Category: Oregon

Underhill Trail & Eightmile Loop – 06/14/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 16, 2025
2 Comments on Underhill Trail & Eightmile Loop – 06/14/2025

We’re continuing to whittle away at the hikes contained in Matt Redder’s various guidebooks (Off the Beaten Trail!) and were down to just two of the 55 hikes from the second edition of “Off the Beaten Trail”. One of those is a bit too far from Salem to be a day hike, but the Underhill Trail is just a 2:15 drive if traffic is cooperative. Leaving between 4:45 and 5am usually means that traffic isn’t a problem on the way to trailhead, but coming home is always a different story.

Reeder’s suggested hike for the Underhill Trail is an out-and-back to Fifteenmile Creek which for us came to 6.3-miles with approximately 1600′ of elevation gain.
Clearly the trail has been realigned based on where the map shows it is and where our track shows we were.

Since that hike alone would have led us to violating our self-imposed rule of not spending more time driving than hiking on day hikes we wanted to add some hiking miles. We had some options including continuing down Fifteenmile Creek three miles on a seldom used section of trail. We also could have hiked upstream along Fifteenmile Creek, but we had hiked the trails leading upstream in 2016 on an 11.9-mile loop (post). The third option was to try another nearby hike which is the option we chose. We picked the Eightmile Loop based on its proximity to the Underhill Trail (less than 5 miles) and length.

We began our day at the Underhill Site.

Scarlet gilia with the Underhill Site picnic shelter in the background.

The Underhill Trail began next to a signboard and descended to cross Forest Road 4450.

Balsamroot

Penstemon

Rosy pussytoes

Lomatium

Paintbrush

Forest Road crossing.

Shortly after crossing the road we passed an old fence and then came to a fork in the trail.

Here the Old Cabin Loop Trail headed left while the Underhill Trail continued straight ahead. We decided to turn onto the Old Cabin Loop after looking at the map and seeing that it wouldn’t add too much distance to the hike (it added about a third of a mile).

The abandoned East Loop splits off from the Old Cabin Loop shortly beyond the Underhill Trail.

The Old Cabin Loop descended to a footbridge over Ramsey Creek where Scouts from nearby Camp Baldwin had placed some benches.

Ramsey Creek

After crossing Ramsey Creek the trail climbed to an unmarked junction with the Underhill Trail.

The first Queen’s cup blossom that we’d seen this year.

The junction with the Underhill Trail.

We turned left on the Underhill Trail and climbed gradually to Logging Gulch Road atop a ridge.

Penstemon along the trail.

View of the opposite ridge from the trail.

Sliverleaf phacelia

Rayless arnica

Honeysuckle and snowberry

There were no signs at the road crossing but a small rock on top of a larger rock to the left on the far side of the road marked the continuation of the Underhill Trail.

Lookout Mountain (post) from the road.

Closer look at Lookout Mountain.

After crossing the road the Underhill Trail starts a 1.8-mile descent to Fifteenmile Creek. While this section of the trail loses over 800′ of elevation it managed to do so without ever feeling too steep. This was accomplished by good use of switchbacks and hopping ridges a couple of times.

Yarrow and white-stemmed frasera

There was a lot of white-stemmed frasera blooming which was exciting because we had been too early for the bloom when we were in the area Memorial Day Weekend (post).

Flag Point is the highest point to the left and Lookout Mountain is behind the tree.

Buckwheat

Diamond clarkia

Onion

Nevada deervetch

Balsamoot covering the hillside. We were a few weeks late for the balsamroot bloom, but getting to see so much white-stemmed frasera made up for it.

Onion

Passing over a ridge.

Grand collomia

Gently heading down an open ridge.

Mt. Hood making an appearance.

Mt. Hood

Desert yellow fleabane

Pacific coralroot

The junction with the Fifteenmile Creek Trail.

Fifteenmile Creek

We took a short break at the creek before starting the climb back up to the Underhill Site. The reasonable grade of the trail kept the climb from feeling overly difficult.

Mt. Hood from the Underhill Trail.

Sagebrush false dandelion

Western sulphur

Balsamroot covered hillside.

Beetles on white-stemmed frasera

Brief glimpse of Mt. Adams through the trees.

Swallowtail

Woodland stars

Lupine

We went left sticking to the Underhill Trail when we reached the junction with the Old Cabin Loop Trail.

Vanilla leaf lining the trail.

Footbridge over Ramsey Creek.

Old cabin ruins near Ramsey Creek.

Steep set of stairs leading up from the creek.

Passing the upper junction with the Old Cabin Loop Trail.

During the hike Heather was dealing with a blister on her foot which wasn’t causing a problem yet, but she was a little concerned that doing the whole Eightmile Loop might be pushing it. We’d talked about it and came up with a plan. I would drop her off at the Bottle Prairie Trailhead where we had originally planned to start the loop. I would then take the car to the day-use area at Eightmile Campground and start the loop from that trailhead. This would allow me to be following behind Heather and possibly catch up to her at the Fivemile Butte Lookout, and Heather would be able to skip approximately 3-miles of the loop along Eightmile Creek while still getting to see the views from the lookout site. It took just ten minutes to drive to the day-use area after dropping Heather off and I was quickly on my way behind her.

Please note that this campground is one of several that the Forest Service has contracted private concessionaires to manage and there is a $10.00/day parking fee for day-use. An annual NW Forest Pass is accepted in lieu of the fee but a single day NW Forest Pass and some interagency passes may not be. There is conflicting information online through the Forest Service website and what is posted at the trailhead.
Signage at the trailhead still shows that a variety of passes are honored there but the link for the campground provided above only lists the annual NW Forest Pass as accepted.

I followed the trail from the parking area down to Eightmile Creek and crossed it on a footbridge.

Beyond Eightmile Creek the trail switchbacked up to a crossing of Forest Road 4430 and then to a junction starting the actual loop.

The trail also crossed the campground road before climbing to FR 4430.

Raceme pussytoes

img src=”https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54590353341_97b8774ccf.jpg” width=”500″ height=”375″ alt=”IMG_3383″/>
FR 4430

Sticky cinquefoil

The start of the Eightmile Loop.

The loop is more popular with mountain bikers than hikers, in fact we saw no other hikers on any of the day’s trails. We did see around a dozen mountain bikers on the loop trails though.
Clockwise provides the gentlest climbing for the loop which is the direction we were hiking so I went left.

The trail gradually climbed for a little over 2.5-miles gaining over 650′ before arriving at the Bottle Prairie Trailhead.

Lupine

Columbine

The creek wasn’t visible for much of the 2.5-miles, but it was always within earshot.

Vanilla leaf

About a mile into the loop the trail crossed Eightmile Creek.

Eightmile Creek

Bunchberry

Western Jacob’s ladder

Arnica

Trillium

Valerian

Tall mountain bluebells

Eightmile Creek to the right of the trail.

