The Central Cascade Wilderness Permit system has been in place for 2 years now and for the second year in a row we gambled early and secured permits in April for a weekend backpacking trip. For the second year in a row weather prompted us to leave the purchased permits unused. Last September it was an early snow storm and this year it was a heat wave accompanied by the threat of thunderstorms. We had planned on hiking around Three Fingered Jack but after checking the forecast the morning of our departure we went to Plan B. The combination of nearly 90 degree temperatures (with an overnight low pushing 70) on trails that are 95% exposed due to passing through the 2008 B & B fire scar and the possibility of thunderstorms throughout the entire weekend just didn’t sound appealing.
We had gotten up at 4am and most of our packing already done but we needed somewhere to go. It needed to be nearby so we could get onto the trail early and short enough that we wouldn’t be out as the day warmed up. As I was trying to come up with ideas Alsea Falls came to mind. We had hiked to the falls in December 2011 (post) and had wanted to see them again when there was less water as the volume in December had been too much to see. With 3.5 miles round trip to visit both Alsea and Green Peak Falls this fit the criteria nicely and it would give us time to make a quick stop at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area if we felt like it on the way back home.
We were the first car at the Alsea Falls Day-Use/Picnic Area and after paying the $5 fee (In 2012 we avoided this fee by parking along Miller Road which lengthened the hike.) we set off following pointers for Alsea Falls.
We stayed left here following the pointer. We later crossed the bridge on the way to Green Peak Falls.
A quarter mile from the trailhead we came to the top of Alsea Falls. The trail continued downhill providing a few different vantage points of the falls.
Heather in front of the falls.
December 2012
After checking out the falls from several spots we headed back up to the bridge and crossed the river.
Looking down river from the bridge.
On the far side of the bridge we turned left following the pointer for McBee Park and Green Peak Falls.
We followed trail pointers to stay on the correct path which brought us to a road near McBee Park (Privately owned by Hull-Oaks Lumber Company).
Fireweed
We turned off the main gravel road at another sign for Green Peak Falls. Here a spur road led through a large campsite to a trail.
Green Peak Falls
Green Peak falls in December 2012.
It was interesting to see how differently the lower water levels affected the visuals of the two falls. For Alsea Falls less water allowed us to see more of the bedrock and gave the falls a little more definition and character. Green Peak on the other hand just had less water, it was still a nice waterfall but it wasn’t the thundering cascade that we’d experienced in 2012.
On the way back we crossed the river at McBee Park and explored one of the empty sites there.
Covered picnic table.
The table is one solid plank.
Instead of back tracking through the park to the trail and returning the way we’d come we decided to road walk back to the Alsea Falls Picnic Area.
Sign for McBee Park along South Fork Road.
Trail down to the picnic area along South Fork Road.
This wound up being a 3.3 mile hike which was just what we were looking for. It had been warm when we started at 6:15am and it was already noticeably warmer when we got back to the car at 8am. It was still early enough though that we did decide to stop on our way home and finally check out the E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area.
The area, located just north of Corvallis, is one of several Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife managed areas that requires a $10/day parking perming ($30 for an annual permit). Hiking options are limited here with just a 1.5 mile Interpretive Trail to a fishing pond and a 1.7 mile out-and-back to Coffin Butte. The $10 price tag for such sort hikes had kept us away but we had come into possession of an annual permit (They come with certain hunting and/or fishing licenses.) which eliminated that obstacle.
We parked at the Camp Adair Trailhead and promptly forgot to put the permit on the dashboard. Instead we got out, threw our packs on (we looked crazy for a 1.5 interpretive loop but we wanted the water that was in them), and started checking out the pheasants being raised in nearby cages.
Silver pheasant
After looking at the birds we walked through the Camp Adair Memorial Garden. Camp Adair was established approximately 6 months after Pearl Harbor and housed up to 40,000 personnel at a time comprising four infantry divisions.
Red-breasted sapsucker
Parking for the fishing pond is located on the opposite side of the memorial and at that parking lot we turned left on a road passing through a gate to a signboard.
We followed this road 0.2 miles to a “T” where we turned left.
Less than 100 yards later we came to a sign for the Fishing Pond on our right at another road junction.
