, 8/13/2018, 8/14/2018, 8/15/2018 & 08/16/2018

#42 Twin Lakes – Hiked 8/13/2018

#43 North Fork Umatilla River – Hiked 6/14/2021

#44 Jubilee Lake – Hiked 9/12/2021

#45 Wenaha River – Hiked 5/25/2019

#46 Zumwalt Prairie – Hiked 5/26/2019

#47 Buckhorn Lookout – Hiked 6/15/2023

#48 Eureka Bar – Hiked 6/14/2023

#49 Hat Point – Hiked 7/21/2024

#50 Freezeout Saddle – Hiked 5/24/2019

#51 Hells Canyon Dam – Hiked 6/16/2023

#52 Hells Canyon Reservoir – Hiked 6/16/2023

#53 Imnaha Falls – Hiked 6/12/2023

#54 Bonny Lakes – Hiked 7/24/2024

#55 McCully Basin – Hiked 7/23/2024

#56 Mount Howard – Hiked 7/26/2024

#57 Aneroid Lake – Hiked 8/22/2024

#58 Wallowa Lake – Hiked 5/23/2019
B.C. Falls

#59 Ice Lake – Hiked 7/31/2016

#60 Horseshoe Lake – Hiked 8/3/2016 & 8/04/2016

#61 Hurricane Creek – Hiked 7/22/2024

#62 Eagle Cap – Hiked 8/3/2016

#63 Minam Lake – Hiked 7/25/2024

#64 Maxwell Lake – Hiked 8/21/2024

#65 Chimney Lake – Hiked 8/20/2024

#66 Wallowa Homeland – Hiked 7/14/2022

#67 Bear Creek – Hiked 7/14/2022

#68 Rock Springs – Hiked 7/11/2022

#69 Moss Springs – Hiked 7/13/2022

#70 Catherine Creek Meadows – Hiked 7/10/2022

#71 Burger Pass – Hiked 7/12/2022

#72 Tombstone Lake – Hiked 8/16/2023 & 8/17/2023

#73 Eagle Lake – Hiked 8/13/2023

#74 Bear Lake – Hiked 8/14/2023

#75 Hidden Lake – Hiked 9/9/2024

#76 Summit Point Lookout – Hiked 8/18/2024

#77 Pine Lakes – Hiked 8/19/2024

#78 Fort Rock – Hiked 6/14/2014 & 5/28/2017

#79 Fort Rock Valley – Hiked 5/28/2017

#80 Hager Mountain – Hiked 7/30/2013 & 6/14/2014

#81 Summer Lake – Hiked 7/24/2020

#82 Winter Ridge – Hiked 7/19/2020

#83 OC&E Railroad – Hiked 10/5/2018

#84 Klamath Falls – Hiked 10/20/2018

#85 Modoc Lava Beds – Hiked 10/6/2018

#86 DeGarmo Canyon – Hiked 7/22/2020

#87 Hart Mountain Hot Springs – Hiked 7/21/2020

#88 Petroglyph Lake – Hiked 7/22/2020

#89 Steens Summit – Hiked 8/18/2021

#90 Little Blitzen River – Hiked 8/19/2021

#91 Big Indian Gorge – Hiked 8/17/2021

#92 Threemile Canyon – Hiked 9/3/2023

#93 Pike Creek – Hiked 6/14/2018

#94 Big Sand Gap – Hiked 6/14/2018

#95 Borax Hot Springs – Hiked 6/14/2018

#96 Pueblo Mountains – Hiked 8/20/2021

#97 Leslie Gulch – Hiked 6/11/2018

#98 Coffeepot Crater – Hiked 6/11/2018

#99 Chalk Basin – Hiked 6/13/2018

#100 Three Forks – Hiked 6/12/2018

*The Juniper Hills Preserve is owned by the Nature Conservancy and had been closed to public entry in 2023, so we were unable to hike the trails. We parked and walked to the gates to take photos. If they ever reopen it to the public we will go back.

Completing our featured hike goals provided a sense of relief. While we thoroughly enjoyed all of the hikes, and the Wallowa Mountains became our favorite destination in Oregon, we had begun to put pressure on ourselves to finish. That pressure had begun following the September 2020 wildfires that ravaged parts of the Central Cascades and left many trails closed for years. We had just finished the featured hikes in that area earlier that year and realized how close we’d come to having to put our goal on hold. In the grand scheme of things reaching 500 featured hikes is irrelevant but having worked on it for several years it was something we didn’t want to abandon. We will gig deeper into that in a later post covering finishing the 500, but it’s nice to have the urgency to get to specific places removed.

Setting the goal did provide us with an excuse to visit parts of Oregon that we’d never seen before. While we were checking off the 100 featured hikes we stopped at over three dozen additional spots including eight previously featured hikes. There are still numerous trails left for us to explore so we will almost certainly be heading back to Eastern Oregon from time to time to see new sights and possibly revisit some familiar ones. Happy Trails!

Tags Alvord Desert, Blue Mountains, Boulder Creek Wilderness, California, Deschutes River, eagle cap wilderness, Eastern Oregon, Gearhart Mountain Wilderness, Hells Canyon Wilderness, hiking, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, John Day river, Lava Beds National Monument, Malheur National Forest, Malheur River, Mill Creek Wilderness, Monument Rock Wilderness, Newberry Caldera, Newberry Crater, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, North Fork John Day Wilderness, North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, Ochoco Mountains, ochoco national forest, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Pueblo Mountains, Spring Basin Wilderness, Steens Mountain Wilderness, Strawberry Mountains, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, William L Sullivan

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Crooked River Wetlands – 05/27/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 31, 2024
1 Comment on Crooked River Wetlands – 05/27/2024

To wrap up our Memorial Day Weekend trip to Prineville we visited the Crooked River Wetlands Complex

The wetlands were opened in 2017 as a solution to the city’s wastewater needs. The complex has 5.4-miles of trails, over half of which are paved, that loop around 15 ponds of varying sizes. We were the third car to arrive, however, there were numerous raucous birds.