Forest Road 120 near the Bottle Prairie Trailehad.

The Bottle Prairie Trailhead.

I located the sign for the continuation of the Eightmile Loop and headed up the trail.

Just beyond that trail sign I came to a fork where I went right on the unsigned Bottle Prairie Trail (the left fork was the Knebal Springs Trail

I learned later that Heather had gone left a short distance before realizing the mistake, something I too almost did.

A 0.4-mile climb brought me to another fork where the Bottle Prairie continued left and the Eightmile Loop split off to the right.

Duksy horkelia

Silvercrown along the trail.

This hillside was covered in buckwheat.

The OregonHikers Field Guild mentioned a short detour up the Bottle Prairie Trail to visit Perry Point, the site of a former crow’s nest lookout. At some point in the future we plan to hike a loop using the Bottle Prairie and Knebal Springs Trails and we will pass Perry Point then so I could have skipped the extension, but that’s just not in my nature so left I went.

I followed the Bottle Prairie Trail uphill a little over a quarter mile to a spur trail signed for Perry Point.

Flowers along the trail.

Penstemon, false sunflower, and scarlet gilia.

The spur trail toward Perry Point.

It was about two tenths of a mile out to the rocky point.

I failed to look for the remains of the old crow’s nest although there appears to be a small board at the top of the fir tree in the center.

Mt. Adams between the trees.

Lookout Mountain from Perry Point.

Larkspur

After visiting the point I returned to the Eightmile Loop and turned left.

After a brief climb the trail gradually descended to a saddle where it crossed Rail Hollow Road.

Orange agoseris

Vanilla leaf

Anemones

On the far side of the road the trail once again began climbing. It was a gentle climb through some recent thinning activities which are intended to help stop invasive insect damage to the areas trees.

Moth on yarrow.

View toward Central Oregon.

The trail stayed below the top of the ridge where Rail Hollow Road was.

View toward Lookout Mountain.

A little over half a mile from the crossing of Rail Hollow Road I forked left at this unsigned junction to visit the Fivemile Butte Lookout where Heather was waiting.

The rentable Fivemile Butte Lookout. Because the lookout is actively rented the Forest Service asks other visitors not to go up the tower.

Heather was sitting at a picnic table below the lookout and said she’d only been there about 15 minutes. She let me know where the views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier were.

Mt. Hood from below the lookout.

Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier from a path to the north of the lookout.

Mt. Adams with Mt. Rainier to the left.

Paintbrush and yarrow.

Rosy pussytoes

After a short break at the picnic table I started to get a little too warm in the sunlight and we resumed the hike together. From the junction with the spur to the lookout the trail began a series of long switchbacks that brought us down the hillside 1.6-miles to the junction at the start of my loop.

Large-flower triteleia

Stonecrop

Duskywing on penstemon.

The hill was fairly steep but the switchbacks made the descent nice and gradual.

Lupine and paintbrush along the trail.

Western tanager

Twinflower

Signs below marking the start/end of the loop.

After completing the loop we made our way to the car, changed shoes, and headed home. My hike including the side trips wound up coming in at a very fitting 8-miles.

My hike included approximately 1400′ of elevation gain.

These were a fun pair of hikes with lots of wildflowers and good variety in the forest types. Our timing was good for the flowers on the Eightmile Loop and okay for the Underhill Trail although as I mentioned earlier May would have been better for catching the balsamroot bloom there. We were also pleasantly surprised by how reasonably graded these trails were after a couple of extremely steep hikes in the area over Memorial Day Weekend. We’re looking forward to heading back to the area to experience more of the trails in the future. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Underhill Trail and Eightmile Loop

Tags Bottle Prairie Trail, Bottle Prairie Trailhead, Eightmile Campground, Eightmile Creek, Eightmile Loop, Fifteenmile creek, Fivemile Butte Lookout, hiking, Mt. Hood National Forest, Old Cabin Loop, Oregon, Perry Point, Ramsey Creek, Underhill Site, Underhill Trail, wildflowers

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Rogers Peak Loop – 06/07/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 9, 2025
No Comments on Rogers Peak Loop – 06/07/2025

We had our first heat advisory of the year issued for the weekend which prompted us to think twice about the 12 plus mile loop with over 3400′ of elevation gain that we had on our schedule for this week. I went looking at some of the hikes I had on our schedule for future Junes hoping to find something a little less strenuous and landed on the Rogers Peak Loop. This was another Oregon Hikers Field Guide entry. That entry described a 7.1-mile loop with 1065′ of elevation gain and an optional visit to Blue Lake which would add about 1.25-miles and 450′ of extra elevation gain. At 3706′ in elevation Rogers Peak is the third highest peak in the Coast Range behind 4319′ Mt. Bolivar and 4097′ Marys Peak (post).

The hike is located on private timberland using logging roads for almost the entire route. A big thank you to Hampton Lumber for allowing walk-in recreation to the public. Because this is private land access can be restricted at any time so, please check with Hampton Lumber before heading out and be respectful when visiting. They have a web page devoted to recreation here. Also note that weekdays may not be the best time to visit to avoid logging operations and log trucks using the roads.

We followed the Oregon Hikers directions to the trailhead which is just a small pullout before a yellow gate on Gilmore Creek Road. The roads to the trailhead were in good shape, but sections of the final 3.5-miles are very steep and windy.
The pullout only has room for two cars, a third might be able to squeeze in but it would be tight. DO NOT drive past the gate if it happens to be open as motor vehicle use by the public is not allowed beyond the gate.

Again please respect the private landowner’s rights and property. They have no obligation to allow the public access.

Before we started hiking we got distracted by the various wildflowers blooming near the gate.

Thimbleberry

Paintbrush

Lupine

Vanilla leaf

Inside-out flower

Iris

Starflower

Bunchberry

Trailing blackberry

Once we started hiking the road split shortly after the gate with the right-hand fork being the shortest route to Rogers Peak but being short also means steeper. We followed the field guide route and forked left.

The roadbed was fairly level as it traversed along a logged hillside which provided views of the Coast Range.

Cedar Butte and Triangulation Peak in the distance. (post)

Closer look at Cedar Butte

The roadbed also provided the open conditions that many wildflowers prefer.

Paintbrush and penstemon

Beargrass

Unsurprisingly the road passed a number of clearcuts but there was some intact forest along the route as well.

Thimbleberry and blackberry blossoms along the road.

Raspberry

Thistle

Lupine

Rosy bird’s-foot trefoil

We arrived at a saddle 0.8-miles from the car where we stayed right along the hillside.

A section of intact forest.

Coastal monkeyflower

Window to a clearcut.

Window to green.

View across the Rogers Creek drainage.

Columbine and thimbleberry

False lily-of-the-valley

Bunchberry bunch

Valerian

Another thistle

Fairy lanterns

Chipmunk

Anemone

Paintbrush, lupine, and iris

Junco

Clover

Salmonberry

Buttercups

Iris between a thimbleberry (green) and vine maple (reddish).