We made it about a tenth of a mile up this road before I thought to ask Heather if she had put the permit on the dashboard since I’d completely forgotten about it. She had forgotten too so I left my pack with her at a bench and jogged back to the car, put the permit in the window, and (mostly) jogged back to her. We then continued on to the Fishing Pond.
Bunnies in the grass near one of the benches.
Coffin Butte on the other side of Highway 99.
Turkey vulture
Wetlands on the other side of the pond.
Great blue heron
After walking a little way up along the western side of the pond we backtracked and started around the southern end where we picked up the continuation of the Interpretive Loop.
The loop trail to the right.
Skipper
The loop passed through some wetlands before entering a series of fields and finally arriving back at the road.
Tadpole
We stayed left at any junction like this.
Dragon fly
Bindweed
Arriving back at the road.
We took a left on the road and retraced our steps to the memorial and then back to our car. Between our wandering and my return trip to the car to put the permit out I managed to turn this into a 2.8 mile outing but it should have been closer to 1.5. We still managed to be done just after 10am which was a good thing because it was already pushing 80 degrees. These two short hikes turned out to be a great option given the circumstances. Unfortunately as I write this several fires are burning in Northern California and the Oregon Cascades with more red flag warnings for lighting through Monday. Hopefully things won’t get too bad and we pray for the firefighters as they do their best to keep things in check. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Alsea Falls and E.E. Wilson Loop
Peat Swamp Trail.
One of the two otters that were swimming in the wetlands.
Mallard
The gadwall amid a family of Canada geese. When we got home and looked closer at the picture we realized that one of the round shapes we took for a clump of mud was actually an animal. We can’t make out the tail to know for sure whether it was a beaver or a nutria but we’d like to think it was another beaver.
The beaver? turned a bit in this photo but we still couldn’t make out the tail. It does appear relatively large when compared to the adult goose though.
Fairy bells and bleeding heart.
Elk Creek below the trail.
Junction with the Elk Mountain Trail
Paintbrush
Parsley
Blue-eyed Mary
Viewpoint along the Elk Mountain Trail.
The blue sky is up there.
Snow queen
The trail was as steep and rough as we’d remembered.
White service berry blossoms and a huckleberry plant.
Violet
Red-flowering currant
Trillium
Anemone
Monkeyflower
One of the saddles.
Chocolate lily
Elk Mountain summit.
Kings Mountain from Elk Mountain.
Wilson River
Pacific Ocean
The blooming beargrass below some red-flowering currant.
Beargrass
Looking down the trail.
Heather on her way down.
On the ridge.
Dropping down to a saddle along the ridge.
Mercifully on the old roadbed.
A clump of trillium.
Little moth.
Getting closer to Kings Mountain.
Paintbrush
Coming up to the junction.
Phlox, paintbrush, and chickweed.
Still on the old road.
At the ridge end above the saddle, the trail dropped down to the left then through the saddle.
Below the outcrop headed to the saddle.
Heather getting ready to start down.
The chute in 2010.
The trail is down there somewhere.
Trillium
Bleeding heart
Fringed kitten-tails
Glacier lily
Coming up to the high point.
Kings Mountain
View SE from the high point.
Dropping to the last saddle.
Summit register at Kings Mountain.
Pacific Ocean in the distance.
View north.
Other hikers at the summit.
Valerian
Saxifrage, possibly Saddle Mountain saxifrage.
Phlox, paintbrush, parsley, blue-eyed Mary, and chickweed.
One of the rougher sections.
Wood sorrel
Woodland buttercup and candy flower.
The 4-way junction.
Dog Creek
One of the smaller streams.
Monkey flower
Lily that will bloom in a few weeks.
Fringecup
Coming up on a footbridge across Big Creek.
Big Creek
Pacific waterleaf
Steadily climbing.
A pea or vetch.
Unnamed stream crossing.
Miterwort
Rosy Birdsfoot Trefoil
The third type of monkey flower we saw on the day.
The junction is on the saddle ahead.
Cars to the left through the trees, we made it.
The Castor (Spanish for beaver) Trail on the left, this was the only trail in the park that we didn’t hike on during our visit. It was always a left turn.
Fawn lilies
Our first right turn (left was a short connector to the Woodland Trail).
Again the posts and accompanying maps were some of the best trail identifiers we’ve run across.
Bench at the viewpoint along the Ammefu Trail.
We had to imagine the view today.