The yellow-headed blackbirds were particularly noisy.

A cinnamon teal in front of two mallards?

With so many loop possibilities this is a choose your own route area. Ours wound up being primarily on the Outer Loop, but we cut back in toward the parking area between ponds 5 & 1 to make sure we passed all 13 interpretive signboards.
This loop was 3.4-miles.

Grizzly Mountain from Pond 4.

Killdeer

One of the interpretive signboards ahead.

Goose family

There were plenty of benches to enjoy the views from.

Mallards

Cinnamon teal

Must be a green-winged teal but the angle of light made the patch on his head look blue.

We’d never seen so many killdeer in one area.

Spotted sandpipers

Brewer’s blackbird

Swallow

Pollinator garden

Ring-necked ducks

Wilson’s phalarope

Yellow-headed blackbirds

American coot

Adolescent geese

Dove

Gadwalls

Female yellow-headed blackbird

Pair of bucks.

Ruddy ducks

Red-winged blackbird harassing an osprey.

Gray Butte

A pair of hawks.

Not birds.

Marsh wren

Great blue heron

Observation deck at Pond 10.

Another marsh wren.

Heading back to the parking area.

We had a lot of fun watching and listening to the birds here, and it was perfect for a morning walk. The distance allowed us to be on our way back to Salem shortly after 8am which was early enough that we avoided most of the holiday traffic.

After this weekend’s hikes we’re down to a dozen Eastern Oregon featured hikes to complete our quest for 500 (post). Happy Trails!

Flickr: Crooked River Wetlands

Tags birds, Cinnamon Teal, Crooked River Wetlands, Crooked River Wetlands Complex, Ducks, gadwall, geese, hiking, marsh wren, Oregon, Osprey, Prineville, Ruddy Duck, Wilson's Phalarope, Yellow headed blackbird

Central Oregon Hiking Ochoco Mountains Oregon Trip report

Willow Creek Trail, Juniper Hills, and Barnes Butte – 05/25/24

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 29, 2024
5 Comments on Willow Creek Trail, Juniper Hills, and Barnes Butte – 05/25/24

**Note the 2024 Elk Lane Fire burned a small portion of the Willow Creek Trail near where we turned around.**

Our primary hiking goal for 2024 is to finally finish our quest to hike at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes” guidebooks (post). Sullivan separates Oregon into five regions: Oregon Coast, NW Oregon, Central Cascades, Southern Oregon, and Eastern Oregon. We’ve focused on one specific edition for each region and have now managed to finish all but an Eastern Oregon edition. We had been focused on the third edition of his “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” but switched to his first edition “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” last year after deciding we weren’t willing to attempt the drive to Dug Bar in Hells Canyon (post). Sullivan had removed Dug Bar from the featured hikes along with six other hikes which we had already completed. (Note that we went from a 3rd to a 1st edition. This is due to Sullivan dropping “Travel Guide” from his book’s titles even though they still contain lots of helpful travel information.)

Four of the new featured hikes were in, or near, Central Oregon. More specifically the Prineville area, so we decided to book a room there for Memorial Day Weekend. One of these new featured hikes posed a problem though. New hike 18 – Juniper Hills is on land owned by The Nature Conservancy and at some point, after the book was published, public access to the area was closed. An email prior to us leaving confirmed the closure which left us without a way to legally do the hike. We weighed our options, reverting to the previous edition and daring the drive to Dug Bar, or driving to Juniper Hills and taking pictures from the would-be trailheads. We decided on the latter with hopes that someday public access may be restored, possibly by permit and/or reservations.

We had originally planned on doing two of the featured hikes on Saturday before checking into our room, Willow Creek and Juniper Hills. With hiking being out at Juniper Hills we added a third stop to the day to check out Barnes Butte in Prineville. Our first stop was in Madras, OR at the Willow Creek Trailhead which wound up being one of the sketchiest trailheads we’ve been to.

There was a large homeless camp along Willow Creek beyond the large gravel parking area and several people just mulling about with no other cars around. According to recent news reports the city will be removing the camp on or around June 11th. We decided to go ahead and chance leaving the car rather than trying to find a different starting point based off of the city maps online. We crossed the creek on a footbridge and followed the paved trail just over half a mile to a fork above SW Canyon Road. We forked left and descended to a crosswalk then began climbing “M Hill”.

M Hill from the trail.

The crosswalk on SW Canyon Road.

Kiosk at the bottom of the hill.

The trail climbed for a half mile to the identifier.

The “M” on the side of the hill.

It was a little cloudy on top, but we could make out several snowy cascades and most of the lower peaks to the SE.
<Gray Butte (post), Haystack Butte, and Juniper Butte to the left. Broken Top and the Three Sisters are the snow-covered peaks to the right.

Broken Top and the Three Sisters to the left with Mt. Jefferson to the right.

Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson

After taking in the view we returned to the fork and took a left to head into the Willow Creek Canyon. The trail made a quick climb then dropped to another crossing of SW Canyon Road.
Ash-throated flycatcher

On the far side of the road the trail became gravel before giving way to dirt.

Passing under a trestle and a siphon pipe.

We continued approximately 2.5-miles after crossing the road turning around at a junction with the former Willow Creek Road. The scenery was great in the canyon with lots of flowers and birds and we didn’t see any snakes.

Lupin

A lomatium

Ringlet

Ground squirrel

Marmot

Crossing the dry bed of Willow Creek.

Fiddleneck

Hawk

Desert yellow fleabane

Small cascade flowing into Willow Creek.

cut-leaf thelypody

Carey’s balsamroot

Rocky Mountain iris

Lazuli bunting

Taper-tip onion

Bullock’s oriole near the top of the photo.