Scouler’s corydalis

Stink currant

California figwort. This one was driving us crazy trying to ID it on the hike. There was quite a bit of it along the route.

Another stretch of green forest.

Candyflower

At the 1.9-mile mark we came to a second saddle where we again stayed right along the hillside.

Views now were to the north where Saddle Mountain rose above a sea of clouds.

Humbug Mountain and the aptly named Saddle Mountain (post) rising above the clouds.

Saddle Mountain

Paintbrush

Self-heal

The view ahead. The route thus far had been mostly shaded due to the hillsides shadow which was helping to keep the temperatures down.

Youth-on-age

Bleeding heart

Plumed solomonseal

At the 2.8-mile mark we passed a road leading off to the left past a large pile of gravel.

Just 0.2-miles beyond that road (the 3-mile mark of the hike) another road forked off to the left, but downhill. The road to the left led down to Blue Lake, the optional detour. We decided that we should go down and visit the lake at least this one time to say we’d seen it.

The road lost approximately 450′ of elevation in 0.6-miles to a saddle above the little lake where a user trail next to a pole led down to the shore.

Blue Lake along the North Fork Wilson River. There were a few rough-skinned newts swimming in the lake.

After visiting the lake we made the relatively steep climb back up and continued on the loop.

Heading up. The shade was becoming more sporadic as the morning progressed.

A mustard

Another junco

Best guess is slender phlox.

A tenth of mile from the junction, or the 3.1-mile mark of the loop, we came to another fork. Once again we stayed right, and now the road began to climb.

Fork ahead.

The shade was abandoning us, and it was getting warm fast.

In person this was one of the best bunchberry displays we’d seen.

We’d been keeping an eye out for Mt. St. Helens on the horizon, but someone missed it the first time it should have been visible. We did however spot Mt. Rainier as we made our way up the road.

It was just hazy enough that the snowy peaks blended in on the horizon.

Mt. Rainier

We passed a gravel pit as the road rounded a ridge where we had a view toward Rogers Peak.

There were some wonderful clumps of penstemon at the gravel pit.

Saddle Mountain from the gravel pit.

The road continuing to climb past the gravel pit.

At the 3.9-mile mark of the loop we came to yet another fork where we again stayed right to continue up to the ridge below Rogers Peak.

Taking a left at the fork would have put us onto the road seen below.

Dandelion (non-native) in the penstemon. There were surprisingly few non-native wildflowers which was nice.

These little guys might be some sort of speedwell.

Variable-leaf collomia (pink) and slender phlox (white)

Looking back after having made it onto the ridge. The loop route is the road seen on the right cutting along the hillside, not the roadbed straight ahead going up the knoll.

From the ridge we finally could see Mt. St. Helens (and Mt. Adams).

Mt. St. Helens (post) to the left and Mt. Adams to the right of the hill.

More zoomed in shot of Mt. St. Helens.

Closer look at the recently more active Mt. Adams.

In addition to the two Washington volcanos Oregon’s Mt. Hood was visible to the east.

Again the sun angle and haze made it hard to make out the snow peaks.

We actually stayed left at a fork along the ridge and at the 4.5-mile mark of the loop came to the spur road up Rogers Peak.

Don’t go right here, one of the few times we stayed left. This road would take you back down to the other side of the loop near the second saddle we passed through.

Violets

Oregon grape

Black currant

Spur road up Rogers Peak.

When the field guide entry was written this was an abandoned track but at some point recently the road was restored. Heather decided to skip the somewhat steep 0.2-mile climb up this road as the summit is relatively viewless due to trees. I however wanted to tag the summit and find the summit register so up I went.
Lomatium

Wide area at the end of the road below the actual summit.

The summit was a short scramble up this hillside to the right (NE) of the road.

The mossy rocks at the summit where the register is located.

Sourgrass

The summit register cans below the rocks.

I signed the register and left a Wanderingyuncks card in the can then had a quick snack and headed back to the loop to work on catching up to Heather.

While there wasn’t much of a view from the summit on the way down the road I had a pretty good view of Mt. St. Helens.

Back on the loop. You can see the road to the summit on the right heading uphill.

The only mushrooms I noticed all hike.

An alumroot

Penstemon and beargrass.

A clodius parnassian on arnica.

Looking out on the horizon I spotted another faint snowy peak on the horizon. The hump in the center foreground between the two trees is Kings Mountain (post).

Low quality due to how much I had to zoom and the poor visibility, but this is Mt. Jefferson.

Arnica

A half mile after rejoining the loop a short spur road on the right led to a nice viewpoint and where I found Heather.

Rogers Peak to the right of the spur road.

The two higher peaks to the right are Angora (post) and West Onion.

Mt. Rainier

We returned to the loop and began to descend.

The wildflowers had been good all day, but the stretch of road after the spur up Rogers Peak was spectacular.

Penstemon clumps with Saddle Mountain in the background.

Four tenths of a mile beyond the summit road we passed to the left of a small knoll.

The road steepened here as it dropped down to a saddle in another 0.4-miles.

We made a sharp right turn at the saddle and got a brief respite from the steep descent as the road passed above Morris Creek.

Robin

My guess is that this is a non-native species given it was growing in the roadbed, but it was pretty.

The road eventually steepened again as it dropped down to the fork near the gate where we’d gone left earlier in the morning.

The road junction as we decsended.

The gate from the junction.

My GPS showed 8.5-miles total including the side trip to Blue Lake, visit to the summit, and the viewpoint on the spur road. Total elevation gain was approximately 1525′.

This wound up being a very enjoyable hike. The wildflower displays and variety was impressive, we got to see five Cascade volcanoes along with several familiar peaks in the Coast Range, and we only saw one other person all morning. (Shortly after setting off we’d spoken with a Hampton Lumber employee who was driving out.) Again I wanted to acknowledge how much we appreciate when the lumber companies offer recreational access to their land. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Rogers Peak Loop

Tags blue lake, coast range, Hampton Lumber, hiking, North Fork Wilson River, Oregon, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, Rogers Peak, 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

Badger Creek Area Hiking Oregon Trip report

Tygh Creek Trail – 05/26/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 29, 2025
4 Comments on Tygh Creek Trail – 05/26/2025

After spending a second night in The Dalles it was time to return home, but before we headed to Salem we had one more hike to do in the area. There was one more hike on the east side of the Badger Creek Wilderness featured in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition) guidebook – Tygh Creek. His recommended hike on the trail is a 4-mile out-and-back gaining 1700′. If that sounds steep, it is!

We left The Dalles and drove south on Highway 197 and made our way to the unsigned Tygh Creek Trailhead along Forest Road 27.
The Tygh Creek Trail across FR 27 from the Tygh Creek Trailhead.

