Category: Old Cascades

Hopkins Demonstration Forest – 05/09/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 12, 2026
No Comments on Hopkins Demonstration Forest – 05/09/2026

I spent some time recently looking through the Oregon Hikers Field Guide looking for shorter hikes, preferably under 6-miles, within an hour and a half of Salem. I wanted to make the most of my currently being limited on distance while I work through my leg/hips/lower back issues. One of the hikes that I found an entry for is the Hopkins Demonstration Forest. The Field Guide describes a 4.2-mile loop with 715′ of elevation gain with a number of options to shorten or lengthen the visit using the network of trails on the 140-acre property.

The forest is located in the foothills of the Old Cascade Mountains approximately 11-miles SE of Oregon City, 11-miles E of Canby, 12-miles N of Molalla and an hour from Salem. The property is run by the non-profit Forests Forever, Inc. and is home to the relocated Clatskanie Mountain Fire Tower as well as the also relocated Molalla Log House. The latter is almost certainly the oldest surviving building in Oregon if not the entire Pacific Northwest. The forest is open 7 days a week during daylight hours however please note that logging activities do close trails/roads from time to time. An event hall, amphitheater, interpretive signs and other guided tours make this a great destination for school field trips or other events.

I was on my own today due to Heather unfortunately waking up to a massive headache. I arrived at the large parking lot next to the event cneter and fire tower at 6:30am.

The event center.

The Clatskanie Mountain Fire Tower was built in 1954 atop 2081′ Clatskanie Mountain in the Oregon Coast Range.

I began by following the Oregon Hikers Field Guide entry which led me downhill from the parking lot to a kiosk with several interpretive signs.

One of the signs was this helpful map. I had downloaded the Field Guide map and the online map from the Hopkins Demonstration Forest website, but you can never have too many maps, so I took a picture with my phone.

From the kiosk I continued downhill on gravel Grouse Hollow Road past an outhouse to another information signboard and donation box.

The rest room on the left.

Tough-leaved iris

Beyond the donation box I passed through a green gate on Grouse Hollow Road and at this point I decided to hike in the opposite direction from the Field Guide and turned right onto the signed Hopkins Trail.

The Hopkins Trail led through a “mature forest” demonstration area to the Cedar Shelter picnic area.

Thimbleberry

Fringecup

Passing through a thinned section. There are similar signs throughout the forest providing information on when and what has been done to the surrounding forest.

Possibly thin-leafed pea.

Honeysuckle

Starflower

The Hopkins Trail continued on the far side of the picnic area and quickly passed the amphitheater.

Beyond the amphitheater the forest demonstration type changed to “thinning and pruning” and Hopkins Trail passed a Big Leaf Maple Tapping Project.

Yes, maple syrup can be made from these trees.

A short distance later I arrived at a junction with the Pacific Madrone Trail where I forked right.

The Pacific Madrone Trail was a narrower trail that climbed up and over a rocky ridge end with a bench and several madrone trees. The forest demonstration type along this trail was “young-stand management”.

The unmistakable trunks of Pacific madrone trees ahead.

The bench under the madrones.

Pacific Madrone

The Pacific Madrone Trail descended from the ridge and ended at Low Gear Road. I had options here for shorter loops by either heading back to the left on Low Gear Road, taking the Shortcut Trail on the opposite side of Low Gear Road, or turning right for a longer loop. I turned right and followed it downhill and around a bend to a junction with Grouse Hollow

Plumed Solomon’s seal

The junction with Grouse Hollow Road.

I turned right onto Grouse Hollow Road and quickly arrived at another informational kiosk.

After checking out the interpretive signs I continued past a gate on the road.

Approximately 200 feet beyond the gate I came to the signed Redwood Loop Trail which was only shown on the map I’d taken a picture of back near the trailhead.

I turned up this 0.1-mile trail and followed it through an “uneven-aged management” demonstration area.

Starry Solomon’s seal

Dropping back down to Grouse Hollow Road.

I turned right on Grouse Hollow Road to continue the loop. The road continued downhill as it bent around to the NE.

One of several informative signs along Grouse Hollow Road.

Grouse Hollow Road ended in a grassy clearing at a sign for the Uneven Age Trail.

The Field Guide route follows the Uneven Age Trail (albeit coming from the other direction) and doesn’t mention the unnamed trail leading to Little Buckner Creek and a small waterfall. I took this unnamed trail down to the creek.

The trail became a bit rough just before reaching the little waterfall.

The small waterfall.

Now a smart person would have gone back the way they’d come but a rough trail continued uphill from the falls.

The trail was a bit steep but not too hard to follow until I neared the Uneven Age Trail. I was close enough to see a jogger pass by through the trees when I started seeing an increase in poison oak. While I was wearing long pants, sleeves and gloves I did some contorting to try and avoid brushing against it.

Poison oak stretching across the use trail.

Safe on the Uneven Age Trail.

I turned right on the Uneven Age Trail and came to a railed boardwalk followed by a clearcut.

The Uneven Age Trail ended at the West Loop Watershed Trail where I again stayed right.

This trail passed by a clearcut and ended at a junction with Down Creek Road and the Middle Loop Watershed Trail.

Lots of bleeding heart in the clearcut.

I veered right onto the Middle Loop Watershed Trail but veered downhill on another unnamed trail to visit the creek again.

After visiting the creek I returned to the Middle Loop Watershed Trail and continued on my loop. The trail initially passed between the clearcut and the creek before leaving the clearcut behind.

Youth-on-age

Violets

Bent tree

The trail ended at another clearcut at Up Creek Road.

Trillium

Up Creek Road

I detoured from the loop here to visit the Molalla Log House. I turned left on Up Creek Road staying right at junctions to another informational kiosk.

I continued uphill on Up Creek Road past the RedCedar Trail to a junction with the Ponds Trail.

I turned left on the Ponds Trail to check out the ponds then headed right toward the visible log house.

The log house through the trees on the right.

I walked around the house looking at the interpretive signs before returning back down to Up Creek Road via the Pond Access Road and resumed my loop.

Spotted towhee

Just beyond the junction with the Middle Loop Watershed Trail I came to the Little Buckner Creek Trail which I turned down.

This trail crossed Little Buckner Creek on a footbridge and climbed through a “reforestation” demonstration area.

Pacific waterleaf

Turkey tails

The Little Buckner Creek Trail ended at the East Loop Watershed Trail where I turned right.

The East Loop Watershed Trail followed Little Buckner Creek for a bit before crossing on another footbridge.

False lily-of-the-valley

I paused on the other side of the bridge to talk to a hiker out with her two cats. Continuing on I followed the trail uphill to its end at Up Creek Road.

Roads made a small loop here and I stayed right and quickly arrived at a sign for Post Road where I turned right.

I detoured down a short spur trail to a viewing platform

Wetlands along Little Buckner Creek from the viewing platform.

Post Road climbed to a junction with the Hardwoods Trail. This trail provides a shortcut back to the trailhead. The Oregon Hikers Field Guide skips this shortcut, but I did not.

The Hardwoods Trail ended at a 3-way junction with the Sawmill and Red Alder Trails.

I turned right onto the Red Alder Trail. This trail climbed, crossing Grouse Hollow Road near the forest entrance, and continued another 375′ to the parking lot near the fire tower.

Passing around the Outreach Center.

This section of Grouse Hollow Road is open to traffic.

Vetch

My hike came in at 3.7-miles, a half mile shorter than the described route in the Field Guide.

This was a very enjoyable hike and would be a great place to bring the kids. I plan on returning with Heather at some point so she can check it out firsthand. I felt better during this hike than any of my recent hikes which was encouraging. My left hip did tighten up again later in the evening but not as badly as it had following our visit to Ankney Wildlife Refuge two days ago (post). My next PT appointment is this week, so we’ll see what the therapist has to say but things do seem to be slowly improving. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Hopkins Demonstration Forest

Tags Clatskanie Mountain Fire Tower, hiking, Hopkins Demonstration Forest, Little Buckner Creek, Molalla Log House, Old Cascades, Oregon

Corvallis Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report Willamette Valley

McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake – 02/28/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 3, 2026
No Comments on McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake – 02/28/2026

We woke up to the news of military action in Iran, a somber reminder of the state of the world today. Our prayers are with all the families across the globe impacted. We’re thankful to still have the opportunity to step away and enjoy the outdoors.

We had picked a pair of hikes near Lebanon, OR McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake. We had visited the former in February 2014 (post) while the latter would be new for us as a hike. (We had run part of this route in the early 2010’s as part of the Runaway Pumpkin half marathon races.)

We started our morning at McDowell Creek County Park for the relatively short loop that visits four named waterfalls. We parked in the lower (western most) parking lot which is referred to as the Royal Terrace Falls Trailhead in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide.

There are restrooms and picnic tables available at the trailhead.

After double checking the map, we set off on the trail across McDowell Creek.

After 0.2-miles we came to the start of the loop and opted to go left for a view of Royal Terrace Falls from the footbridge across Fall Creek.

The start of the loop.

Royal Terrace Falls

Bench of the far side of the bridge.

Beyond Royal Terrace Falls the trail recrossed McDowell Creek then crossed McDowell Creek Road before arriving at Crystal Falls aka Crystal Pool a third of a mile from Royal Terrace Falls.