The second figure.
Back at the Timber Road and another short connector to the Woodland Trail.
Fog on Timber Road
Passing the Woodland Trail on the left which would be our right turn on the way back.
Christensen Creek
Right turn for the Ayeekwa and Witches Butter Trails.
Witchs Butter on the left and Ayeekwa on the right.
Trillium
Another bench, this one overlooked Christensen Creek.
Common blue violet
Pioneer violets and a strawberry blossom.
Mushrooms under a fern.
Popping out on the Witches Butter Trail.
Witches Butter Trail
Witches Butter Trail winding through Douglas firs.
Turning right onto the Chehalem Ridge Trail.
There was a little more mud on the Chehalem Ridge Trail.
Spring green carpet.
A good example of the differently oriented maps, on this one north is down.
Another fir plantation. The land had been owned by a timber company prior to being purchased by Metro in 2010.
Start of the Chehalem Ridge Loop. We went right which simply swung out along the hillside before dropping down to the Madrona Trail in 0.4 miles.
The loop continued to the left but we turned right onto the Madrona Trail.
Still cloudy and gray but we’d experience very little if any precipitation yet.
Lots of tough-leaved iris along this trail.
One of several blooming dogwood trees.
View on the way down.
Madrone trees began to be a common sight as we descended.
One of the 11 switchbacks.
We hadn’t seen a lot of mushrooms recently but this hike had plenty.
Following the roadbed.
Aside from one other very small (3 in diameter) tree this was the only obstacle we encountered all day.
The start of the loop along with several madrones.
The Tualatin Valley and Coast Range.
Either these worms were racing or it was a bird buffet. The rain had brought a lot of earthworms onto the trails.
Another trail user a rough skinned newt.
A closer look at the rough skinned newt.
It had been so foggy when we had come up the Witches Butter Trail that we hadn’t realized that there was a giant green field nearby.
The end of the Chehalem Ridge Trail with the Mampaꞎ Trail to the right and a very short connector to the Timber Road to the left.
Sunlight hitting the Mampaꞎ Trail.
Fairy slippers
Squirrel
The Zorzal Trail to the right.
Toothwort along the Zorzal Trail.
Stripped coralroot
An assortment of smaller flowers.
One of the few lupines with blossoms.
Camas buds
Oak tree on Iowa Hill. Most of the larger green clumps are lupine.
The third and final figure was also located near the stone circle.
Yarrow
More lupine starting to blossom.
Tualatin Valley
Plectritis
Believe this is a checker mallow.
Parsley
Camas
Iris
White crowned sparrow
Turning down the Timber Road.
I’m not good with these little yellowish birds. It could be an orange-crowned warbler.
Black capped chickadee
Approaching the Woodland Trail on the right.
Woodland Trail
Candyflower
Coming to a switchback.
We ignored a couple of shortcuts that would have led back to the Timber Road.
We also skipped the Castor Trail which would have slightly lengthened the hike.
Lupine along the Woodland Trail as we neared the trailhead.
Much nicer conditions than we’d had that morning and way nicer than anything we had expected.
Camas
Lupine
Habitat Trail
We’ll blame our inability to read this sign on it still being early in the morning. We started down the path ahead before quickly questioning the direction and correcting course.
He probably knew which way he was going.
Heading the right way now.
NW Wilkins
Another trail user
Fringecup
Spotted towhee
Stellar’s Jay
Second time staring at this sign.
Not sure exactly how to interpret this scene – mourning, a murder, or breakfast?
The slight jog right along NE Walker.
Bridge of Rock Creek
Look a pointer for John Olsen Avenue (just a lot further north).
Mallards (A pair of wood ducks flew off at the same time the mallards headed downstream.)
Here is the only photo that I could even get with the little yellow bird visible at all.
NE Evergreen Parkway
Checkermallow
Trillium
Solmonseal
Fawnlilies
Aven
Rock Creek from the viewpoint.
The back of the owl (middle tree 2/3 of the way up)
Violets
Swollen creek
Fairy bells
Cinquefoil
Nearing the trailhead.
A wren and a white-crowned sparrow
American goldfinches
Tree swallows
Bleeding heart near the stream.
Berry Creek down to the right.
There was a lot of wild ginger on the hillside.
Iris
Buttercups
Small garter snake
Approaching the bridge and creek.