The trailhead is just 1.4-miles from the School Canyon Trailhead where we had started our hike two days earlier (post). It is theoretically possible to combine the two trails into a 13.7-mile loop, but the upper portion of the Tygh Creek Trail is reported faint and prone to heavy blow down. Even if the trails were clear we didn’t have time for a long hike today, so the 4-mile option was perfect.

For the first half mile the trail did a little up and down along Tygh Creek.

The only two trees down that needed to be climbed under/over.

Tygh Creek

At the half mile mark the trail left the creek and began the steep climb to the ridge above.

Heather had opted to not tackle the climb after already having done two challenging hikes this weekend so I had left the car before her and was on my own heading uphill when I spotted something moving in the forest ahead. I noticed the black first but then saw white as well and realized it was a skunk on the trail ahead.
Distance + low light + moving animal = blurry photo.

The skunk had been at the far end of this section of trail which was lined with lupine.

I stopped and watched the skunk head uphill until it was out of sight and then proceeded carefully not wanting to wind up smelling of skunk for the entire ride home. (I’m sure Heather would not have appreciated that either.) It was a good thing I was being cautious because after a short distance I noticed the skunk in some brush just off the trail.

The little stinker had a pretty cute face.

We stared at each other for a minute, and I politely requested it move along. When that didn’t work I left the trail in an attempt to swing out wide and pick up the trail further uphill. My moving again prompted the skunk to run off deeper into the forest with its tail in “firing position”. I hoped it wasn’t randomly spraying the air which might still get me but fortunately the safety was kept on and I was in the clear to continue the hike.

Reeder mentioned the middle third of the 0.9-mile climb as being “some of the steepest, dustiest trail in the Badger Creek Wilderness.” From the sample of trails we’ve hiked in this wilderness I’d agree with that statement. The first and final third were no picnic either. There were however great views and a lot of wildflowers to look at as I slowly trudged uphill.
The trail is to the right in this photo.

Paintbrush, balsamroot, and a strawberry blossom.

Ball Point

Rough eyelashweed

When a trail looks steep in a photo that tells you something.

More paintbrush and balsamroot.

Townsend’s solitaire

Buckwheat

My goal, the turn around point, was up on the crest of that ridge ahead.

Lupine, balsamroot, and a death camas.

Dogwood tree among the ponderosa pines.

Mahala mat

Getting close to the ridge and still steep.

The trail got less steep near the ridge.

Gordon Butte to the right. Broken Top, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Jefferson would also have been visible if not for the clouds.

Level trail on the ridge!

The hike describes cresting a “small” ridge and finding a user trail on the left that leads to a viewpoint sometimes used as a helispot. I headed out the ridge and quickly realized that my definition of “small” and Reeder’s were not the same.
Looking ahead at the trees atop the “small” ridge.

Sandwort

Oregon sunshine

Wildflowers on the “small” ridge.

Almost to the crest.

While I never actually spotted a use trail it was easy to see the opening where a helicopter could land just to the left of the trail, so I made my way out to the opening.

The clouds here are hiding Mt. Hood which should be visible behind the ridge. What is visible is Flag Point (post) in the middle with the Flag Point Lookout Tower.

Looking toward Mt. Jefferson.

Parts of Mt. Jefferson peeking out through the clouds.

After catching my breath at the viewpoint I began the steep descent back to Tygh Creek. I had been so focused on the climb up that I saw a few flowers that I’d missed on my first pass.
I’d seen a couple whitestem frasera going up but coming down I realized just how many there actually were, although none of the plants were quite blooming yet.

Groundsel

Broken Top and some of the Three Sisters were visible on the way down.

Tam McArthur Rim (post), Broken Top with Green Ridge (post) and Black Butte (post) in front, and parts of the Three Sisters.

I missed this whole patch of silvercrown earlier.

Pine Hollow Reservoir and Central Oregon.

Elkhorn clarkia aka ragged robin.

Threadleaf phacelia

Paintbrush with Ball Point in the background.

Vetch

Penstemon

Bastard toadflax

Buttes in Cental Oregon.

Back in the forest near Tygh Creek.

Tygh Creek

Squirrel

Starflower

Coral fungus

The trailhead in sight.

The hike was just under 4-miles with 1700′ of elevation gain.
The Tygh Creek track along with a portion of Saturday’s hike on the School Canyon Trail at the bottom.

Tackling this hike when my legs were already tired from the previous two days wasn’t ideal, but its length was which allowed us to get home to Salem before 11am. It was a little disappointing not having clearer views from the helispot given the effort to get there, but the wildflowers and views that I did have made for a good hike regardless.

In a crazy twist I posted a few photos on Instagram and Matt Reeder himself commented having also hiked the trail a little later that same morning. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tygh Creek

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Ball Point. School Canyon Trail, hiking, Off the Beaten Trail, Oregon, Pen Point, Skunk, Tygh Creek, Tygh Creek Trail, Tygh Creek Trailhead, wildflowers

Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Criterion Tract – 05/25/2025

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

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

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

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

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

Phacelia

Fleabane

Thistle

Madia

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

Fiddleneck and lupine

The first of several deer we spotted during the day.

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

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

Western meadowlarks could be heard throughout the hike.

The view south.

Desert yellow fleabane

The view west.

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

Mt. Hood

Butterfly on yarrow

Grasses and wildflowers added color to the landscape.

The route became very faint at times.

Balsamroot

Looking back at the route so far.

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

An old fence.

Mt. Hood and Lookout Mountain (post).

Buckwheat

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

Rough eyelashweed

Paintbrush

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

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

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

Balsamroot and lupine

Grand collomia and lupine.

Spreading dogbane

Digging in.

Small water trough (empty).

View from the water trough.

Haven’t identified this bird yet.

Looking back at the route again.

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

Mt. Hood again.

Ochre ringlet. There were hundreds of butterflies.

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

Buck

Buck number two.

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

Mt. Adams

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

Hawksbeard

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

Crow

Fritillary

Cattle trail

Western kingbirds

A milkvetch

Another butterfly on balsamroot.

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

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

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

Mt. Jefferson

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

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

This rocky gully was a little tricky to cross.

Checkerspot

Old stone structure along the fence.

Western meadowlark

Lark sparrow

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

Probably cattle bones.

Checkerspot on fiddleneck.

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

Balsamroot and Mt. Hood from the road.

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

Phlox

Indra swallowtail

Checkerspot

Another checkerspot

A blue or copper of some sort.

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

Oregon sunshine

Skipper

Colorful rocks

Looking back up along the switchback section.

Gate along the road at the end of the switchbacks.

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

Allumroot

Cusick’s sunflowers and desert yellow fleabane.

Cusick’s sunflowers

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

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

The still coiled snake to the right of the track.

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

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

Looking back up from the jeep track.

The view upriver with a private house.

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

Going between the two junipers.

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

Looking back up at the two junipers.

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

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

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

Probably some sort of flycatcher.