McDowell Creek

McDowell Creek Road from the crossing.

Crystal Falls ahead through the trees.

A use trail led down to the creek for a better view of the falls.

Just over a tenth of a mile past Crystal Falls the trail arrives at an impressive wooden walkway near Majestic Falls.

Majestic Falls

Stairs led up from Majestic Falls to a viewpoint platform at the top of the waterfall.

From the upper viewpoint we faced a choice of going directly uphill to the upper parking lot or taking a slightly longer route by swinging out along the creek for a short distance. We had gone directly up in 2014 so this time we chose to swing out along the creek.

Stairs up to the upper lot.

Robin near the upper lot.

We crossed the road near the upper parking lot and in 0.3-miles
recrossed McDowell Creek Road.

Pointer for Royal Terrace Falls at the crossing of McDowell Creek Road.

In another 0.3-miles we arrived at Fall Creek above Royal Terrace Falls.

Viewing platform above Royal Terrace Falls

Looking down at the bridge below Royal Terrace Falls.

We took a short detour up a use trail along Fall Creek which didn’t lead anywhere of note then headed down the stairs along Fall Creek to complete the loop.

Fall Creek along the use trail.

Royal Terrace Falls from the stairs.

When we were back at the lower parking lot we followed a short trail downstream to a view of Lower McDowell Falls.

The hike here was just 2.2-miles with a little over 200′ of elevation gain leaving us plenty of energy for a second stop.

It was less than a 20-minute drive from McDowell Creek to Cheadle Lake in Lebanon. We had initially planned on parking at Cheadle Lark Park however there was quite a bit of construction equipment present, and it was unclear if the trails at this end of the area were open, so we shifted to “Plan B” and made our way to nearby Riverview Park.

We stopped at the signboard for the Old Mill Trail and studied the map for a moment and downloaded a digital copy then headed right (south) on a paved path. (It was unclear if this was the Old Mill Trail or the West River Trail, nevertheless it would take us to Cheadle Lake.)

The South Santiam River from the trail.

This trail led us into a neighborhood and to Mountain River Drive.

Here the pointers refer to the West River Trail.

We followed the sidewalk for 100 yards to a crosswalk at River Drive then continued another tenth of a mile to Cheadle Lake Park’s boat ramp parking area.

From this parking lot the paved North Shore Trail passes along the northeastern shore of Cheadle Lake between the lake and the Lebanon Santiam Canal. We were on the lookout for waterfowl and other birds as we started off.

Mallards

Geese

Ring-necked duck

American wigeon

Ridgeway Butte beyond a farm across the canal.

American wigeons and domestic ducks on the farm.

After four tenths of a mile we arrived at the Island Loop Trails which are a series of fingers in the middle of the lake.

We hiked out-and-back on the eastern most finger before returning to the North Shore Trail.

Pied-billed grebe

Bench at the end of the finger.

Gadwall

Back on the North Shore Trail we continued SE and spotted a pair of hooded mergansers in the canal.

Spotted towhee

Song sparrow

At the far end of the lake, we arrived at a 4-way junction within sight of the parking lot we had originally planned on starting from.

The park map showed a dashed (proposed) Southshore Trail heading right from this junction. The proposed trail would loop around the lake to the boat ramp. We had not paid attention to the “proposed” verbiage when we decided to turn right and try the loop. Initially the trail was paved with benches but the pavement soon ended and was replaced by a dirt trail through the grass.

California scrub jay.

Oregon grape

The finger that we had hiked out earlier.

The trail lasted a little over half a mile before petering out on the north side of a soccer field at a marsh. It was at this point that we noticed the “proposed” label on the map. Since looping around the lake wasn’t an option, we looped around the soccer field and headed back the way we’d come.

The soccer field is to the left with Ridgeway Butte ahead.

Heading back on the North Shore Trail.

We had discussed being surprised at having not seen a bald eagle on our first pass along the lake. That changed as we passed the Island Loops.

Bald eagle spotted.

Cormorants

From the boat ramp we headed back toward Riverview Park and took the gravel fork at the southern end of the park.

Heather had a blister starting so she headed back to the car while I continued around the park to the Eagle Scout Trail.

I turned on the Eagle Scout Trail and followed this dirt path 0.8-miles to the paved Old Mill Trail near Gill’s Landing

Indian plum

Bewick’s wren

Old Mill Trail near Gill’s Landing.

I returned to Riverview Park on the Old Mill Trail completing a 6.4-mile hike with minimal elevation gain.

Old mill site.

Riverview Park

This was a nice pair of hikes. We knew that McDowell Creek Falls was a great hike, but Cheadle Lake was surprisingly quite for an in-town hike and the birding turned out to be pretty good. Happy Trails!

Flickr: McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake

Tags birds, Cheadle Lake, Cheadle Lake Park, Crystal Falls, Ducks, Eagle Scout Trail, Gill's Landing, hiking, Lebanon, Lower McDowell Creek Falls, Majestic Falls, McDowell Creek Falls, North Shore Trail, Old Mill Trail, Oregon, Riverview Park, Royal Terrace Falls, West River Trail

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report

Monument Peak Loop – 12/13/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 15, 2025
No Comments on Monument Peak Loop – 12/13/2025

It had been a couple of weeks since we’d had a chance to hit the trails, but a favorable forecast gave me an opportunity to check out the Monument Peak Trail system in the Santiam State Forest just south of Gates, OR. Heather would not be joining me on this outing as she had some Christmas preparations to attend to.

There isn’t a lot of information online about the trail system. Oregon.gov has a pdf trail map and the Statesman Journal recently featured the area in a story, but outside of that not much came up in searches. The trails are shown on both CalTopo and Gaia GPS. Interestingly both of these mapping apps showed the various trail names while the trail names on the current Oregon Department of Forestry pdf rarely lined up with the trail signs on the ground. On the other hand, the ODF’s Santiam Horse Camp Brochure does contain a map with all the trail names, however it does not show the most recent addition, the Bobcat Trail at all. Regardless of the trail names the locations of the trails shown were correct on all of the maps.

There are two official trailheads serving the area, Santiam Horse Camp and the Monument Peak Trailhead. The road to the horse camp is closed seasonally from November through April so that left the Monument Peak Trailhead for my starting point. (It’s possible to start at several of the road crossings by parking along the shoulder of either Monument Peak or Mad Creek Roads.)

I was the first car at the trailhead.

The trail map at the trailhead matched the online pdf.

My plan was to take the 1.1-mile Magic Trail (Monument Peak Trail on the signboard map) up to the Monument Peak Loop and start the loop in a counterclockwise direction. Instead of simply hiking the loop though I intended to do a figure eight by cutting across the loop on the Bobcat Trail then looping back around to that trail in a clockwise direction. I would then re-hike the Bobcat Trail and turn left to complete the Monument Peak Loop creating the figure 8. While this would add 3.6-miles and a several hundred feet of elevation gain I wanted to take the opportunity to check out as much of the trails as possible.

The Magic Trail began along an unnamed creek before switching back uphill through forest affected by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire.

The trail crossed two gravel roads before ending at the Monument Peak Loop Trail.

The second road crossing.

Trail signs at the junction with the Monument Peak Loop.

Here the trail sign agreed with the signboard map calling this the Monument Peak Loop. It is also referred to as the Wild Boar Trail on the older ODF map. I headed right here toward the Santiam Horse Camp.

There was a lot of recent and/or future logging activity in the area, partly a result of the fire.

A lone bleeding-heart blossom.

It was a half mile from the Magic Trail junction to the horse camp. As I neared the horse camp the trail arrived at the edge of a clearcut that provided views across the Santiam River Canyon.

Looking west toward Salem and the Willamette Valley which was covered by low lying clouds. The Coast Range is visible on the far side of the clouds.

The city of Gates in the shadow below. The aftermath of the Beachie Creek Fire is on full display on the opposite side.

The high peak at the center (behind the lone snag) is Rocky Top (post) and high peak near the right side is Sardine Mountain (post).

One of the corrals at the horse camp.

The horse camp opened in 2006 and the trails developed with equestrian use in mind however they are open to all non-motorized use.

I passed by the horse camp and continued along the loop. The trail gradually climbed for 2.3-miles to the unsigned junction with the Bobcat Trail. Along the way the trail passed the historic Quartzville Trail which I haven’t been able to find much about online other than Judge John B. Waldo, Oregon’s first Supreme Court justice, used the route to travel from Gates to presumably the Quartzville district where mining activity was prevalent.

Hawk in the shadows.

There were a few obstacles on this side of the loop, but all were easy to navigate.

A bit of forest that was spared from the 2020 fire.

Market at the site of the historic trail.

The trail joined an old roadbed for a portion of this section.

The trail sign at this road junction was hidden behind the downed tree. The loop continues to the left here.

At the next road junction the trail went right.

The trail leaving the roadbed. The post on the left names this the Radio Flyer Trail while the trail sign on the right says Monument Peak Loop. At this point the trail had left the fire scar and now continued through nice second growth forest.

Flooded trail from the atmospheric river that passed over the PNW at the beginning of the week.

Just before reaching Wagon Road, I came to the unsigned Bobcat Trail forking off to the left.