Sparrow
Doe just hanging out in a patch of poison oak. (It doesn’t bother deer.)
Nearing the high point of the trail at K.T. Summit
Spotted coralroot
K.T. Summit
A very cool madrone tree.
Two more deer with a third off camera.
There was at least one identifier for each tree listed on this sign. The signs were particularly nice because many were next to younger trees which made it easier to see the needles and bark instead of just look at a trunk and having to look up to try and see other details of the trees.
Western white pine
Western larch
Vanilla leaf
Fairy slippers
Frog near the pond.
Red-winged blackbird
Interpretive sign at the start of the trail.
Vineyard along the trail.
Heading down the connector trail.
Trial sign at the jct with the CZ Trail.
CZ Trail passing under the highway.
Light from the eastern portal is visible at the other end but the tunnel is not safe to enter without at least a hard hat.
The East Fork Nehalem River next to the trail.
It was a little muddy in places.
Another of several interpretive signs along the trail.
Not much in the way of flowers yet but there were a few indian plum starting to blossom.
East Fork Nehalem River
Pointer for the CZ Trail in Scaponia Park
American kestral
Robin in the meadow that once was Camp 8.
The orange mile marker 19 ahead.
Juncos
Another not great picture of a varied thrush.
Sparrow
A grey jay enjoying the emerging sunlight.
Blue sky near the Floeter Trailhead.
The trailhead sign for the Clay Creek Trail is ahead on the opposite side of the road.
Siuslaw River
Clay Creek on the left emptying into the Siuslaw.
Stairs at the Clay Creek Recreation Area across the river.
The Clay Creek Trail climbing above Clay Creek.
It’s hard to tell size here but the diameter of this tree was well over 5′.
The junction for the loop.
One of several reroutes we encountered.
On the ridge top.
Madrone trunk and bark, always fascinating.
Lots of mushrooms pushing up through the forest floor.
Good sized trees near the high point.
No idea what you might see on a clear day.
The viewpoint.
Nearing the footbridge.
The fog had lifted off the river at least.
Note that Royal Ave and the trail to the viewing platform are open year around with the other restrictions listed below.
We took a picture of this map to assist us with our route.
White crowned sparrow
Northern harrier on the hunt.
Wetlands in the Royal Amazon unit.
The bittern taking off.
Not the greatest photo but enough to identify it.
A hawk on a stump.
American coots
Gibson Island (with the eagles in the snag to the far left)
A flock of geese above the coots.
There were a number of these small birds pecking around in the mud which, with some help from Molly in the comments, are American pipits.
Continuing west.
We used the stones to the right to cross the water here.
Great blue heron (with Highway 126 in the background).
Sandpiper in the roadway.
End of the line.
Seagull
Perhaps the same northern harrier.
The harrier taking a break.
The path to the platform.
Dunlins (thanks again to Molly)
The platform.
The first signs that the fog/clouds might be breaking up.
Looking back at a little blue sky and a visible Gibson Island
Fisher Butte is the low hill ahead to the right.
Gibson Island was now lit by direct sunlight.
The dike running between Fields 3 & 4.
Looking back over the ditch.
California scrub jay
Northern shovelers and a bufflehead.
Buffleheads and two hooded merganser females.
Kingfisher
American robin
The gravel road and another small portion of the wildlife area on the other side.
Noisy geese.
Back on the mowed track.
A sparrow
Spotted towhee and friend.
Finch
As of yet unidentified little bird.
This path headed north from the trailhead, something to explore on our next visit.
Wilderness boundary
Varied thrush
Blackberries, we found a couple of ripe ones later as well as ripe salmonberries, thimbleberries, and red huckleberries.
There was a lot of Himalayan blackberry to get through which caused many a scratch.
Salamander, possibly a Dunn’s.
Snail on a fern.
A few rhododendron were still blooming.
Huckleberries
This was the only open spot the whole day. There were some thistle and yarrow blooming here along with a bit of poison oak.
Bees sleeping on thistle.
Yarrow
The rhododendron was often so tall we could walk through them.
The morning fog burned off by 9:30am.
Wild cucumber (coastal manroot)
Monkeyflower
Although this picture doesn’t really convey it this section of exposed wet rock was at a fairly steep angle and was quite the challenging both coming and going.