Silverleaf phacelia

Paintbrush

Just before reaching the old roadbed we spotted several deer making their way up the hillside.

Our turnaround spot. The deer were watching us from just right of the largest rock outcrop.

We returned the way we came passing only two other hikers before reaching SW Canyon Road.
Yarrow and silverleaf phacelia above Willow Creek.

Rock wren

Raven nest

This appears to be hound’s tongue.

The car windows were all still intact when we got back to the trailhead which we were thankful for. Aside from the trailhead anxiety this was a lovely 7.4-mile hike with around 500′ of elevation gain.

From Madras we drove to Prineville then continued to the Juniper Hills Preserve by taking Highway 380 through Post, Oregon which is near the geographic center of Oregon. We parked along the shoulder of the highway at a “Private Property No Trespassing” sign with a view of Oregon’s other painted hills. (The official Painted Hills (post) are part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.)

After admiring the painted hills we drove back toward Prineville 1.4-miles and pulled off next to another former trailhead at the Preserve.

Since getting out of the car and walking up to the closed gates was all that was possible at this time we are counting this visit toward the 100. If access is ever restored we will be back but for now we’re just happy that some of the painted hills were visible from the highway.

We made the 35-mile drive back to Prineville and headed for the Barnes Butte Trailhead.

The Barnes Butte Recreation Area has been developed by the Central Oregon Trails Alliance and the City of Prineville on city and Bureau of Land Management land.

A paved loop trail begins at the trailhead and connects to numerous other mixed-use trails (open to biking and hiking). I had found a couple of hiking routes online but both the Oregonhikers and AllTrails maps did not include all of the recently developed trails, so we studied the map at the trailhead and came up with our own route.

Our plan was to begin on the Calumet Trail then turn right at a 4-way junction to cross the paved trail and take the Baby Burma Trail up Barnes Butte to The Meadow Trail. From there we would make the side trip to the summit then descend via The Meadow to the Canal Trail. We could take the Canal Trail most of the way back to the trailhead before it would drop us onto the Paved Trail 0.3 of a mile from the trailhead. This would minimize our time on pavement and save our feet for the rest of the weekend’s hikes.

Of course we immediately chose the wrong path and forked left from the signboard on a wide dirt path when we should have gone right on a narrower dirt path. After a tenth of a mile we found ourselves at the canal and had to turn around and take the correct path.
Grizzly Mountain from the wrong path.

Barnes Butte from the Calumet Trail.

The Calumet Trail wound through the grassland for nearly a mile before arriving at the unsigned 4-way junction.

Threadleaf phacelia

Barnes Butte from the 4-way junction.

We turned right and after 0.2-miles crossed the Paved Trail to a Baby Burma sign.

The Baby Burma Trail climbed an old roadbed for half a mile gaining nearly 300′ to a signed junction at a saddle.

Penstemon

Milkvetch

Phlox

Mt. Jefferson beyond Gray Butte.

Rock outcrop below Barnes Butte.

Cinnabar Mine

A skipper and flies on a groundsel.

A sulphur

We turned left onto The Meadow then forked right to climb Barnes Butte. Reaching the summit required scrambling up a couple of rocky slopes where I was forced to use my hands. Heather opted not to follow.
The trail to the summit.

Bench at the summit.

The summit provided a 360-degree view.
L to R: Black Butte (post), Smith Rocks, Gray Butte, Mt. Jefferson, and Grizzly Mountain with Barnes Butte Reservoir below.

Round Mountain to the east (post).

Powell Buttes to the SW with Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top and the Three Sisters beyond.

Mt. Bachelor (post)

Broken Top and the Three Sisters

After taking in the view I descended to where Heather was waiting, and we headed down The Meadow.
Of course by heading down it meant we started with a slight climb on The Meadow.

Viewpoint along The Meadow.

Orange globe-mallow

Buckwheat

When we arrived at a sign for the Canal Trail we turned left on a dirt track following a former ditch.

A hairstreak

The Canal Trail running parallel to the Pave Trail.

Mountain identifier

Coming up on the end of the Canal Trail.

Lizard

Arriving back at the trailhead.

We ended up with an extremely disfigured figure-eight here consisting of 3.9-miles and 550′ of elevation gain.

We were a bit surprised at just how enjoyable the hike at Barnes Butte had been. This is a really nice area and seemed to be quite popular, yet it never felt busy. It had been much more than just a time killer while we waited for check-in time. Speaking of which it was now a little after 3pm so we headed for our motel, got checked in and cleaned up, then headed next door to Club Pioneer where we met up with Heather’s family for a wonderful dinner. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Willow Creek, Juniper Hills, and Barnes Butte

Tags Barnes Butte, Barnes Butte Recreation Area, Central Oregon, Club Pioneer, hiking, Juniper Hills, Juniper Hills Preserve, M Hill, Madras, Oregon, Painted Hills, Prineville, Willow Creek Canyon, Willow Creek Trail, Willow Creek Trailhead

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Fryrear Canyon – 09/04/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 8, 2023
No Comments on Fryrear Canyon – 09/04/2023

To finish off our Labor Day Weekend we chose a hike almost halfway between Burns and Salem, Fryrear Canyon. Managed by the BLM (Prineville District) as part of the Cline Buttes Recreation Area there isn’t a lot of information available online that I could find outside of an area closure map for nesting birds from February 1st through August 31st. (Please note that the trails shown on the linked map are a little bit different than what we found.)

The Fryrear Trailhead is located along Fryrear Road which runs between Highways 20 and 126. From Highway 20 the trailhead is on the right after 2.3 miles and from Highway 126 it is on the left after 3.2 miles.
The trailhead has numerous parking spots for cars as well as a large horse trailhead, outhouse, and picnic tables.