There were a lot of osprey along the river.

There were also quite a few Bullock’s orioles.

Mock orange along the river.

Mallard

Bindweed

Another unknown bird and an angler in the river.

Cliff swallow

Dove

More osprey

Portland Deschutes Club Gatekeepers House

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

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

Geese

Common merganser

Yarrow covered hillside.

Rock formations above the road.

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

Arriving back at the parking area.

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

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

Flickr: Criterion Tract

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

Badger Creek Area Hiking Oregon Trip report

School Canyon-Little Badger Loop – 05/24/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 27, 2025
1 Comment on School Canyon-Little Badger Loop – 05/24/2025

We spent Memorial Day weekend in The Dalles in order to cross a few “to-dos” off our hiking list. Our first stop was a two-for-one hike in the Badger Creek Wilderness. The plan was to make a loop out of the School Canyon and Little Badger Trails which would allow us to cross those trails off the list of hikes we still hadn’t done featured in our Matt Reeder guidebooks (Off the Beaten Trail). The School Canyon Trail is featured in his “PDX Hiking 365” (1st edition) and The Little Badger Trail is covered in “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition).

The two trailheads are 3.5 road miles apart but only about a half mile separates them in a direct line. Both Reeder and the entry in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide mention avoiding the longer road walk by cutting cross country suggesting slightly different routes and having differing opinions on difficulty. Based on the two hike descriptions and a recent discussion in the Oregon Hikers Forum it appeared to me that the “best” solution was to bushwack downhill from Forest Road 27 to the Little Badger Trailhead roughly a half mile from the School Canyon Trailhead. I arrived at this conclusion based on our belief that going down is easier than climbing up and by comparing Google Earth imagery with a topographic map. I was looking for the least steep looking open hillside which would limit the number of downed trees we might encounter. Prior to leaving I added waypoints to our GPS units to mark where I thought we should leave the road and one at the Little Badger Trailhead so we could easily see what we were aiming for.

We left Salem extra early and arrived at the School Canyon Trailhead about a quarter after seven.

From the trailhead we headed left (SE) on FR 27 until we reached the waypoint I had created then looked for an open spot to start the cross-country portion of the hike.

We headed off through the trees here.

After passing through a small stand of trees the views opened up to the SW where Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte stood out on the horizon.

Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (post).

Gordon Butte in the foreground.

Our route steepened as we headed downhill among a number of different wildflowers.
Balsamroot and oak trees.

Buckwheat and balsamroot

Whitestem frasera with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Rough eyelashweed

Paintbrush

We picked up a faint path, not sure if it was a game or use trail.

As we neared the Little Badger Trailhead we entered another stand of trees.

Lupine and ponderosa pines.

We popped out of the trees on FR 2710 less than 20 yards from the Little Badger Trail.

The trailhead is on the opposite side of FR 2710 from the trail.

Sign at the start of the Little Badger Trail.

After the half mile road walk and 0.6-miles cross country we were now on official trail and quickly entered the Badger Creek Wilderness.
Badger Creek Wilderness sign next to Little Badger Creek.

For the first two miles the trail stuck closely to the creek.

Groundsel

Woodland stars

Little Badger Creek

Fairy slipper

The trail then climbed a little higher on the hillside as it continued further into the wilderness.

American vetch

Bastard toadflax

Duskywing on sagebrush false dandelion.

Balsamroot

Bee coming in for a landing on phacelia.

Sticky cinquefoil

Western wood-pewee

Madia

Brown elfin (and another pollinator) on Oregon sunshine.

Starflower

Mahala mat along the trail.

Duskywing on blue-eyed Mary

Largeleaf sandwort along the trail.

Skunk cabbage

Red-flowering currant

Duskywing on arnica

Silvercrown

Oregon grape

Last of the trillium.

Plumed solomonseal

The trail had begun a descent back to the creek at the 3-mile mark and just under 4-miles from the trailhead we arrived at the site of the former Kinzel Mine Cabin.

What’s left of the cabin.

Little Badger Creek at the cabin site.

We took a brief break at the cabin to prepare for the nearly 900′ climb to reach the School Canyon Trail. After the break we walked past the cabin remains and forked left to visit the old Kinzel Mine.
Anemone

There was a short climb before reaching the spur trail.

Spur trail to the mine.

The old mine. We did not go in as wildlife do sometimes use it for shelter.

Ballhead waterleaf near the mine.

After visiting the mine we returned to the main trail and began the steep 0.7-mile climb to the School Canyon Trail. This was a challengingly steep ascent, but there were plenty of wildflowers, wildlife, and views to distract us.

Western tanager

A stand of oaks ahead.

Balsamroot along the trail.

Paintbrush

Buckwheat

Juniper trees

Threadleaf phacelia

Signpost ahead for the trail junction.

We took a much-needed break at the junction before detouring left (west) on the School Canyon Trail for a tenth of a mile to a spur trail on the left that led to a Helispot Viewpoint where there were several rock pinnacles.

Wildflowers along the trail.

The spur trail on the left to the Helispot.

Penstemon

Pine Hollow Reservoir in Central Oregon.

We returned to the junction after visiting the helispot and followed the School Canyon Trail as it gradually descended to a ridge below Ball Point.

Woodland star

This was the most significant obstacle we had to navigate on the entire loop.

Yarrow

A dogwood on top of the rocks and penstemon below.

First view of Ball Point.

Penstemon

From the ridge we could faintly make out Broken Top and the Three Sisters.

The Three Sisters on the right and Broken Top with Tam McArthur Rim (post) to the left.

Pen Point across the Tygh Creek Valley.

The trail left the ridge and traversed the hillside around Ball Point.
Passing through the 2009 Ball Point Fire scar.

Pen Point toward the center and the taller Hootnanny Point to the right.

Death camas

View east as we came around Ball Point.

Desert yellow fleabane.

Prairie smoke aka Old Man’s Whiskers

On the far side of Ball Point the trail descended fairly steeply along a ridge covered in wildflowers and a view of Mt. Jefferson.

Heather coming down the ridge.

I think this is a western racer.

The trail dropped off the ridge and descended just over a mile to the trailhead. The wildflowers and views were nice along this entire stretch.
Looking up at the ridge.

A clarkia

Lewis’ woodpecker

Lizard

On last view of Mt. Jefferson

Ball Point

Butterfly on whitestem frasera

Signs at the trailhead.

The loop ended up being 9.9-miles with 2150′ of elevation gain.
Orange is the road + cross country portion.