An ouzel
This was the ledge that we decided to not drop down off of.
That pool is said to be approximately 20′ deep!
We checked the little pools for rough skinned newts and this one had four and a crawdad.
A chickadee came to check on me as I was catching my breath under a rhododendron.
Thimbleberries
Salmonberries
Swallowtail on a blackberry blossom.
We took this trail from the parking area to the North Ridge Trail where we turned right at a signboard.
Signboard along the North Ridge Trail at Woods Creek Road.
Iris
Near the half mile mark we ignored this pointer to the left. Looking at the map there are roads looping back to Woods Creek Road and also to Conner’s Camp but what their conditions are we don’t know.
Monkeyflower
Wren
Thimbleberry
Pacific coralroot
Anemones
Vanilla leaf along the trail.
Lots of vanilla leaf.
Douglas squirrel.
The higher we went the foggier it got.
Bench at the junction with the tie trail.
Some of the trillium still had petals.
Signboard for the overlook on the hillside to the right.
The junction from later in the morning with the Summit Trail heading uphill to the right and the East Ridge Trail down to the left.
Going to be a beargrass year.
Beargrass
Larkspur in the wet grass.
Paintbrush
Penstemon
Field chickweed
Parsley
Blue-eyed Mary
Ragwort in front of lupine that had yet to bloom.
Phlox
Lupine
Buttercups and larkspur
Heather hiding behind the summit signboard to try and keep out of the wind.
Lots of lupine yet to bloom.
As the name implies the Meadows Edge Trail occasionally entered the meadows before returning to the forest.
For a brief moment a bit of sunlight hit the forest and we thought maybe the sky would clear up.
Salmonberry bushes near Parker Creek.
Western meadowrue
Spur trail to the Mary’s Peak Campground.
Fairybells and star flower solomonseal
The sky was in fact not clearing up.
Bleeding heart and sourgrass.
Fawn lilies in the meadow.
Signs at the road junction.
The wet conditions were starting to really hinder picture taking at this point.
Striped coralroot
North Ridge Trail junction
Heather descending in the fog.
Cutleaf goldthread
Millipede
Is that some blue sky out there?
Not much but it is blue.
Rough skinned newt
Monkeyflower
Thimbleberry
Wren below Golden Falls
Columbine
Ginger
Inside out flower
Iris
Anemone
Ouzel
Marshall’s saxifrage
Plectritis
Manroot
Stonecrop
Upper portion of Golden Falls.
Glenn Creek above Golden Falls.
Despite a cloudy morning they stayed high enough to not obstruct the view of the falls.
Epic battle between a rock and a tree.
Pacific waterleaf
Larkspur
Ouzel (might be the same one as earlier)
Thimbleberry
Salmonberry
McLeod Creek
One of the sharp turns.
Fairy bells
Columbine
Bleeding heart
Monkeyflower
Sourgrass
Star flower
Trillium
Star flower solomonseal
Twisted stalk
Wren – We heard lots of birds but didn’t see many of them.
Waterleaf
Marker for a fire scarred Douglas fir. According to the brochure the last major fire in the area was in the 1860s.
We had to climb over this big tree.
Looking at the bridge at the north end of the lake.
Canada geese
Cormorants flying above the lake.
Cormorant
Ring necked ducks
Rhododendron
Boardwalk at the south end of the lake.
Sparrow
Coming up on the bridge at the north end.
Yellow rumped warbler
Finch
The trail on the far side of the track.
One of three panels on a signboard at the start of the trails.
This bench is at the junction.
Sparrow near the junction.
Heading to the observation structure.
Looking toward Coos Bay along the Coos River.
McCullough Memorial Bridge spanning Coos Bay.
Wetlands from the end of the spur.
Bitter cherry
Crow
Turkey vulture
Cormorants overhead
Canada goose with goslings
Buttercups
Pale flax
Arriving back at the field.
Ground squirrel enjoying the view.
Twomile Creek
Shore bird in the creek.
Brass buttons (another non-native)
Whiskey Run Beach lay on the other side of the rocks with another parking area 0.8 further south.
A cormorant off Fivemile Point
View from the bench.
Coming up on the hollow trunk straight ahead.
wanderingyuncks 
![https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51186413813_b626e92da2_c.jpg"](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51186413813_b626e92da2_c.jpg"){kind=link}