The big signboards unfortunately did not have a map or other information about the trail system though.

We headed East past a gate on a well established path with flagging.

The North Sister behind us.

After a third of a mile we came to an unsigned “T” junction where we turned right.

We followed the path and flagging when there were forks for half a mile to the start of Fryrear Canyon.

Signpost for the canyon ahead.

This sign was just like the ones we’d seen Saturday at the Dry River Canyon (post).

We descended into the canyon and spent the next mile admiring the rock formations and various vegetation growing along the canyon floor.

The canyon is home to some impressive ponderosa pines.

Another ponderosa

Looking up from below the ponderosa.

Lichens

Townsend’s solitaire

Owl

West wall

East wall

Wren

Neat rock formation.

Exiting Fryrear Canyon.

A short distance after leaving the canyon we arrived at a gate with a trail junction on the other side.

Several mountain chickadees came to investigate as we passed through the gate.

We turned left at the unsigned junction and climbed up a small hill gaining a view of the Three Sisters.

Middle and North Sister

Mountain bluebird

South Sister

A little further along we gained a view of Mt. Jefferson (behind a few clouds).

Mt. Jefferson

We stayed left at junctions to complete a loop.
Broken Top and South Sister

Broken Top behind some clouds.

We turned right back onto the spur trail to the Fryrear Trailhead at the end of our loop.

Stellars jay

The hike was 3.3-miles with 200′ of elevation gain.

We had a great time on this hike. Fryrear Canyon was absolutely wonderful. The rock formations and textures were very interesting and so was the vegetation along the canyon floor. Throw in some wildlife and mountain views and you have the makings of a great hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fryrear Canyon

Tags Bend, Central Oregon, Cline Buttes Recreation Area, Fryrear Canyon, Fryrear Trailhead, hiking, Oregon

Bend/Redmond Blue Mountains - South Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Dry River Canyon and Idlewild Loop – 09/02/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 6, 2023
No Comments on Dry River Canyon and Idlewild Loop – 09/02/2023

Our Labor Day Weekend plans came together in June after we’d decided that the featured hike at Dug Bar in Hells Canyon wasn’t going to happen (post). With us not willing to make the drive to that trailhead our quest to hike all 100 featured hikes in one of the editions of William L. Sullivan’s Eastern Oregon guidebooks (post) needed adjusting. We had been working out of his 2015 third edition of the “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon”, but his 2022 “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” did not include Dug Bar as a featured hike. While our Dug Bar problem was resolved by making the switch one of the new featured hikes was located in the Steens Mountain Wilderness in SE Oregon 350 miles from Salem. The long holiday weekend provided us an opportunity to head to Burns and pick up that featured hike.

We decided to stay in Burns, OR and planned on heading to the featured hike, Threemile Canyon, on Sunday. We picked a pair of other hikes for Saturday to fill the time before checking into our room. Our first stop was at the BLM managed Dry River Canyon Trail.

The canyon and trail are closed annually from February 1st through August 31st to protect wildlife, so this was a good option for this weekend having just recently reopened. We opted to park at the far end of the ODOT gravel area at a sign announcing the trail’s status as “Open”.

This left us with a 0.6-mile road walk to the actual trailhead but saved us from having to drive the primitive rocky road.

Open sign at the trailhead.

We set off on the dirt trail into the canyon which in the ancient past was the course of a river flowing from the former Lake Millican.

Rabbit in the sagebrush.

Some of the exposed rocks showed the work of the ancient river.

Shaped by water.

Colorful rock bands along the canyon wall.

While the canyon is closed to protect peregrine falcon nesting there were a number of other birds among the junipers. The most surprising for us were a number of Clark’s nutcrackers which we typically see at much higher elevations where their favorite food, the seeds of whitebark pines, is found.

There is a huge nest up on the cliffs.

The nest

Wren

American kestral

Tall sagebrush in the canyon.

The canyon reaches a depth of approximately 300′.

After just over 2 1/4 miles we arrived a boulder field where it appeared at first that the trail abruptly ended.

We knew the BLM map showed it continuing and eventually emerging from the canyon and curving to meet Highway 20 across from the Evens Well Trailhead

We were just about to turn back when we spotted the continuation of the trail heading to the right up some rock steps.

The trail climbed up and around the boulder field then dropped steeply back down to the canyon floor.

Skipper

I believe this is a ringlet of some sort.

Beyond the boulder field the canyon walls shortened and we were soon veering right out of the canyon onto a sagebrush plateau.

Heading toward the Evens Well Trailhead.

Looking toward the Dry River Canyon from the plateau. It was impossible to tell that there was such a deep canyon out there.

Pine Mountain (post) to the SE.

We returned to the canyon and returned the way we’d come. We started seeing a few hikers on our way back as well as a number of lizards soaking in the Sun’s rays.

The rock steps were more obvious on the way down them.

A sparrow behind the sticks the camera was intent on focusing on.

Bee on buckwheat

Arriving back at the official trailhead. Several SUVs were now parked here.

They’re hard to make out but the Middle and North Sisters were visible from the road walk back to the gravel area.

Including the road walk our hike here came in at 7.9 miles with 550′ of elevation gain.

We hopped in the car and continued East on Highway 20 to Burns. It was too early to check in so we headed for our second stop of the day at the Idlewild Loop Trail in the Malheur National Forest. There are two possible starting points for the hike. We followed the Forest Service directions in the previous link and parked at the Idlewild Campground. The other option would have been to start from the Idlewild Sno Park.
The trailhead at the campground.

Neat map at the trailhead.

The trail began by a small map along the campground road behind the big wooden map.

We followed this path approximately 100 yards to a “T” shaped junction with the Idlewild Loop Trail where we turned right.
Gold flagging on the sagebrush ahead marked the junction.