Wagon Road from the junction. You can see the back end of a mushroom hunter’s car that was parked along the shoulder.

I turned left onto the Bobcat Trail which provided a mostly downhill break from the steady climb I had been doing since starting my hike.

Rhododendron

I encountered the first major obstacle of my hike on this trail; a good-sized tree had fallen along the trail on a slight downhill. I wound up walking on top of the tree for a bit to get around some of the larger limbs then spent some time clearing some of the broken branches from the trail before continuing on.

Coming up on Monument Peak Road.

The Bobcat Trail continuing on the other side of the road.

The Bobcat Trail dropped down to Mad Creek Road which I had to cross and then follow road MC100 for a little over 100′ to find the continuation of the trail.

Mad Creek Road is running left to right with MC100 straight ahead.

I had to walk down MC100 a bit to pick up the continuation of the trail.

There was a lot of target shooting happening just up Mad Creek Road which prompted me to speed up a bit as I continued on the final half mile to the junction with the Monument Peak Loop.

Back in the fire scar.

Dropping down to the trail junction.

Looking back at the Bobcat Trail.

I turned right at the junction and headed toward the gunfire. While I was fairly certain they were using an appropriate gravel pit I was a little more comfortable now that I was well below the road in a bit of a canyon. Below the trail Mad Creek was occasionally visible.

The trail turned away from Mad Creek near one of its tributaries which had a nice little waterfall boosted by the recent rains.

The trail climbed out of the canyon and crossed Mad Creek Road near the gravel pit where I could see the target shooters.

The maps all showed two road crossings along this section, Mad Creek Road and MP 800, before arriving at Monument Peak Road. That being said I crossed at least four roads and a fire break in the 1.3-miles to Monument Peak Road.

I’m not sure if this is MP800 or if it was the next one.

The fire break.

Woodpecker

Another road that isn’t on any of the maps to the right with Coyote Rock on the far side. (I assume this is Coyote Rock as this section of trail is also known as the Coyote Rock Trail.)

Coyote Rock

The trail crossing the mystery road.

The trail then made a steep descent below Coyote Rock to Monument Peak Road.

The trail is to the right here. The road straight ahead is also not shown on the maps.

After crossing Monument Peak Road the trail descended another half mile descent to Wagon Road where I had turned onto the Bobcat Trail earlier.

Another woodpecker

Arriving at Wagon Road. You can see a trail sign through the trees to the left. The mushroom hunter was here at his car, and we spoke for a moment before I continued on.

I turned onto the Bobcat Trail for the second time and followed it back to the Monument Peak Loop, this time without the sound of gunfire. This time I went left at the junction.

This portion, the Rhody Ridge Trail, of the loop began with a climb up what I assume is Rhody Ridge after crossing a gravel road.

This section had the most and trickiest blowdown of the day. I didn’t take pictures of most of it as I was too busy trying to figure out how to get over, through or around it.

After passing over the top of the ridge the trail switched back down the far side before crossing another gravel road.

Blowdown just before the gravel road. It would have been easier had I simply turned left at the first road crossing and followed the roads around the ridge to this point, but I had no way of knowing how bad the conditions were on the trail.

The trail continued through the burned forest before rejoining the gravel road for a short stretch.

Turky tails

At a point the trail veered left leaving the road. This section was also called the Pine Trail.

Signs for the Pine Trail at the end of a gravel road.

Approaching an old clearcut.

Rough-skinned newt crossing

More blowdown in the clearcut.

I was shocked to find some frost/ice here given my car had shown the temperature as 46 degrees Fahrenheit when I’d arrived at 7:45am. It certainly didn’t feel cold enough for anything to be frozen.

The Pine Trail section ending at MP400.

I turned left onto road MP400 and followed it for 0.7-miles to Monument Peak Road.

Little Rock Creek

Trail signs at the junction with Monument Peak Road.

I turned right onto Monument Peak Road for a little over 100′ then picked up the continuation of the loop.

There were vehicles parked in a turnout across the road here and I’d seen both hikers and cyclist heading up Monument Peak Road from MP400.

I followed this section of trail (Wild Boar) three quarters of a mile to complete the loop. This section was through a clearcut which allowed for some views.

Daisies

Rocky Top over the trees.

It was a bit of a climb to get back up to the junction.

The trail intersected an old logging road where I turned right along a wall of rock.

Rocky Top and Sardine Mountain up the Santiam Canyon.

Looking back along the old logging road.

Thistle

Sign post at the Magic Trail junction ahead.

I turned right onto the Magic Mile Trail and shuffled my way back to the trailhead. My feet and legs had apparently gotten soft during the couple of weeks off from hiking.

Stellar’s jay

Today’s hike wound up showing 14.5-miles on the GPS. Cumulative Elevation Gain was in the 3000′ range.

I would have saved myself 3.6 miles and at least 700′ of elevation gain by just doing the loop and skipping the Bobcat Trail. Starting at the horse camp when it is open would reduce the distance by another 2.2 miles. All that to say that there are options for shorter outings than what I wound up doing. While the area doesn’t have any major features that tend to draw crowds it was an enjoyable hike with just enough variety to keep things interesting. Given the relatively low elevation it is another nice option for the winter and early spring months when higher elevation trails are not yet accessible. Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Flickr: Monument Peak Loop

Tags Coyote Rock, hiking, Little Rock Creek, Mad Creek, Magic Trail, Monument Peak Loop, Monument Peak Trailhead, Oregon, Pine Trail, Rabbit Hole Trail, Radio Flyer, Rhody Ridge Trail, Santiam Horse Camp, santiam state forest, Wild Boar Trail

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Head of Jack Creek (10/4/2025) & McCredie Hot Springs (10/5/2025)

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 6, 2025
No Comments on Head of Jack Creek (10/4/2025) & McCredie Hot Springs (10/5/2025)

Hiking took a backseat this past weekend as we headed to Bend for a joint birthday celebration for our son and Heather’s father. Both have October birthdays with a 50-year gap in between, and this year was 30 & 80 respectively. Despite those ages not seeming possible (or believable) celebrate we did.

On our way from Salem over to Bend we made a stop at Jack Creek Campground for a short leg stretching hike to the Head of Jack Creek.

From the end of the campground a wide, nearly level, 0.4-mile trail parallels Jack Creek leading to several springs.

Chipmunk

Jack Creek stays within earshot of the trail but glimpses of it are rare until near the springs.

The trail passes along the eastern end of the 2003 B & B Fire scar.

Larch tree starting to don its fall color.

Near the three-quarter mile mark we passed a bench at a junction with a spur arriving from the right. There is another possible trailhead, but there is little information on its exact location or on the condition of the access road.

Sign for the Head of Jack Creek at the end of the trail.

Head of Jack Creek

After seeing the springs we returned the way we’d come and finished our drive to Bend. We spent just over an hour on the 2.6-mile hike so there was plenty of day left to visit and celebrate with Heather’s family.

Heather had picked our son up in Eugene on Friday and we’d celebrated his birthday with my parents that night. Since we needed to drop him off back in Eugene before we headed back to Salem we took Highway 58 over Willamette Pass. I had been looking for a similar leg stretcher along this drive and decided to finally check out McCredie Hot Springs and make it a theme weekend. There is a day use area along Highway 58 just over 8-miles east of Oakridge with very short path leading to pools on the north bank of Salt Creek. A longer trail beginning at a pullout along gravel forest road 5875 leads to some pools on the south bank of the creek. This “longer” trail is just 0.4-miles making it another short hike.

Sign above the pullout.

One of two access points to the trail from the pullout.

The trail had a couple of downed trees along with some roots and rocks along with a little under 100′ of elevation change.

Salt Creek

These mushrooms were a color that we couldn’t recall seeing before.

McCredie Hot Springs. Please be aware that nudity is allowed at most hot springs in Oregon and McCredie is no exception. There were a couple of people in the hot springs on the north bank so there are no pictures of that side.

This was the largest pool. We wouldn’t call it hot but it was nice and warm.

This smaller pool was a little warmer.

Reflection in the hot springs.

After inspecting the pools we returned to the car and drove on to Eugene and then headed home. This stop was under a mile with around 75′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Both of these stops were nice breaks on the drives over the passes. It was fun to have them both involve springs but have them be such different types. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Head of Jack Creek & McCredie Hot Springs

Tags Head of Jack Creek, hiking, Jack Creek Campground, McCredie Hot Springs, Oregon, Salt Creek

Clackamas Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Mount Lowe – 07/04/2025

Whenever possible we try and take a hike in the Old Cascades in the morning on the 4th of July. This year we chose one of the few remaining hikes from Matt Reeder’s “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” (2nd edition) that we had yet to do. Many hikes featured in that book have been affected by fires over the last 5 years, primarily in 2020, but Mount Lowe has thus far been spared. Located along the Rho Ridge Trail, Mount Lowe rises to 5338′ and was home to a Forest Service lookout from 1916 into the 1960’s. We had hiked a portion of the Rho Ridge Trail in 2017 when we visited the Hawk Mountain Lookout (post). Much of that section of the trail was burned in the 2021 Bull Complex Fire.

While there are several potential starting points to reach Mount Lowe, we chose to start at Graham Pass where we had also parked for our 2017 hike.

Forest Road 6350 from the large parking area at Graham Pass.