We really enjoyed the variety this hike provided, and we only saw two other hikers all day. The climb from the cabin site to the School Canyon trail was tough but we were glad to have tackled it. We checked in to our room in The Dalles and after having dinner and picking up some snacks for the room we turned in so we could get another early start the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: School Canyon-Little Badger Loop

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Ball Point, Helispot, hiking, Little Badger Creek, Little Badger Trail, Little Badger Trailhead, Oregon, Pen Point, School Canyon Trail, School Canyon Trailhead. Off the Beaten Trail, The Dalles, wildflowers

Coastal Range Hiking Trip report

Beaver Falls and Gnat Creek – 05/11/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 18, 2025
1 Comment on Beaver Falls and Gnat Creek – 05/11/2025

Having finished the last of our long-term hiking goals in 2024 (post) we headed for Olympic National Park for our first goal free vacation since 2015. This would be our first visit to this park, and we chose a few hikes in the area of Forks, WA. Forks is a little over 5 hours from Salem which is similar to several areas we’ve traveled to in Eastern Oregon. For these types of long drives we try to find a hike along the way to stretch our legs. Beaver Falls and the Gnat Creek Trail had been on our radar since picking up Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition) and were located along a slightly longer but more scenic route to Olympic National Park. Detouring to these two stops would add about an hour to our drive by taking us through Astoria, OR (post) versus more time on Interstate 5.

We drove north on I-5 into Washington then turned off in Kelso to renter Oregon on the Lewis and Clark Bridge. We then headed west on Highway 30 to Beaver Falls Road then proceeded to the Beaver Falls Trailhead. When we neared the pullout that acts as a trailhead there was a camper van at the west end and a large white “Trail Closed” sign on a tree in the center of the pullout. The camper van appeared to have been there for an extended period, and we hadn’t anticipated the sign, so we drove past a short distance and pulled over to consider our options. We decided to drive back up past the trailhead pullout to a different pullout just a little further up the road to see if we could at least see the falls from above. Coming from the east we spotted another sign at the eastern end of the pullout where the actual trail is located that did not say this trail was closed, just that it is not maintained and you use at your own risk.

It appeared that the “Trail Closed” sign was above a second scramble path located near the center of the pullout and not referring to the unmaintained user trail to the falls. That was our interpretation of the situation anyway, so we headed down the short trail to visit the waterfall.
There were a couple of downed trees and at least one spot where part of the tread had given way on the hillside. A bigger issue was the broken glass and other garbage left by mouth breathers that was littered about.

It was just over a third of a mile to the falls.

Beaver Creek below the falls.

Trail snail

Fringecup

Starflower

This was a nice waterfall, and unfortunately also clearly a popular part spot. At 7am in May we had it all to ourselves, save for an ouzel that was flying back and forth across the splash pool.

After climbing back up to the car we continued west, rejoining Highway 30, and then parking at the Gnat Creek Trailhead just a tenth of a mile off the highway.

Located in the Clatsop State Forest the Gnat Creek Trail is broken up into two sections. The lower, where we were starting, begins near the Gnat Creek Campground and follows Gnat Creek to a crossing of Highway 30 then continues a short distance to the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery, another possible trailhead. The trail continues from the fish hatchery for approximately 2-miles to a short loop with a couple of benches near Bigfoot Creek.

The lower section makes an initial climb then gradually rises on the way to the highway crossing. The forest was pretty but there was some noise from the nearby highway.

Fairy lanterns

Scouler’s corydalis

Bleeding heart

False lily of the valley

Highway 30 crossing.

Sign along the section of trail between the highway and the fish hatchery.

Trail pointer on the shelter at the fish hatchery.

The upper section of trail climbed more significantly and there were several confusing intersections just beyond the hatchery that were part of interpretive trails separate from the Gnat Creek Trail.

Youth-on-age

Numbering on a tree for the interpretive trails.

We were able to locate a sign for the Upper Gnat Creek Trail along the closed road coming up from the hatchery.

Bigfoot off the Gnat Creek Trail.

Trillium

Huckleberry blossoms and a downed tree along the Gnat Creek Trail.

Scouler’s corydalis along the trail.

The start of the short loop.

One of two benches along the loop.

Gnat Creek from the bench.

We took a short break on the first bench then finished the loop and headed back to the fish hatchery.
The backside of the loop was a little overgrown.

Star-flowered Solomonseal

When we arrived back at the paved road we crossed it and followed the interpretive trails along Gnat Creek to the trailhead at the hatchery.

We mostly stayed right at junctions to keep along the creek.

Barrier Falls

Unnamed waterfall near the hatchery trailhead.

We passed through the hatchery to pick up the Gnat Creek Trail again and followed it back to our car.

Our hike here came in just under 8-miles while our stop at Beaver Falls was just 0.7-miles.

Our track for the Gnat Creek Trail.

These were a couple of enjoyable stops that were perfect for breaking up a long drive. They were also the perfect duration to keep us from arriving at our cabin near Forks before check-in at 4pm. We arrived just after 4pm got unpacked then went out for some food and got to experience some Forks rain (the average rainfall in Forks is 120 inches). Fortunately for us the forecast was for drier conditions over the next few days before turning wet again for our final day on Friday. Rain or shine we were looking forward to exploring another National Park. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Beaver Falls and Gnat Creek

Tags Barrier Falls, Beaver Creek, Beaver Falls, Clatsop State Forest, Gnat Creek Campground, Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery, Gnat Creek Trail, hiking, Oregon

Coastal Range Eugene Hiking Oregon Trip report Willamette Valley

Wildlife Week – Day 7: Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (and bonus waterfalls) 05/03/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 5, 2025
4 Comments on Wildlife Week – Day 7: Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (and bonus waterfalls) 05/03/2025

The final outing of Wildlife Week fell on Saturday, so Heather was able to join me. I’d picked the Fern Ridge Wildlife Area west of Eugene, OR for this final outing, in part because it gave us an excuse to check out a pair of waterfalls SW of Eugene between Reedsport and Drain.

The forecast called a chance of showers through early afternoon, and we drove through several along Interstate 5 before exiting the freeway on Highway 38 south of Cottage Grove. As we headed west on Hwy 38 the showers eased and we even had some blue sky by the time we parked at the gated entrance to Loon Lake Recreation Site.

With the campground still closed for the season we parked at a pullout next to a bridge over Mill Creek and then hiked past the gate to the day use area.
Mill Creek from the bridge.

Stellar’s jay

Chipmunk

Loon Lake

The lake was formed by a landslide. The boulders in the Mill Creek picture above were part of that landslide.

At the end of the day use area we picked up a paved path that led into the forest.

Trillium

We veered right at a hiker symbol onto a short path (about a quarter mile) that led into the Elliott State Research Forest and ended at Loon Lake Falls.
This was our first hike in the Elliott State Forest and possibly only hike given the forest webpage states under “There are no established trails, restrooms, or trash receptacles.”

Fairy lanterns

Given that the unnamed stream that feeds the waterfall appears to start just a bit further uphill I suspect it doesn’t often have much of a flow, but it was a decent waterfall in a lovely setting.

After admiring the waterfall we hiked back to the car. This stop was just 1.5-miles with 200′ of elevation gain.

Quite a bit of the distance was walking from the road to the day use area.