The trail followed a fence line before turning right along Highway 395.

Tiny frog

The trail crossed this gated road near the highway. A blue diamond marked the trails continuation.

One of several interpretive signs along the loop.

Squirrel

The highway was just out of sight to the left.

Big ponderosa

We initially missed the continuation of the trail toward the Sno Park and headed downhill to the campground road.

We crossed the campground road and quickly realized our mistake and backtracked.

This time we spotted the correct trail and forked right here.

From the unsigned junction we climbed for a tenth of a mile to a signed junction with the Microwave Trail.

There were lots of dragonflies in the area.

We turned right on the Microwave Trail and followed this trail downhill and once again crossed the campground road.

On the far side of the road the trail passed through a fence and followed an old roadbed gently uphill.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel already sporting some of its winter weight.

We followed the roadbed for a third of a mile before arriving at another signed junction.

We turned right here onto the Devine Summit Trail.

The Devine Summit Trail climbed gradually before leveling out and then eventually descending back to the Idlewild Loop Trail after just over a mile.

Deer in the forest.

There was a bit of blowdown to navigate along the trail.

Some maintenance had been done in the past. There were also a good number of benches along the trail, all of which were accompanied by a post with a number.

Another bench near this fence.

Ponderosa forest

White breasted nuthatch

Another post and bench.

Arriving at the Idlewild Loop on the far side of the fence.

We turned left to complete our loop and then took a right onto the spur that led back to the trailhead.

Our little loop here came to 2.7 miles with 300′ of elevation gain.

This was a very enjoyable hike and we didn’t see another person until we were back at our car and another couple pulled up to the trailhead. We both imagined ticks could be an issue at certain times of the year but on this day the coast was clear. We made the 25 minute drive back into Burns and checked into our room and prepared for another canyon hike the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Dry River Canyon and Idlewild Loop

Tags Bend, blm, Burns, Devine Summit Trail, dry river canyon, Dry River Canyon Trail, Dry River Canyon Trailhead, Evens Well Trailhead, hiking, Idlewild Campground, Idlewild Loop Trail, Idlewild Sno Park, Malheur National Forest, Microwave Trail, Oregon

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Metolius River Backpack – 07/22/23 & 07/23/23

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 26, 2023
No Comments on Metolius River Backpack – 07/22/23 & 07/23/23

Our first couple of planned backpacking trips didn’t happen for one reason or another but we really wanted to get at least one overnight trip in before August. We’d picked up some new gear that we hoped to give a test run before a longer outing we have planned for August.

Recent reports of a heavy mosquito presence at our plan “A” location forced us to look for a plan “B”. We turned to one of the early trips that hadn’t happened, a hike along the Metolius River starting from the Lower Bridge Campground. Matt Reeder describes 10.1-mile hike to a former trailhead that once served the Shut-In Trail in his “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region”. By all accounts the Shut-In Trail was a brushy mess, at least beyond a mile from the former trailhead. Our plan was to set up camp at the old trailhead and then explore the Shut-In Trail as far as it was passable.

Reeder mentioned that ticks could be a nuisance in the Spring but by this time they and most of the mosquito’s wouldn’t be a problem. The downside of visiting this time of year though would be the heat with highs forecast in the upper 80s. The temperature was pleasant when we arrived at the trailhead just after 7am. We parked at a small trailhead across from the Lower Bend Campground.

We’d hiked through this trailhead during a 2012 hike starting from the West Metolius Trailhead (post). Lower Bridge which we’d used to cross the river had been the northern end of that hike. For this trip we would be heading further North and then East as we rounded Green Ridge (post) at the Horn of the Metolius.

To reach the trail we had to walk through the campground to the top of its loop and pass between a couple of occupied camp sites to a trail sign.

The sign is visible from the campground road.

The trail quickly reached the banks of the Metolius. This 23-mile river is fed primarily by a series springs and spring fed creeks beginning with the Head of the Metolius (post). The river ends at Lake Billy Chinook (post) where it joins waters from the Crooked and Deschutes Rivers. The spring fed water is cold and clear which makes the Metolius a beautiful river.

The trail passes a number of large campsites early on with numerous side trails for fly fishers to access the river. Reeder mentioned the trail petering out just over a mile and a half from the campground across the river from the Candle Creek Campground and recommended veering away from the river there and joining the Lower Metolius River Road.

Common mergansers

Ouzel

Goldenrod

Passing some of the campsites.

The Candle Creek Campground across the Metolius.

The trail seemed to be in pretty good shape as we passed the campground so instead of detouring to the road we stuck to the trail which was now more of a braided fisherman’s trail than a hiker trail, but it was passable without too much effort. That is until the final 100′ where we nearly lost the trail in brush before finding a very steep trail leading up to the road.

We actually went left below the stump here but, on the way back wound up coming downhill by the stump.

More campsites.

As we got further from the campground we encountered more and more brushy sections.

Another section with an increased number of obstacles.

Getting a bit brushier.

We left the river for the road at this bend.

Heading up to the road.

The use trail from the road.

Several opportunities to head for the road prior to this had us deciding that we would look for one of those on the way back instead of returning exactly the way we came. We followed this road a total of 6.2 miles to where the GPS showed the road ending and the Shut-In Trail beginning. We actually were passed by a gentleman in an SUV who was heading for one a small number of private cabins located approximately 3.7 miles from where we’d joined the road. He stopped to ask where we were headed and wished us a good hike.

We wondered what this post signified.

They were way past blooming but there were several mountain lady slippers along the road.

Osprey nest

Rock spire on lower section of Green Ridge. There are several interesting rock features higher up on the northern end of Green Ridge that were not visible from the road.

Orchid

Scarlet gilia

Some of the private cabins from the road.

A couple more cabins.