This starting point creates a moderate 6.8-mile out-and-back with approximately 1400′ of elevation gain with options to extend it. From the parking area we walked down the gravel road, crossed FR 6350, and followed FR 4670 for 200′ to a sign for the Rho Ridge Trail.

Penstemon

Oregon sunshine and maybe a vetch?

The Rho Ridge Trail paralleled FR 4670 for just under half a mile before returning to the road.

Queen’s cup

Rhododendron

Flagging was present along most of the route. Here the trail is crossing a decommissioned logging road.

Bunchberry

Flagging at the point where the trail rejoined FR 4670.

For the next two tenths of a mile we walked along FR 4670 before spotting the resumption of the Rho Ridge Trail on the left side of the road across from a dirt spur road.

Paintbrush and penstemon

Continuation of the Rho Ridge Trail.

The dirt spur. This road leads to a few campsites and the Rho Creek Trail which is not shown on maps but is sometimes maintained by the Trail Advocates and is on our bucket list to check out some day.

The Rho Ridge Trail was in relatively good shape albeit a little overgrown in places. There was also some occasional blowdown, but it was all easy to either climb over or go around.

Pacific coralroot

Arnica

Beargrass

After a short climb the trail lost a little elevation as it dropped into a lovely forest before nearing FR 4670 again.

This was one we had to go around.

Beardtongue

We came to an open rocky section of the ridge covered in wildflowers as the trail neared FR 4670.

Mount Lowe from the trail.

Columbine

Paintbrush, lupine, penstemon, and false sunflowers.

Larkspur hiding in the grass.

Yarrow and paintbrush

Bleeding heart

Catchfly

Arrowleaf buckwheat and sunflowers.

Penstemon

FR 4670 from the trail.

Wallflower, catchfly, and penstemon.

FR 4670 and the Rho Ridge Trail (to the right).

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Sisi Butte (post)

Barestem buckwheat

Sisi Butte in the center with Olallie Butte to the right (post).

Olallie Butte

Trail sign facing FR 4670.

The trail began to climb again from here gaining a little over 400′ in just under a mile to the summit of Mount Lowe.

Washington lilies along the trail. These beautiful flowers are also by far the best smelling flowers that we encounter on hikes.

False sunflowers

Washington lily

Serviceberry

Snowberry

Thimbleberry

Larkspur

Rainiera, Lyall’s angelica, and columbine

Anemone’s and a queen’s cup

False sunflowers

Bastard toadflax

Blue-head gilia

Vetch

Red-flowering currant

Sisi Butte, Oallie Butte, and Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson

Sticky currant

Better view of Mt. Jefferson.

Scarlet gilia

Junco

First view of Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

The trail passed below a talus slope where there may have been a view of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier had we scrambled up it, but we didn’t want to disturb the residents.

Pika near the top of the talus slope.

One-sided wintergreen

Mt. Hood

View to the west above another pika filled talus slope.

Schreiner Peak, Knob Peak, Big Slide Mountain (post), and Bull of the Woods (post) in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness.

Spur trail to the summit on the left.

Paintbrush and penstemon

Windbreaks near the former lookout stie.

View west towards the Bull of the Woods.

View South toward Mt. Jefferson and the Central Cascades.

Bachelor and Coffin Mountains (post).

Broken Top poking up on the far left with Three Fingered Jack, North Sister, South & Middle Sister, and Mt. Washington.

The view North included Mt. Adams (center between the tress) and the tops of Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens but those would not show up in photos.

Subalpine fir cones

Douglas fir cones.

Stonecrop

Penstemon

After a nice break at the summit we headed back down from the summit and followed the Rho Ridge Trail back to FR 4670.

The Rho Ridge Trail continues left at this fork below the summit another 1.5-miles to a northern trailhead.

Orange agoseris

Star-flowered solomonseal

Phacelia

Rainiera

Vanilla leaf

Rose

Oregon bedstraw

Arriving at FR 4670.

We decided to detour here and check out a little of the Rho Creek Trail so we crossed FR 4670 and turned onto the dirt spur road.

We weren’t entirely sure where the trail began and there were a few spurs to campsites. We simply picked one and then headed cross country from it looking of any sign of tread or flagging.

The cross country was fairly easy and we were able to use our GPS and the map we’d downloaded from the Orgon Hikers Field Guide to pick up the tread.

The trail was in surprisingly good shape and we followed it downhill a little over a quarter of a mile to an unsigned junction.

The unsigned, but flagged, junction. Here the Rho Creek Trail turned left while the right-hand fork was said to lead to the remains of the Rho Ridge Guard Station.

The remains had been our goal for this brief detour so we went right.

Valerian

Flagging marking the trail.

More flagging marking the route.

Spirea

Somehow we never spotted the guard station remains, but the flagged route continued and theoretically would lead us back to Graham Pass so we just kept following the flagging.

Rhododendron

The tread got pretty faint the closer we got to the Rho Ridge Trail but the flagging made the route obvious enough.

We eventually popped out onto the decommissioned logging road just 100′ from the Rho Ridge Trail.

We turned right here and then left onto the Rho Ridge Trai and 500′ later were back on FR 4670.

With the detour our hike wound up being 7.4-miles with approximately 1600′ of elevation gain.

The hike to Mount Lowe was a really great one. There were views, flowers, wildlife and solitude. The trail itself was in good enough condition to not make the hike challenging while adding a feeling of it being a little wild. While we missed the remains on our side-trip the experience with the Rho Creek Trail encouraged us to get back there and hike more of it. Maybe next time we’ll locate the old guard station. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Mount Lowe

Tags Graham Pass, hiking, Mount Lowe, Old Cascades, Oregon, Rho Creek Guard Station, Rho Creek Trail, Rho Ridge Trail, wildflowers

Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Sourgrass Mountain – 06/28/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 30, 2025
No Comments on Sourgrass Mountain – 06/28/2025

A YouTube video posted last year by Hike Oregon brought our attention to a section of the Alpine Trail near Oakridge, OR. She described an out-and-back hike along this popular mountain bike trail over Sourgrass Mountain to visit the Elk Camp Shelter.

The Alpine Trail extends a total of 15.3-miles between Westfir, OR to Forest Road 1912 with a number of potential starting points. We hiked a different section of this trail in 2014 as part of our Tire Mountain hike (post). For this hike we parked at the junction of FR 1912 and FR 661 where the Alpine Trail crossed FR 1912.

We headed north on the Alpine Trail which climbed for almost 2 miles to a large meadow on Sourgrass Mountain. The climb was fairly gradual using switchbacks on the steeper parts of the ridge. Mountain bikers ride the trail south to Westfir so we were on the lookout for bikes coming downhill but we had started early enough in the morning to not run into any. (It was a different story on the way down.) The forest along the trail was very nice and there was a nice variety of wildflowers in bloom.

Little prince’s pine

Bunchberry

Rhododendron

Wild ginger

Queen’s cup

Beargrass

Stonecrop

Larkspur

There was a large patch of blue head gilia on this rock above the trail.

Vetch

Honeysuckle

Anemone

Pacific coralroot

Valerian

Starflower

Penstemon

Tiger lilies

Columbine

As we neared the meadow on Sourgrass Mountain we began to see an increasing amount of blooming beargrass.

A member of the lily family, beargrass only blooms when conditions are right, so their bloom cycle is a bit unpredictable. Due to the unpredictability it is always exciting when a visit aligns with a bloom cycle.

At the far end of the meadow we passed a newish looking bench.

Beyond the bench the trail descended along the north ridge of Sourgrass Mountain then followed a wide ridge with some small ups and downs on its way to Elk Camp Shelter.

Sub-alpine fleabane

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Bleeding heart

That might be rainiera behind the beargrass.

Roses

Valerian along the trail.

Anemone, bunchberry, and foam flower

At 2.8-miles from the trailhead we passed a junction with Kate’s Cut In where it appears that most mountain bikers begin their rides.

We could hear a large group of bikers on FR 1912 below getting ready for their rides as we continued straight on the Alpine Trail.

Spotted coralroot

Northwestern twayblade and foam flower

Arnica

A little over 4-miles from our trailhead we came to a 4-way junction at FR 142 which is the location of Alpine Trailhead 4.

We turned right at the 4-way junction following arrows on the road to the continuation of the trail.

Approximately a half mile from the 4-way junction we arrived at the Elk Camp Shelter.

Violets

Rhododendron and beargrass

Arnica

A short spur trail from FR 142 came in from the left shortly before arriving at the shelter.

Meadow just before the shelter.

There was a decent amount of coiled lousewort but it was all past its bloom.

First view of the shelter behind the trees.

Looking up from the shelter.

Information about the shelter on the table inside.

Hike Oregon’s entry for the hike has you turn around at the shelter making this a moderate 9-mile, 1623′ elevation gain out-and-back. The trail actually continues another nearly 2-miles to the Alpine Trailhead 5.

Looking at Google Earth it appeared that the trail passed through two more small meadows between the shelter and a road crossing approximately 0.75-miles from the shelter. It also appeared that there was minimal elevation loss along that section of the trail, so we had decided to make the road crossing our turn around point. After spending a little time at the shelter we’d attracted enough mosquitos to prompt us to move on.

Small-flowered solomonseal

Coneflower

The first meadow.

Coneflower, valerian, and columbine.