The next waterfall we visited was Camp Creek Falls. This waterfall is on private timberland just off of a BLM road. The timberland company’s public access map available online currently shows the area as open to the public but that could change at any time. Because of this I am not going to go into detail for the location but there is information online from other sources. If you do plan on trying to visit the waterfall, I highly suggest looking up the current land ownership through the Douglas County Assessor (Douglas County GIS| County Map) and then looking up the current owner online to find out about public access.
A very short path led down to the waterfall.

Camp Creek Falls. The rock here is sandstone which creates the 31′ stairstep cascade.

Snail

This was a very pretty waterfall. There were however a few beer cans and bottles around and a fire pit along the creek which were disappointing. We’ll never understand why someone would take the time to visit such a beautiful location and mar it.

With the waterfall visits checked off we headed back to Highway 38 then made our way north to the Fern Ridge Wildlife Area.
Before reaching Highway 38 I had to pull over to get a couple of photos of an elk herd.

We started our hikes at Fern Ridge WLA by parking along Cantrell Road at a pullout for the West Coyote Unit.

The wildlife area maps showed loops on both sides of Coyote Creek. We set off on a trail leading off from the pullout which followed an old roadbed.

Camas

Not sure why this was lying on the side of the trail away from the trailhead, but it provides information on the seasonal allowed usage of the units.

The trail led to a grassy track along Coyote Creek.

Geese

The maps showed the trail then looping back closer to the creek and returning to Cantrell Road at the Coyote Creek Canoe Access. There was a bench right next to the creek near the mowed track but we didn’t see any sign of a trail here, so we continued another 0.2-miles on the grassy tack before deciding we’d for sure missed the return trail, if it even still existed.
Roses

Channel along the dikes.

We turned around and returned to the bench where, coming from this direction, we could make out a faint trail leading into the woods.

This trail was muddy with vegetation encroaching on it, including an alarming amount of poison oak.

Rough-skinned newt

Slug

Snail

Made it out.

Dodging poison oak isn’t either of our favorite pastimes so we were hesitant about the trail in the Coyote East Unit. Nevertheless we crossed Coyote Creek on Cantrell Road where large signboards announced the Nature Trail. (FYI there are no parking pullouts on this side of the creek.

We walked up the trail a short distance to the start of the loop where Heather said thanks but no thanks and headed back to the car.

I opted to give it a try and set off to the right on the more obvious trail. There was a bit of poison oak but on this trail it wasn’t encroaching as much as it had in the Coyote West Unit.

Western meadowrue

Bench along Coyote Creek

The Nature Tail also emerged onto a mowed track where I messed up the route.

If I had consulted the map I would have realized the trail continued left on the grass for a short distance before returning to the woods and looping back around to mowed tracks. The trail then sticks to the grass as it heads south before turning back to the west. I turned right mistakenly thinking I was further along the route and having not paid attention to the mix of grass tracks and woods.
I should have gone this direction. The presence of the bench should have tipped me off.

I kept my eyes out for a trail on my right and after 0.2-miles I spotted a possibility.
Overgrown but in the right spot.

I was now paying closer attention to the map compared to the GPS and realized my mistake of turning right, but I could also see that this overgrown path must be the continuation of the loop. It was muddy and overgrown but in just 370′ I was back at the start of the loop.

After completing my “modified” loop I road walked back to Heather and the car. This hike wound up being two miles with no elevation gain.
The orange section is where I turned right instead of left as I should have. I estimate that going the correct way would have added approximately 0.75-miles. I don’t know what type of condition the other section of trail through the woods is in.

These were an odd couple of trails, possibly more useful for hunters during hunting seasons. We had one more stop at planned at Fern Ridge WLA at the https://myodfw.com/sites/default/files/2019-02/Fisher%20Butte.pdf. We parked at the large trailhead off Highway 126 and set off past a large signboard.

We’d spent time in this unit in November 2021 when we started from a different trailhead along Royal Avenue (post). The “trails” here are a series of dikes through the wetlands creating multiple route opportunities. We wound up with a 4.3-mile hike consisting of two loops.

Road to Fisher Butte,

We spotted quite a few different species of birds and heard a lot of bull frogs. There were also some impressive camas fields in some of the wetlands.
Camas

Bird viewing platfrom.

Red-winged blackbird

Bullfrog. They were everywhere and continuously startled us when they would make a loud “alarm” sound before jumping into the water.

We turned left at the platform onto this dike.

Sparrow

Blue-winged teals. This was the first time seeing this species during Wildlife Week. We had seen a couple of these ducks back in 2021 at Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon (post).

Another big field of camas.

Fisher Butte at the end of another dike.

Geese in formation.

Checkerbloom

Blue sky, a far cry from the low clouds and showers we’d driven through in the Eugene area earlier in the morning.

Geese and cinnamon teals.

I needed a more powerful camera to make out the various ducks and other birds we were seeing in the distance.

There were a number of great blue herons hunting in the wetlands.

Another viewing platfrom.

Looking toward the Royal Avenue Unit.

Pelicans. Another species that I hadn’t seen at any other wildlife area this week.

Purple martin

One of at least a half dozen American bitterns that we saw in flight. We were unable to spot any before or after they were in flight.

Swallows in flight

There was a lot happening in this part of the unit.

White pelicans and a mute swan (non-native)

Geese

Another first this week – greater white fronted geese. It’s a blurry photo but it was the best I could do given their distance.

Goose passing the swan.

Same goose passing a pelican.

Northern shoveler

Hawk

Another large group of various ducks and other birds.

Bald eagles

Two types of camas

Heading back to the trailhead along the side of Fisher Butte.

Flax

The final stretch of Wildlife Week.

The showers never materialized, and the wildlife was abundant making this a great end to Wildlife Week. Over the seven days I visited five national wildlife refuges, two state wildlife areas, and two wetlands covering nearly 60-miles of hiking. I got to see a great variety of wildlife and know I missed so much more. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fern Ridge WLA plus waterfalls

Tags Coyote Creek, Coyote East Unit, Coyote West Unit, Fern Ridge Wildlife Area, Fisher Butte Unit, hiking, Loon Lake, Loon Lake Falls, Loon Lake Recreation Site, Nature Trail, Oregon, pelicans. blue-winged teal

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Wildlife Week – Day6: Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Fernhill Wetlands 05/02/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 4, 2025
4 Comments on Wildlife Week – Day6: Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Fernhill Wetlands 05/02/2025

Originally I had planned to do my hike at Finley Wildlife Refuge (post) on the Friday of Wildlife Week, but going into the week the forecast called for rain showers. I rearranged the order to move Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Fernhill Wetlands to Friday morning feeling in hopes that I could finish these hikes before 11am when the showers were forecasted to start. By the end of the week the chance of showers had been replaced by mostly sunny skies.