Based on the Oregonhikers field guide we had expected the road beyond the private cabins to have downed trees but instead found they had all been cut and there were even tire tracks, bicycle most likely, all the way to the Shut-In Trail.
The end of the private land.

The clear water allows for nice views of the rocks making up the riverbed.

Even though it had received maintenance the road was not in good enough condition for larger vehicles.

Pink monkeyflower

Lorquin’s admiral

The forest opened up near the end of the road where we set up camp.

Campsite

Yellow monkeyflower

We had arrived at our campsite a little before 12:15pm and it was really heating up, so we broke out our camp chairs and rested for several hours near the river before fixing an early dinner and setting off on the Shut-In Trail.
Lizard hanging out near the campsite.

After an early dinner we set off on the Shut-In Trail which we were surprised to find had seen some recent maintenance.

Grouse

The answer to the questions is yes bears do.

The Metolius through the trees.

Sagebrush mariposa lily. There also tire tracks in the trail behind.

Recent brushing had been performed through this area.

Looking up the end of Green Ridge.

This large tree had been cut fairly recently.

Flagging marking a reroute around a downed tree.

After a little more than a mile and a half of good trail things began to deteriorate.
Starting to get brushy.

View across the river to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

Flowers along the Metolius.

The Whitewater River was behind the rock formation on the far side. The Whitewater River begins at the Whitewater Glacier on Mt. Jefferson and flows roughly 7.5 miles through the Warm Springs Reservation to the Metolius.

More clear water.

Fireweed

Thimbleberries provided us with a few after dinner snacks.

Hedgenettle

The Shut-In Trail traveled right along the riverbank at times.

There was one section along the hillside that had experienced some pretty significant erosion.
There was a small set of boards nailed together to assist with crossing the sketchiest part, but they were just lying on the hillside and not anchored in any way.

Just under two and a half miles from our camp we arrived at County Road 64. One could continue along this closed road for 4.6 miles to a gate just beyond the Monty Campground. A seasonal gate is located another 1.7-miles from the campground along the Metolius arm of Lake Billy Chinook.

The Shut-In Trail from CR-64.

CR-64

After a short break at the road we headed back.

Frog on a skunk cabbage leaf. There were a few wet areas along the Shut-In Trail which meant a few mosquitos were present.

The Sun going down as we approached camp.

Our first day wound up being 15.3-miles, 10.5 to reach camp and a 4.8-mile round trip on the Shut-In Trail. The elevation gain was only about 800′ total.

We woke up early the next morning hoping to stay ahead of the heat. After breakfast and packing up we followed the Lower Metolius River Road a total of 8-miles before cutting down to the trail along the river.

Pinedrops

Squirrel

Bee sleeping on thistle.

Large boykinia

The gentleman that had driven passed us the day before passed us again on his way into the cabins shortly before we turned off the road.
We turned off the road here on a well-established use trail down to the water.

Red admiral. As far as I know this is the first one of this species of butterfly that we’d seen.

Common wood nymph

Across from the Candle Creek Campground.

Green Ridge through some smoke. A couple of new fires, one on the Warm Springs Reservation and one East of Eugene had started over the weekend.

Love the colors of the Metolius.

Skipper on a mariposa lily.

Lower Bridge Campground is ahead to the left in the trees.

Our return hike came in at 10.1-miles which was the distance Reeder indicated between the trailhead and Shut-In Trail. The elevation gain was under 500′ of very gradual uphill, mostly along the road.

Blue is our hike to camp. Yellow is the Shut-In Trai.
Red is our return to the trailhead.

Heat aside this turned out to be a great backpacking trip. Over the two days we only passed one fly fisher (near Lower Bridge Campground), the private landowner (2x in his car), and a pair of hikers (again near Lower Bridge Campground). There were people across the river at Candle Creek Campground and in Lower Bridge Campground itself, but it was about as much solitude as we could have asked for. The condition of the trails was also better than we’d expected despite the rough end of the Shut-In Trail toward CR-64. It was a successful test run of our new gear as well and we now feel ready for our longer trip coming up in August. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Middle Metolius River

Tags backpacking, Candle Creek Campground, Deschutes National Forest, Green Ridge, hiking, Lower Bridge Campground, Lower Metolius River Road, Metolius River, Monty Campground, Oregon, Shut-In Trail

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Riley Ranch Nature Preserve to Tumalo State Park – 05/29/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 2, 2023
1 Comment on Riley Ranch Nature Preserve to Tumalo State Park – 05/29/2023

On our way home from Bend we wanted to get one more hike in and had decided on exploring the Riley Ranch Nature Reserve. There are a little under 3 miles of trail at the Reserve, but a trail along the Deschutes River connects the Reserve with Tumalo State Park making a longer hike possible.

We chose to start at the Reserve trailhead primarily due to Tumalo State Park being a fee park. The Reserve is open sunrise to sunset so we arrived early (5:20am) to try and get a jump on the crowds and our drive home.

Mt. Bachelor (post) in the morning.

We stopped at the trailhead signboard to finalize our route for the day.

We planned to stay right on Juniper and Sage Flat Loops and take the Robin’s Run down to the Canyon Loop. For the Canyon Loop we decided to go left first to hike along the Deschutes River to the Tumalo State Park Day Use Area. On our way back we would complete the Canyon Loop and stay right on the Sage Flat and Juniper Loops.
The start of the Juniper Loop.

Similar to the Metro Parks we’ve recently visited there were small maps on the trail pointers here.

Middle and North Sister

We spotted our first deer of the day amid the sagebrush in the distance.

Blurry shot of the deer.

We detoured 40 yards to the Ben Newkirk Mountain Overlook where we saw a rabbit and some mountains.

Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters.