Inside-out-flower

Ragwort

Western meadow-rue

This meadow was very damp making the trail slick with mud.

Meadow fritillary

Self-heal

The second meadow.

Spirea, tiger lilies, columbine, valerian, and cinquefoil.

Sticky cinquefoil

Columbine

Bog orchids

White bog orchids

Lupine

The forest road where we turned around.

We took a break on some stumps along the road where mosquitos were not an issue and then headed back the way we’d come. We kept our eyes open for flowers we’d missed on our first pass and for mountain bikers making sure to step aside when we heard/spotted them coming.

Gold threads

Rhododendron blossoms

Clodius Parnassian

Fairy lanters

Baneberry

Arnica

There weren’t any unobstructed views at any point along this trail. We could occasionally see snow covered Cascade peaks through the trees, but the only peak we were able to identify was The Twins (post) near the junction with Kate’s Cut In.

The Twins are in the center with Waldo Mountain (post) closer and to the left.

One sided wintergreen.

Candy flower

Wallflower

Nearing the bench at the edge of the meadow on Sourgrass Mountain.

We took a break on the bench and were joined by a pair of mountain bikers who were making the ride from Kate’s Cut In to Westfir. The first gentleman explained that some cyclists head north on the trail from Kate’s Cut In and ride (mostly) downhill to the Alpine Trailhead 5 then loop back to Kate’s Cut In along FR 1912 before heading south to Westfir. That loop is known as the “Chrome Toilet” (no explanation given), but he had never ridden that loop. We had passed one group heading down the Alpine Trail as we were heading back by the shelter.

The cyclists continued on, and we followed shortly after. It was just after Noon and as we made our way through the meadow the first of several groups rode past us. They were all very polite about sharing the trail with hikers and we did our part by stepping off the trail as quickly as possible whenever we spotted them coming. This meant a lot of looking back over our shoulders and led to us hiking a little faster than we normally would have otherwise.

Looking up at the highpoint of Sourgrass Mountain.

Larkspur

Royal Jacob’s ladder

The trail dropping down to FR 1912 where we’d parked.

Our version of this hike clocked in at just over 10.5 miles with roughly 1700′ of cumulative elevation gain.

This was a really enjoyable hike made better by the beargrass bloom. Even if the beargrass had not been blooming this year there were enough other flowers to make it a good wildflower hike, and the forest along the trail was lovely. We could see why it is such a popular biking trail which is the only real drawback as a hike. Weekday mornings would probably be a good time to limit the number of bikers to watch for. If you do visit just stay aware and share the trail appropriately. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Sourgrass Mountain

Tags alpine trail, Beargrass, Elk Camp Shelter, hiking, Kate's Cut In, oakridge, Oregon, Sourgrass Mountain, tire mountain, Westfir, wildflowers

Cottage Grove Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Wildwood Falls and Adams Mountain Way Loop – 05/31/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 2, 2025
No Comments on Wildwood Falls and Adams Mountain Way Loop – 05/31/2025

As we whittle down the list of hikes that we’ve yet to do within three hours of Salem we are beginning to work in more repeats. Aside from scenic beauty, one of the reasons we’ve marked hikes for revisits is a lack of views from viewpoints due to foggy/cloudy conditions. That was the case with the Adams Mountain Way Loop which we initially hiked on 4/23/2016 (post). On that outing we had stopped first at the nearby Parker Creek Falls before tackling the challenging loop. For this outing we chose a different nearby waterfall, Wildood Falls, to visit before hiking the loop.

Located on the Row River Wildwood Falls is a popular swimming hole that doesn’t involve a hike. There are Lane County parks on both sides of the river Lasells D County Park on the south side and Wildwood Falls on the north (Lane County Parking Pass required). We decided to visit from Wildwood Falls Park.
Small parking area at Wildwood Falls Park.

Reminder that outdoor recreation is not without risk.

There is a little poison oak (see lower left) along the path to the falls.

Exposed rock above the falls.

Row River above the falls.

Row River below the falls.

Pool in the rocks.

Camas

Monkeyflower

Iris

We followed a short path along the river to a viewpoint before returning to the car along the road.

The falls were scenic, but we were happy we visited early in the morning before the area got busy. There was an unfortunate amount of litter around which gave an indication of the type of crowd the swimming hole attracts.

From Wildwood Park it was a 20-minute drive to Lund Park Campground

Lund Park Campground Entrance

The loop requires a 1.2-mile walk along Brice Creek Road which can be done at the beginning or end of the hike depending on the direction you chose to hike. We tend to prefer doing road walks sooner rather than later for two reasons. First road walks tend to be less exciting than the trails. The other reason is that our early start times typically mean that there is less vehicle traffic than there would be later in the day.

In this case there was a third reason to start with the road walk and do the loop counterclockwise, the climb was less steep going up the Crawfish Trail than it would be going up the Adams Mountain Trail. Of course that meant a steeper descent, so if going downhill is hard on your knees you might choose the steeper clockwise climb.

From Lund Park Campground we headed back along Brice Creek Road the way we’d driven in past the signed Merten Flume until we reached the signed Crawfish Trail (both on our left). As road walks go this one was pretty. There were quite a few flowers along the road and numerous views of Brice Creek (post).

Valerian

Spotted coralroot with an inside-out-flower in the background.

Brice Creek

Larkspur

Columbine above Brice Creek

Largeleaf avens along Hobo Creek

Merten Flume Trail sign near Hobo Creek.

Anemones

Fairy lanterns.

Hiker symbol for the Crawfish Trail.

We turned uphill on the Crawfish Trail and began a 5.2-mile climb to the Knott Trail.
We’ve found that the Forest Service seems to sometimes round milage shown on trail signs.

Be aware that the trail is used by mountain bikers as a downhill shuttle ride so there is the possibility of having a bike barreling downhill. While there was plenty of evidence of bikes on the trail we didn’t encounter any other trail users all day. The trail crosses several forest roads, but it is well signed and easy to follow.

Trail snail

Iris

Salal

One of the corners that shows you this is a mountain bike trail.

Pacific coralroot

Rhododendron

Trail crossing a forest road.

Crossing an abandoned road.

The Crawfish Trail climbed steadily, never too steeply, but it rarely leveled out.

Abandoned car along another abandoned road, so disappointing.

Forest Road 2258

Trail continuing on the far side of FR 2258

Candysticks emerging from the forest floor.

Doing the math here gives a trail length of 5.25 miles which agrees with what our GPS units showed.

A second crossing of FR 2258.

Beyond the second crossing of FR 2258 the trail showed substantially less wear from mountain bikes.

Trillium

Trail slug

Trail bird (maybe a russet backed Swainson’s thrush?)

Beargrass that is going to bloom soon.

This was the first downed tree we’d come across, more evidence that this portion sees less bikers.

A rare level stretch as the trail passed over a wide saddle.

A second obstacle.

Violet

Adams Mountain from the other side of the saddle. The loop and in fact the Adams Mountain Way Trail do not actually go to the summit of Adams Mountain.

Red-flowering currant

Vine maple blossoms.

We took a break in this rocky section of trail which was the only place we could find where the mosquitoes weren’t too plentiful. The lower portion of the trail had been fine but as we climbed the mosquitoes became more plentiful. While we were taking our break we heard the distinctive “meep” of a pika “meep”, but we weren’t able to spot any.

After resting we continued the climb, quickly arriving at a crossing of Forest Road 2234.

Trail sign just before FR 2234.

The trail continuing on the other side of FR 2234.

This section of the Crawfish Trail showed virtually no sign of bike usage.

Sourgrass

Small bridge over the dry bed of Crawfish Creek.

Second small footbridge over Crawfish Creek which had a little water flowing now.

We believe this is what is left of the Crawfish Shelter.

Vanilla leaf and bleeding heart.

The trail climbed steeply out of the creek drainage to a saddle to the Knott Trail junction. We were a little suprised at the extent of visible fire damage up on the ridge.

I had known that the 2024 Lane 1 Fires, which consisted of the Clark 900, Puddin, Adam Mountain, Mineral, Quartz, and Jack Saddle fires that merged and were combined as the Adam Mountain Fire along with Lane 1, had reached small portions of the Knott Trail. What I didn’t know was that the ridge the Knott Trail follows had been used to create a fire break.

Looking up the hillside to the left at the saddle. This was the direction we needed to go.

Looking right from the saddle. The Knott Trail heads up the ridge in this direction to pass over Adams Mountain before ending at FR 2234.

This was the sign at the trail junction at the saddle in 2016. There was no signage at all now.

We attempted take another break at this saddle and gather our bearings, but the mosquitoes were fierce here for some reason, so we simply began trudging straight up the fire break.

Fairview Peak and Bohemia Mountain (post).

What the hillside looked like in 2016 (sans view).

Lookout tower on Fairview Peak.

Snowy peaks in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness to the SE.

It was sad to see the fire break on the one hand, but it had been successful as the forest on the other side was spared.

Looking across the saddle at Adams Mountain and the fire break.

Mount June (post) to the north.

Checkerspot

We were able to take a bit of a break at the highpoint of the trail (just over 4900′). We couldn’t tell if any of the former trail tread remained. The trail had switchbacked up and down the hillside on either side prior to the fire. We decided to just head straight down the fire break.

The very top of Diamond Peak.

Evidence of the effectiveness of the fire break.

Elephant Peak in the center with North Fairview Mountain, and Fairview Peaks to the right.

Flagging for the Knott Trail. The trail heading into the unburned trees here was obvious, but it hadn’t been so higher up. From here the fire break followed the old trail alignment for a short distance.

This road was not here in 2016 but was instead part of the Knott Trail. The trail (now road) heads toward spur off FR 2234 which they must have used to create this extension to bring in the equipment in to build the fire break.

The fire break continuing straight downhill from the road extension.

We opted to continue down the fire break instead of following the former trail alignment.

The Knott Trail emerging from the forest to cross the fire break. Had we followed the new road extension this is where we theoretically would have come out.

The Knott Trail on the other side of the fire break entering burned forest.

After a descent of a little over 3/4 of a mile we arrived at another saddle where we began looking for the Adams Mountain Way Trail junction

Here again the trail signs were gone, but there was some orange flagging on a pile of slash marking the location of the Adams Mountain Way Trail.

The tread was faint on the far side of the slash, and there had been no apparent effort to clear a path to it. We scrambled over the debris and picked up the trail.

The Adams Mountain Way Trail.

Looking back toward the fire break.

The tread quickly improved and for 3/4 of a mile we followed a ridge up and down and then it grew increasingly steep, eventually reaching a junction with the Marten Flume Trail after 3.3-miles.

The trail climbed briefly to pass through this small beargrass meadow along the ridge. It didn’t appear any would be blooming this year.

Elephant Mountain peaking up from behind a ridge.

Rhododendron

One of only a handful of lupine we saw. This was the closest to blooming of any of them.

Beargrass with some blossoms and an insect.

We paused at this unsigned trail on the left. It appears to be a use trail down to nearby FR 2258 based on maps.

This was the first time we’ve run across a white rhododendron in the wild.

Starflower

Northwestern twayblade

Abandoned road crossing.

By this point this snail may have been moving faster than we were.

Vanilla leaf

Still a long way down.

Oregon grape

This was the second “use road” sign we’d seen which seemed misleading. We usually see wording along the lines of “trail crosses road”.

Narrow section of the ridge.

Marten Flume Trail junction.

For some reason I completely forgot that we’d used the Marten Flume Trail to get back to Brice Creek Road in 2016 so instead of simply continuing down the Adams Mountain Way Trail I turned onto the Marten Flume Trail again. (Heather had decided to skip this slightly longer detour regardless of whether or not we’d hiked it before.) This trail was quite overgrown but after a short detour past the correct trail I was able to complete the short loop and wound up arriving at Brice Creek Road just as Heather was arriving at the car. (The car and Lund Park CG is visible from the Marten Flume Trail.
Rough tread on the Marten Flume Trail.

I should have veered right here. The original trail continued further upstream but is now overgrown and covered in downed trees.

It was about here that I realized I should have gone right.

Steep drop down to Hobo Creek.

Hobo Creek crossing.

New trail alignment heading uphill from Hobo Creek.

Steps cut into a downed tree.

Hobo Creek

Popping out onto Brice Creek Road.

Heather’s view of Brice Creek Road from the Adams Mountain Way Trail.

Heather could also see the entrance to the Lund Park Campground when she popped out onto Brice Creek Road.

My loop came to 11.5-miles with 3200+ of elevation gain. Heather saved three or four tenths of a mile by skipping the Marten Flume Trail.
Dotted line is the current loop. Green is our track from 2016 and red is a part of our Brice Creek Hike in 2014.

It was nice to be able to re-hike this loop and get the views we missed on our first visit, and it was interesting to see the fire break up close. This is a challenging hike that lacks any big wow moments other than “Wow this is steep!”, but the forest is nice and the trails, at least on both our visits, aren’t busy. If nothing else, it offers a good early season training hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wildwood Falls and Adams Mountain Way Loop

Tags Adams Mountain Way Trail, Brice Creek, Crawfish Shlelter, Crawfish Trail, hiking, Hobo Cree, Knott Trail, Lane County, Lund Park Campground, Marten Flume Trail, Oregon, Row River, Wildwood Falls, Wildwood Falls Park

Clackamas Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Clackamas County Parks – 03/08/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 10, 2025
No Comments on Clackamas County Parks – 03/08/2025

Following a really nice January, February didn’t provide us many opportunities for hiking in decent weather. So far the weather in March has been quite a bit better and we took advantage of it to visit three different parks managed by Clackamas County.

This outing was inspired by our failed visit to Eagle Fern Park on our last day out hiking (post). They fee kiosk was out of order that day and we weren’t carrying enough cash ($8) to pay for the required day-use permit, so we skipped the hike here and continued on to our second destination – Milo McIver State Park. We made sure to restock our emergency cash supply and moved the visit to Eagle Fern Park to our March hikes.

Because the hike Eagle Fern Park is under 4-miles we wanted to add another destination (or two) to increase our time on trail for the day. To make it a theme day we chose two additional Clackamas County parks with short trail systems, Barlow Wayside and Metzler County Park, as stops.

We decided to start with the park furthest from Salem and work our way back home which meant starting at Barlow Wayside Park located 11-miles east of Sandy, OR. We arrived at the trailhead to discover it is now a fee park. With it being a “limited-use” park the day-use fee is $4.00 here but the only option to pay is by phone which requires downloading an app and setting up an account prior to paying.
The small blue sign on the left provides the pay by phone information. This was one of two such signs in the parking area.

Fortunately we had enough cell service to download the app and pay the fee (the fine for not obtaining a permit is currently $80.00). After doing that we headed for the informational signboard to begin our hike. It was a chilly start to the morning with the temperature a crisp 34 degrees Fahrenheit

We began with a short out-and-back on the Little Joe Tie Trail which connects to the Sandy Ridge Trail System which offers 17-miles of mountain bike trails. This level trail paralleled Little Joe Creek and entered BLM managed land before arriving at a signed junction.

Little Joe Creek

The pointer to the right was for the Sandy and Salmon Rivers (.25 miles) while continuing another .18 miles would bring us to the Sandy Ridge Trail System.

The junction seemed like a good turnaround point and we headed back to the information kiosk where I ran to the car to grab an extra Buff for Heather before following pointers for the parks three loop trails.

We turned left onto the Little Joe Loop which just 600′ long but it does lead past a platform above Little Joe Creek.

At the end of the Little Joe Loop we turned left following a pointer for the self-guided nature tour.

Brochures were available here and online. Unfortunately, we are at that age where without reading glasses the brochures were of no use to us.

We crossed the creek on a footbridge then ignored a signed “Primitive Trail” on the right to reach the start of the Falls Loop Trail.

The Primitive Trail.

Start of the Falls Looop.

We turned right on the Falls Loop and climbed up a ridge to a switchback. We ignored another Primitive Trail sign on the right and followed the switchback to the left.

Primitive Trail number 2 with the Falls Loop continuing to the left.

The trail had now leveled out and passed through a nice forest before making a short descent to an unnamed creek crossing above a small “falls”.

This was a nice little cascade this time of year. Later in the Summer the flow reportedly drops down to a trickle.

Shortly after crossing the unnamed creek we arrived at a junction with the Northern Loop Trail where we turned right.
The self-guided nature tour follows the Northern Loop Trail here as well.

The Northern Loop climbed gradually toward a set of power lines where it turned and began looping back toward the Falls Loop.
Passing stop #6 on the self-guided tour (Forested Headwaters).

The powerline corridor below Sandy Ridge.

One of the creeks flowing from the forested headwaters.

Trees are truly amazing.

Back on the Falls Loop.

We turned right on the Falls Loop and followed it as it crossed several streams and eventually dropped down to the base of a larger cascade.

We completed the Northern Loop and then returned to the trailhead where we detoured across East Barlow Trail Road following a pointer for the Sandy River.

It was a just over a tenth of a mile to the river where we took a moment to watch the water rushing past on its way from Mt. Hood to the Columbia River and eventually the Pacific Ocean before returning to our car.

Our GPS recorded our hike here as 2.7-miles with a little under 200′ of elevation gain.

From Barlow Wayside we headed back toward Sandy on Highway 26 turning off at Firwood to make our way to the trailhead at Eagle Fern Park.

After paying the $8 day-use fee at the functioning kiosk we prepared to set off on our planned hike here. Similar to Barlow Wayside there are several loop options at this park and we were hoping to check out the bulk of them. We began by crossing Eagle Creek on a suspension bridge.

There are a few Eagle Creeks in Oregon, this is the Eagle Creek that originates in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness (post).

At a junction on the far side of the bridge we turned right on Loop C which is another interpretive trail.

At a junction we stayed right to begin Loop A.
Trail Keepers of Oregon restoration work sign. TKO does a lot of great work and with the current administration’s hostility toward public land groups such as theirs are needed more than ever.

Loop A made a good climb before leveling out a bit along the hillside above Eagle Creek.

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We ignored this connector trail on the left (Spur B on the park map) and continued along the hillside.

Snow queen

One of several switchbacks.

Rough-skinned newt and snow queen.

Closer look at the newt.

Blue sky

Traversing the hillside.

The trail below as we neared a switchback to begin descending.

Rock overhang along the trail.