Rabbit

Mt. Bachelor and Tumalo Mountain (post)

Ball Butte

Broken Top (post)

South Sister (post)

Middle and North Sister

After checking out the overlook we continued on the Juniper Loop and spotted a second rabbit

We passed by the shared Juniper/Sage Flat Trail and continued on the Sage Flat Loop.

Sageflat Loop

We turned right on the dirt Robin’s Run Trail which led fairly steeply downhill to the Canyon Loop.

Threadleaf phacelia

Turning left on the Canyon Loop quickly brought us to the Deschutes River.
Balsamroot along the Deschutes.

The trail follows the river with occasional “official” river access points marked by posts.

After 0.4 miles on the Canyon Loop we came to an unmarked spur trail that led to the top of a rock outcrop with a bench.

Robin

Longhorn plectritis

Blackheaded grosbeak

Heather waited below while I climbed the outcrop.

The bench on top.

The top of the outcrop.

As I headed back down to Heather I encountered a deer about 30 yards from her that she hadn’t seen.

We continued along the river looking for wildlife and wildflowers.

Western stoneseed

Larkspur

I spotted something head into the river from the grass on the near bank here.

I spotted the grass moving before the animal below which turned out to be a beaver.

Beaver in the Deschutes River.

We stayed straight when the Canyon Loop turned inland. There are two cabin ruins in this area, one just a bit further along the loop and the other was just ahead on the trail along the river.
We followed the pointer for Tumalo State Park.

Cabin ruins

It was nearly 2 miles from the cabin ruins to the day use area at Tumalo State Park.

Western wallflower

Lupine

Another river access point.

Rockcress, possibly sicklepod.

The northern boundary of the Riley Ranch Nature Reserve.

Threadleaf phacelia

Tumalo Creek (post) flowing into the Deschutes River.

While we were admiring Tumalo Creek we spotted a bird high up in a snag on the far side of the river.

It turned out to be a Lewis’s woodpecker, one of the prettiest woodpeckers in Oregon.

Crossing into Tumalo State Park.

One of the neatest features along the trail was a long footbridge crossing over some boulders along the river.

Magpie

Paintbrush

Mallards

Penstemon

A quarter of a mile from the day use area we crossed a road leading to a private bridge crossing the river.

Remains of another bridge in the river.

Tumalo State Park Day Use Area

It was fun to see the day use area. In my school days some friends and I occasionally camped in the park and spent time fishing and swimming in the river.

Deschutes River at the day use area.

After reminiscing at the day use area we headed back. We kept our eyes out for more wildlife and were rewarded with a few more species of birds.
Kingfisher on the bridge remains. (A bit blurry due to being a long way off.)

A swallow and a pygmy nuthatch.

Pygmy nuthatch

We turned left onto the Canyon Loop and immediately arrived at the other cabin ruins.

Bench along the Canyon Loop.

Northern flicker

As we neared the junction with Robin’s Run we could hear a large group of trail runners making their way down.
We were distracted enough by the runners that we failed to notice the deer bedded down to the right of the trail. You can see its ears sticking up here.

We waited at the junction for the group to descend and while we were standing there we finally noticed the deer.
There were at least four deer hanging out here.

After the trail runners passed by we climbed back up to the Sage Flat Trail and turned right. After just under 500′ we came to a spur trail to the Canyon Overlook where we made a quick detour.
The Sage Flat Loop Trail.

Spur to the Canyon Overlook.

Death camas

Mt. Bachelor and Tumalo Mountain

Mt. Jefferson

We returned to the Sage Flat Loop and continued passing a few Lewis flax blossoms before arriving at another spur trail to the Sage Flat Overlook.

Lewis flax

Marker for the Sage Flat Overlook.

We skipped this overlook, primarily because I went right when the overlook was to the left but given the time of day we would have been looking directly toward the Sun.
Looking back at where the Sage Flat Overlook was.

Next up was the River Viewpoint which was just off the Sage Flat Loop to the right.

Lizard near the River Viewpoint.

After looking at the river one last time we continued on the Sage Flat Loop which then became the Juniper Loop bringing us back to the trailhead.
The Cascade Mountains

Black Crater (post) and Mt. Washington

Finishing up the Juniper Loop.

Our hike came to 7.3 miles with 350′ of elevation gain.

This was a nice, convenient hike to finish off the weekend. The early start allowed us to be finished before 9:30am which put us ahead of the bulk of holiday traffic. We made it home nice and early giving us plenty of time to catch up with the cats. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Riley Ranch Nature Reserve

Tags Bend, Broken Top, Canyon Loop Trail, Canyon Overlook, deer, Deschutes River, hiking, Juniper Loop Trail, Lewis Woodpecker, Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, Riley Ranch Nature Reserve, River Viewpiont, Robbin's Run Trail, Sage Flat Loop Trail, The Three Sisters, Tumalo Creek, Tumalo State Park

Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Post author By yunckrunner
Post date June 1, 2023
2 Comments on Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Knowing that trails would be busy over the holiday weekend we looked for an option that might provide some solitude and turned to another Matt Reeder hike at BLM managed Criterion Tract (BLM map). Reeder features this hike in his “PDX Hiking 365” guidebook and lists April as the best time to visit. His reasoning is that April to early May is the usually the peak wildflower blooms. With this years blooms running a couple of weeks late we hoped that Memorial Day weekend wouldn’t be too late. I couldn’t find any information other than the map linked above on the BLM website but in addition to Reeder’s entry there is a route featured in the Oregonhikers.org field guide and Sullivan features a route starting along the Deschutes River in his 2022 “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” guidebook (not the edition we are using for our quest of his featured hikes).

While there are several possible access points we started at the Criterion North Trailhead.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from the trailhead which is the high point of the hike.

Mt. Hood

The “trails” here consist of old jeep tracks that are closed to motorized use (other than BLM administrators) and not maintained so some have become faint. We passed through a green gate and onto what the Oregonhikers.org map shows as Criterion Crest Road.
Cattle sometimes graze in the area and the combination of their hooves with the unmaintained roads makes for some pretty rough surfaces.