Viewpoint near the end of the loop.

After returning to the trailhead we headed off in search of Loop D which begins off of Kitzmiller Road. This meant a short road walk from the trailhead to Kitzmiller Road where we turned right for 0.2-miles where there is a small parking area on left (west) side of the road. The trail was reportedly on the opposite side of the road and had at one time been signed. That sign was gone but a cyclist who had stopped at the pullout was aware of the trail and helped point us in the right direction. He was a little bewildered about us wanting to hike this trail, having tried to follow it himself some years back. At that time he said it climbed out a little way above the main park area and just petered out. The official park map showed a loop, Loop D, here and the Oregonhikers Field Guide described an additional lollipop loop off of Loop D. After confirming that this was indeed the trail we were looking for he wished us good luck and we set off on the unmarked path.
The start of Loop D from Kitzmiller Road.

The trail quickly split and we went right.
The remains of former signs can be seen at the split ahead.

This trail obviously doesn’t see much use but was in decent shape with one large tree requiring a duck under and another smaller tree down across a switchback that meant we had to climb over it twice.

The trail made a steady climb to the junction with the supposed Lollipop Loop.

The lower portion of the tree across the switchback.

There was no sign at the start of the Lollipop Loop but the tread at the split was obvious.
Left is the continuation of Loop D. We stayed right to attempt the Lollipop Loop.

The Oregonhikers Field Guide described the lollipop as a rougher trail and that was accurate. It was still easy enough to follow. After about a quarter of a mile we found ourselves dropping to a footbridge over a small stream.
There were some cut trees along the trail mixed with more recent blowdown but nothing was particularly difficult to navigate.

Wren

There was a lot of snow queen.

The footbridge with a large tree across it.

There was a large tree down across the near side of the footbridge. The bridge appeared to have held up well with just one visibly broken plank. Heather decided she’d seen enough though so she stopped here and we agreed to meet back a what we thought might be the other end of the loop that we’d passed near the top of the hill. I continued on and quickly found myself navigating multiple downed trees and other obstacles.
Look back along the bridge.

The older blowdown had all be cut.

I finally lost the trail in a muddy bog not far from Eagle Fern Road. At some point the loop should have turned uphill to the left and after a series of switchbacks returned me to the trail not far from the footbridge. I had seen no sign of any trail to the left between the bridge and where I turned around.
I made it through this muddy mess but couldn’t find any sign of tread on the opposite side.

I back tracked to the bridge looking for any sign of the loop. I still didn’t see any tread, flagging or cut logs that would have indicated the presence of a trail. I recrossed the bridge and rejoined Heather and then we returned to Loop D. We turned right onto Loop D and followed it back down to Kitzmiller Road.

We detoured across Kitzmiller Road to the pullout and followed a short path down to the bank of East Eagle Creek.

My hike here came in at 3.9-miles with a little under 400′ of elevation gain.

After visiting East Eagle Creek, we returned to our car and made our way to the trailhead at Metzler County Park.

This was by far the busiest park and another requiring the $8 day-use permit (annual permits are also available). I was unsure if the day-use permit we purchased at Eagle Fern Park could also be used here or if a separate permit was required. (The Clackamas County website was no help and they were closed Friday so I couldn’t ask ahead of time.) There was one sign that I took as indicating the day-use permit was good for that day at any of the fee parks, so we did not purchase a third permit.

From the parking area we walked down the paved entrance road toward Clear Creek. At a memorial stone for Alice Metzler we followed a “Swimming Hole” sign passed a picnic shelter to a suspension bridge.

Clear Creek

On the far side of the bridge we stayed left at a junction and followed Swagger Creek gradually uphill.

Swagger Creek

The trail soon veered away from the creek and descended through a mixed forest to an unsigned junction where we stayed and eventually arrived at a second unsigned junction.

Song sparrow (according to Merlin)

The second unsigned junction.

The section junction was part of the Northern Loop where we once again stayed left traversing the hillside above Clear Creek before arriving at a clear cut at the park boundary.

The trail descended beside the clear cut then turned back along Clear Creek to complete the loop.

We turned left and hiked back to the first junction where we again stayed left and returned to the suspension bridge to complete another loop.

Swagger Creek (right) joining Clear Creek at the suspension bridge.

We recrossed Clear Creek and hiked back to the entrance road where we turned left. We followed the road into and through the closed campground to its end and the start of the Nature Trail.

The Nature Trail wasn’t signed other than some “No Motor Vehicles” signs.

This interpretive trail follows an old roadbed behind the campground and through part of the disc golf course to the baseball field where it abruptly ends.

One of the numbered interpretive markers (brochures available on the park website).

The old roadbed.

At the baseball field we had a choice to turn right or stay left, either way we had to pass through more of the disc golf course. There were disc golfers coming up from the right so we stayed left and hiked around the field to the park entrance road and then followed it back to our car. This wound up being our shortest hike of the day at 2.6-miles and less than 350′ of elevation gain, but we missed a small section of the Nature Trail that veered off from the far side of the suspension bridge. That section of the trail follows a pointer for the “Swimming Hole” and thinking it was just a spur to a swimming hole we’d skipped it when we first crossed the bridge.

All together the three stops provided a little over 9-miles of hiking with approximately 875′ of elevation gain.
Relative locations of the three stops plus Milo McIver from our previous outing.

These would be good hikes with kids given each park has interpretive trails and loop options of varying lengths. They also make for a nice destination for a quick stop, although the day-use fee might give non annual fee permit holders pause. Each park is nevertheless worth visiting at least once. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Clackamas County Parks

Tags Barlow Wayside Park, Clackamas County Parks, Clear Creek, Eagle Creek, Eagle Fern Park, hiking, Little Joe Creek, Metzler County Park, Oregon, Sandy Ridge Trail System, sandy river, Swagger Creek

Clackamas Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Milo McIver State Park – 02/22/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 24, 2025
1 Comment on Milo McIver State Park – 02/22/2025

After getting a couple of extra hikes in during January, Winter finally arrived in February. We were down to our final chance to take our monthly offseason hike so regardless of the weather we planned on heading somewhere. I had a few options ready depending on the forecast which wound up being for a relatively dry morning followed by rain. We originally decided on a pair of hikes near Estacada, Eagle Fern Park and the Riverbend Loop at Milo McIver State Park.

We planned on starting our morning at Eagle Fern Park, but unfortunately the debit/credit card fee station there was out of order, and we weren’t carrying cash, making it impossible to pay the $8 day use fee charged by Clackamas County. (The county doesn’t have a way to pay online, that I could find.) After striking out at Eagle Fern Park we headed to Milo McIver where a State Park Pass is required. Day use passes went from $5 to $10 beginning in 2025 so for the first time we purchased an annual pass (online) which is only $30, or three visits to fee parks.

We parked in the McIver Memorial Viewpoint parking area and began our hike by following a paved path down to the viewpoint.

Gazebo near the parking lot.

McIver Memorial Viewpoint

On a clearer day there would be a view of the mountains here, but we had to settle for the mountain identifier to let us know what we were missing.

Clackamas River from the viewpoint.

We had visited this park in June 2020 and done a 6.5-mile loop around the southern half of the park (post). For this visit the plan was a lollipop around the northern portion. From the viewpoint we walked back toward the parking area and turned right (north) on a gravel path leading to a signboard.
The small trail sign on the left is labeled “Viewpoint Trail”.

Map on the signboard. Oddly the Viewpoint Trail is not shown on this map even though the trail continues past the signboard.

We continued past the signboard on the Viewpoint Trail which descended the hillside above the Vortex Meadow before reaching a junction with the Vortex Loop near the edge of the meadow.

The Vortex Meadow through the trees.

At an unsigned 4-way junction with the Vortex Loop we turned right and headed further into the meadow.

Former model airplane landing strip in the meadow.

The lack of signage combined with some trails not being shown on the maps we had, created some issues as we neared the SE end of the meadow. We came to a group of picnic tables where a trail headed left toward them. It appears, based on our final GPS track compared to the route shown in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide and the park map, that this was the continuation of the Vortex Loop. We assumed it was simply a trail to the tables and continued straight through the meadow to a “T” junction at its edge.

We turned left on this trail, which again had no signage, and followed it staying right at junctions until we arrived at a 4-way junction with signs.

There were some limited views of the Clackamas River from this trail.

While we were happy to see trail signs again it was a little confusing to see the Riverbend Trail pointer here. Here again the maps that we had did not show this junction. They did show a 4-way junction between the Riverbend Trail and Vortex Loop but only after crossing a road which we had not done.

We decided to follow the pointer for the Riverbend Trail to the right since that was the trail we were eventually to be on. A short distance later we came to another signed junction, but this one made no mention of the Riverbend Trail.

This junction really threw us off. We initially turned left following the pointer for the Vortex Trail but quickly talked ourselves out of it when it appeared to be heading away from the river. In hindsight this was the correct choice to follow the Oregon Hikers Route, but I failed to catch that in the hike description. We were still a little confused as to exactly where we were on the route as well due to having come to more junctions than we’d expected already. We backtracked to the junction and headed down into the Kingfisher Group Camp and picked up the continuation of a trail on the far side of the grassy area.

Viewpoint near the group camp.

This trail led us to a junction with the Riverbend Trail at the Riverbend disc golf course.

Had we not backtracked through the group camp we would have connected with the Riverbend Trail after crossing a road then turned right on the Riverbend Trail, recrossed the road, and arrived at this junction on that trail which was now on our left.

We turned right on the Riverbend Trail and were now back on track with the route we had intended to be on. The Riverbend Trail passed between the river on the right and the Riverbend Day Use Area.

Stellar’s jay

We stumbled on a one-leg standing competition that the local geese were engaged in.

The mallards seemed unimpressed with the geese’s balancing abilities.

Common mergansers

The Riverbend Trail brought us to a parking area near a boat ramp where we once again got a little confused.

We should have turned left here following the pointer but instead we continued past the boat ramp and picked up a trail on the far side of the parking area.

This trail was not the Riverbend Trail but rather was part of the disc golf course providing access to holes 5, 6, & 7, and it ended at the riverbank.

Common merganser drake

After consulting our maps once again we realized our mistake and that we should have turned left when we’d arrived at boat ramp.
We found this nice little bridge wandering around the disc golf course attempting to connect with the Maple Ridge Trail.

Stream below the little footbridge.

When it became clear that it wasn’t possible to reach the Maple Ridge Trail from this part of the disc golf course we made our way back to the boat ramp and walked up the paved road to a trail marker on the right.

We crossed a patch of grass to another set of trail signs where we found a pointer for the Maple Ridge Trail.

We were back on track again and followed the Maple Ridge Trail uphill half a mile to Wood Duck Pond.

The Cedar Knoll Trail connects the upper and lower segments of the Maple Ridge Trail. We stayed right on the Maple Ridge Trail.

Colorful fungi

Wood ducks on Wood Duck Pond. It’s pretty rare that the animal a feature is named after is actually present.

At the pond the Maple Ridge Trail made a 180 degree turn and headed SE while continuing its gradual climb. A short distance from Wood Duck Pond was a signed spur trail to the 2008 Landslide Viewpoint.

We detoured the 150′ to the viewpoint.

While the cliffs were dramatic this short detour also resulted in us spotting a large newt/salamander and a great blue heron.
Not sure if this is just the biggest rough-skinned newt we’ve ever seen or a different type of salamander.

Great blue heron by a small pond. It was probably hunting the frogs that were croaking loudly here.

We returned to the Maple Ridge Trail and followed it to a junction with the Riverbend Loop Trail. This stretch of trail climbed a little more before leveling out somewhat and eventually dropping back down to the junction.
The sign ahead is for the Cedar Knoll Trail joining from the left.

Dropping down to the Riverbend Loop Trail junction.

The Maple Ridge Trail makes another nearly 180 degree turn here and drops down to the parking area a short distance from its other end.

We stayed right here again at a junction with a trail leading to the Maple Ridge Picnic Shelter.

I believe these are sweet coltsfoot starts.

There was a bench next to this nice little creek.

Nearing the Riverbend Day Use Area entrance road.

When the Riverbend Trail arrived at the entrance road it turned uphill.

After a short climb we arrived at a junction where we turned right leaving the Riverbend Trail.

A very short distance later we came to a junction with the Vortex Loop where we also turned right.

Had we not gotten confused and gone through the group camp earlier we would have come to both of these junctions before. In any event we followed the Vortex Loop uphill, steeply at times, to a crossing of the paved road across from the Vortex Meadow.

Song sparrow

At the junction in the meadow we turned right onto the unsigned Viewpoint Trail and followed it back uphill to our car.

It’s hard to make out but there is a coyote in this photo.

I have no idea what’s going on with this photo of the coyote as it was trotting away from us. Shortly after this it popped out from behind some brush and jumped into the air to pounce on something. That was the last we saw of it.

Squirrel

Left to right: Silver Star Mountain, Little Baldy, and Bluff Mountain (post).

Mt. Hood making a partial appearance.

The weather held and we stayed dry despite having driven through several rain showers on the way to the park. Despite missing out on Eagle Fern Park it had been a good day of hiking. The trails weren’t too busy, and we got to see a fair amount of wildlife through the morning. This hike was approximately 6.4-miles with a little over 400′ of elevation gain.

We plan on trying Eagle Fern Park again in the not-too-distant future, and this time we’ll be sure to bring cash just in case. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Milo McIver Riverbend Loop

Tags Clackamas River, Common Merganser, coyote, geese, hiking, Mallard, Maple Ridge Trail, McIver Memorial Viewpoint, Milo McIver State Park, Oregon, Riverbend Trail, Viewpoint Trail, Vortex Loop, Vortex Trail, Wood Duck Pond

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Lower McKenzie River Trail – 12/21/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 23, 2024
No Comments on Lower McKenzie River Trail – 12/21/2024

There haven’t been many good weather days in December and those that were dry had either been on days when we were at our desks at work, or one of us was under the weather. With Christmas right around the corner we were running out of time for a December hike so we decided that no matter what the weather we would be heading out on the winter solstice. Once again, the forecast was for a dry day Friday but rain all day Saturday. Given the forecast we opted for a river hike. Forested river hikes typically don’t have big views so cloudy skies don’t negatively impact the hike.

We headed to the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail to hike a segment of the trail we had not hiked before. We parked at the Lower McKenzie River Trailhead. (Note that the linked Forest Service page incorrectly states the trailhead is along Highway 125 instead of 126.)
The trailhead.

The trail begins at a signboard at the eastern end of the trailhead. For the first half mile the trail squeezes between the river and the highway before briefly veering away from the highway.
The caution sign was related to some pile burning that the Forest Service had been doing.

McKenzie River

Mushrooms

The trail approached the highway again across from McKenzie River Ranger Station.

After passing a junction with a spur trail coming from the ranger station at the 1 mile mark the McKenzie River Trail dropped away from the highway.
National Recreation Trail symbol on a tree to the left.

For the next 4.5 miles the trail stayed further away from the highway. At times it followed the bank of the McKenzie River and at others it veered away to avoid private property. At all times the trail passed through a lush green forest.

Private Road sign on Duffy Rd.

There was quite a bit of witches’ butter fungus along the trail.

There were a lot of other mushrooms too.

Unnamed creek crossing.

Ruby-crowned kinglet. We didn’t see much wildlife on this hike but there were several kinglets flitting among the trees here. This was the only photo of one I managed to get though.

We had not expected any blue sky so this was a treat. It had rained for most of the drive and sprinkled for a minute shortly after we started hiking, but it had been dry otherwise.

The trail switching back up a small hill.

The most significant elevation change was this decent to a footbridge over Lost Creek.

Coral fungus

Lost Creek

The footbridge over Lost Creek was a little over 4.5-miles from the Lower McKenzie Trailhead.

Lost Creek

Willamette National Forest Boundary

Approximately 5.25-miles from the trailhead we crossed Belknap Hot Springs Road.

Sign for the Belknap Hot Springs Lodge and Gardens.

Shortly after passing the lodge the trail approached the highway again for a brief time before the river veered away again and the trail followed it.

We had originally planned on turning around at 11am, but Heather’s ankle was starting to bother her, so she turned around at 10:45. I decided to keep going for another 15 or so minutes to try and reach Forest Road 2650 where the trail crosses the river to continue on the western side of the river.
Unnamed seasonal stream.

Footbridge over Scott Creek.

Scott Creek

Mushrooms

Footbridge over Boulder Creek.

Highway 126 bridge over Boulder Creek from the footbridge.

Boulder Creek flowing into the McKenzie River.

Forest Road 2650.

Boat ramp at Forest Road 2650.

The river from Forest Road 2650.

I turned around on the bridge and started back at a quick pace to try and catch up to Heather.

This short section along the road is just east of Belknap Springs Road.

Madrones

Moving at a quick pace had heated me up enough that I had to take off my rain gear which I’d been wearing the entire hike despite it being 99% dry.
A little sunlight on the forest floor.

Not 10 minutes after removing my rain gear it began to rain.
Rain shower falling over Lost Creek. It wasn’t raining hard enough to convince me to pull my rain gear back out.

I spotted Heather with a little over three and a quarter mile left back to the trailhead. (Look for a little orange in the trees ahead and to the right of the trail.)

The rain had stopped again by the time I caught up to Heather.

Ours was the only car at the trailhead when we got back.

My Garmin showed 13.8 miles for the hike to FR 2650, and I’d estimate close to 700′ of elevation gain spread out over several short climbs.

With this hike in books, we’ve now hiked much of the 26.5 McKenzie River Trail.
Red – Clear Lake, June 2014 (post). Green – Tamolitch Pool, May 2013 (post), Cyan – Middle segment, November 2020 (post).

We also started a hike at the Upper McKenzie Trailhead in July 2023 (post) but took the Santiam Wagon Road to Sand Mountain instead of the McKenzie River Trail. We are now just missing sections of the trail between the upper trailhead and Clear Lake, Clear Lake and Koosah Falls, and FR 610 and FR 2650. At some point we do plan on filling in those gaps.

This hike wraps up our 2024 hikes. We hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and as always happy trails!

Flickr: Lower McKenzie River Trail

Tags Belknap Springs, Boulder Creek, hiking, Lost Creek, Lower McKenzie River Trail, McKenzie River National Recreation Trail, McKenzie River Trail, Oregon, Scott Creek