Reeder has you follow this road for nearly four miles before turning downhill through a gate at a faint 4-way junction. He doesn’t mention any other markers along the way but the road passes under a set of power lines, followed by another gate, then the power lines again, a third gate, and passes an abandoned trailer before reaching the 4-way junction. Mountain views stretched from Mt. Bachelor to the South to Mt. Adams in Washington to the North. We saw plenty of wildflowers and a lot of birds as well as deer and elk sign, but we didn’t see any hooved mammals (including cows thankfully).

Rough-eyelashweed. There was a lot of this blooming along the road.

A couple of lomatiums.

Howell’s milkvetch

Idaho milkvetch

Western meadowlark

A buckwheat

Carey’s balsamroot

Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Lupine

Bumble bee on Howell’s milkvetch

Lark sparrow

We spent a lot of time heading toward Mt. Hood.

Sparrow?

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood

We were a little too late for the large-head clover.

Western meadowlark giving a performance.

The third gate with Mt. Hood in the distance.

Yarrow

Phlox

The Deschutes River winding through the valley below.

Rough eyelashweed and lupine with Mt. Hood behind.

Caterpillar

Lupine with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Horned lark

Mt. Jefferson behind the abandoned trailer.

Mt. Jefferson was hidden at times but this gap in the hills provided a nice view.

Oregon sunshine

Skipper

Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (post) behind the lupine.

A small watering hole.

Leaning toward an Acmon blue but not sure.

Another in the Lycaenidae family.

Large marble on a fiddleneck.

The fourth gate at the 4-way junction.

Mourning dove

We took a short break by the gate before passing through. As we descended on the jeep track we came to a split where the clearer track curved to the left while a faint track headed straight downhill through a field of balsamroot. Reeder’s map showed his route was along the fainter track so we stayed straight.
The more “obvious” jeep track curving left.

The fainter track angling slightly right.

We were a couple of weeks late for the peak balsamroot bloom, but there were enough remaining blooms/petals to color the hillside yellow.

Ochre ringlet on rougheyelashweed.

We soon rejoined the other jeep track where we turned right.

The terrain had leveled out and we continued on the track watching for Stag Point, a knoll with a post on top, which was Reeder’s turn around point.
Zerene fritillary

Zerene fritillary on salsify

We thought we spied the post and used the camera to zoom in and confirm.

This was the only knoll with a juniper as well as the post.

Largeflower hawksbeard

Paintbrush

To reach Stag Point we had to go cross country, so we looked for the most gradual looking climb.

Mt. Hood from Stag Point.

The Deschutes River from Stag Point.

The view was good from Stag Point, but we were hoping to see more of the river and decided to do a little more cross country exploring by heading SE along the rim from Stag Point to a promising looking rock outcrop.
Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from Stag Point.

Looking back over the route we’d come down.

Ladybug and an Oregon swallowtail.

Desert yellow fleabane

Heading out to the rock outcrop.

Mt. Hood and Stag Point from the outcrop.

A better view of the Deschutes.

Mt. Hood beyond the cliffs.

A buckwheat

Satisfied now with the view we took a short break on the outcrop before heading back. We made our way back to the jeep track by angling back toward the rim where we’d descended. Once we’d reached the track we simply followed it back uphill to the gate at the 4-way junction.
Stink bug

Silverleaf phacelia

Back on the jeep track.

Lupine and balsamroot

The cows had really chewed this section of the jeep track up.

The gate ahead.

Horned lark guarding the gate.

After passing through the gate we retraced our route back to the trailhead. Butterflies were now out in force and we spotted a couple of lizards.
Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte

Grand collomia

Time for some sun.

A butterfly and fly.

Three butterflies and a fly.

Busy bee

This swallowtail was a little rough around the edges.

Another horned lark on lookout.

Nothing brings fritillary butterflies together like a good pile of scat.

We had been trying to figure out where the Oregonhikers loop had veered off Criterion Road and as we were discussing it on the way back it donned on us that it must follow the powerlines for a short distance. Neither of us had noticed another jeep track leading off around the powerlines but it made sense because there is almost always an access road below lines. Sure enough when we arrived at the power lines there was a jeep track clear as day.
Another option for another time. We were just happy to have solved that mystery.

The Radio Towers on the hill were right next to the trailhead.

The Three Sisters (from this angle it looks like two)

Three butterflies and a beetle on buckwheat.

Another mystery was where did the trail from the South Trailhead (just on the other side of the radio towers) connect. We’d missed the track on the right on our first pass, another question answered.

Lizard with half a tail at the trailhead.

This mountain bluebird was acting odd when we arrived at the gate. It was flying back and forth with something in its mouth. (Mt. Adams is in the background.)

It turned out to be a grasshopper that it was waiting to feed its young who were apparently in a nest in some nearby rocks.

After we passed by we heard the chicks calling and watched it fly into the rocks with their meal.

This turned out to be an excellent choice for the holiday weekend. We only encountered one other person, a trail runner we passed on our way back to the 4-way junction from Stag Point. The late wildflower season played to our advantage and the weather was good. It can get really hot and/or really windy there but on this day a reasonable breeze kept the temperature down without blowing us around. The rough tread was really the only downside to the hike, but that wasn’t too bad overall.

Our hike came in at 10.6 miles with roughly 700′ of elevation gain.

We definitely plan on returning to try Sullivan’s route from below someday and possibly trying to follow the Oregonhikers loop sometime as well. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Criterion Tract

Tags balsamroot, blm, Criterion North Trailhead, Criterion Ranch, Criterion Tract, Deschutes River, hiking, horned lark, lark sparrow, lupine, mountain view, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Stag Point, Western Meadowlark