We visited Wapato Lake in February 2024 (post) and had enjoyed the short hike. Located in Gaston, OR the trailhead is just under an hour from Salem. A paved path leads to a footbridge over Wapato Creek and then dikes lead right for 2 miles and left for 0.6. We hadn’t done the full 2-miles to the right in 2024, so I started with that section then hiked to the end of the 0.6-mile section before returning to the car for a total of 5.6-miles with virtually no elevation gain.

All trails are open from February 1st through September 30th, then from October 1st through November 30th the final 1.3-mile stretch to the right (south) is closed, and there is no hiking allowed during hunting season from December 1st to January 31st.

There were a lot of ducks, geese, and herons at the lake along with smaller birds in the surrounding trees.
Geese

Osprey

Killdeer

Meadow checker-mallow

Wood ducks

Northern shovelers

Ducks, geese, and a heron.

Scrunched heron

Stretched heron (same heron)

Sparrow

A different heron and a duck.

Yep, it’s a nutria.

Spotted sandpiper

One of several benches located along the dikes.

American coot

Gadwall

Dove

Crow

American kestrel

Swallow

Cinnamon teals having a disagreement.

End of the trail to the south.

View from the end of the trail.

Wood ducks

Robin

Short billed dowitchers

Green winged teal

Hooded merganser and a gadwall

Ring-necked ducks

Heading to the left (NNE) now.

Red-winged blackbird

Egrets, herons, and ducks.

Great blue heron and egret

Cinnamon teal and northern shoveler

Hooded mergansers and a cinnamon teal

Northern shovelers and a northern pintail on the right.

California quail

End of the trail in this direction.

One thing to note is that the bathroom is currently closed due to budget shortages. Other than that, this was a great hike with a nice variety of wildlife and no other people.

From Gaston it was just a ten-minute drive to Fernhill Wetlands.

We had also been here in February 2024 (post), but not on the same day as Wapato Lake. I did virtually the same route today as on that trip which is described in detail in that trip report.
My 3.3-mile track with minimal elevation gain.

The wildlife was sparser here than it had been on our previous visit, but there were a few species about. I also saw my fourth and fifth Bullock’s oriole of the week. Every one of these I’ve spotted have been while flying past me with their bright orange feathers flashing momentarily only to disappear into a tree or bush. I did have some more cooperative subjects though including the first hummingbird of the week.
Swallow

Osprey

Killdeer

American coot

Mallard

Anna’s hummingbird

A bit of the pink on it’s throat.

Ring-necked ducks
Bald eagle

Gadwalls

Song sparrow

Purple martins

Pied billed grebe

Mallard and ducklings

Mallards

Fringecup

Rabbit

Sandpipers

Ground squirrel

American goldfinch. I’d seen a number of these this week but had only managed a picture of the back of one at Finley Wildlife Refuge.

This was another fun morning of looking for wildlife, but my feet and legs are more than happy that there is only one day of Wildlife Week left. The plan is for Heather to join me on the last hike, and we are hoping to check out a couple of waterfalls before stopping at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area west of Eugene. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wapato Lake NWR and Fernhill Wetlands

Tags Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Gaston, hiking, Oregon, Wapato Lake, Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Wildlife, Willamette Valley

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Wildlife Week – Day 5: Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and Jackson Bottom Wetlands 05/01/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 3, 2025
No Comments on Wildlife Week – Day 5: Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and Jackson Bottom Wetlands 05/01/2025

A day after my long hike at William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge (post) I dialed it back a little. For day 5 of my “Wildlife Week” vacation I had two short hikes planned to revisit a pair of wildlife areas along the Tualatin River the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve.

First up was the Tualatin River NWR. We’d visited this refuge twice previously, first in March 2019 and then again in May 2023. The seasonal trails at this refuge are closed from October 1st through April 30th so today was the first day the Wetlands Loop would be open this year.

I parked at the Roy Rogers Road Trailhead as we had done in 2023 primarily because it was a little closer to Jackson Bottom.

My route utilized portions of the seasonal Wetland Trail and the River Trail to make a loop with a short out-and-back on the Ridgetop Trail. It came to 4.7-miles with about 100′ of elevation gain, most of which was on the Ridgetop Trail.
The orange track is a portion of the Wetland Trail that I had not previously hiked.

Mt. Hood from the Wetlands Trail.

I spotted a couple of deer shortly after setting out.

I believe this is a savannah sparrow.

Geese families

Killdeer

It was just under 40 degrees Fahrenheit when I started, but the forecast called for temperatures to reach 80 by the afternoon.

Geese, goslings, and goose eggs.

Sandpiper

Not sure what type of fish this is but they were thrashing about near the shoreline, and I had seen similar behavior the day before in McFadden Marsh at Finley NWR.

Duck and ducklings

Sleeping nutria

Purple martins and a swallow (bottom left).

Egrets and a great blue heron.

Closer look at the egrets and heron.

Robin

I stopped at the Refuge Headquarters to use the facilities, and this pair of bald eagles arrived at the same time.

The eagles on the tree behind the headquarters.

Mallard

Sandpipers

Riverside Trail

Tualatin River

Song sparrow

Inside-out flower

The Ridgetop Trail to the left. There is a bench and railed overlook but the view is blocked by trees. If there hadn’t been any leaves there may have been a view but today there wasn’t.

The only trillium I saw with any petals left.

Bleeding heart

Northern flicker

I spotted an American kestrel in this snag. I had been hoping to see one during this week’s hikes.

American kestrel

Crow

Northern shoveler

Wildflowers near the trailhead.

Lupine, plectritis, checkerbloom, and golden paintbrush.

Not a huge amount of wildlife here today but the kestrel was a nice addition to the list of species seen this week. This was by far the busiest hike of the week, possibly due to it being the first day of the seasonal trails being open. I was done with the hike at 8am so not only was it busy, they were early birds.

It was a 20-minute drive from the refuge to Jackson Bottom Wetland so it was still fairly early when I arrived at the trailhead.

Our previous visit here was last April (post) and we hiked the majority of trails here during that visit, so this was a near repeat except I went in the opposite direction (clockwise).
This route came to 4.4-miles and just 35′ of elevation gain.

In addition to wildlife the preserve has some nice flower gardens near the visitor center.

Camas

Larkspur

Not a native wildflower but pretty.

Columbine

Rabbit

The look on their faces seems to indicate they were not expecting to see me there.

Going back the other way.

Karaoke

Helpful maps and/or pointers are located at trail junctions.

Swallow

Swallows

Cinnamon Teal

Ring-necked ducks

Purple martins

Canada geese

Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail passing Oak Island Marsh.

Crow harassing an osprey over Oak Island Marsh.

I thought flamingos were pink.

American coot in NW Pond.

Another napping nutria.

Robin

Gadwall

Egrets at Wapato Marsh.

Great blue heron in Pintail Pond.

Lupine along the trail.

Green winged teal

Heading toward Salamander Slough.

Two turtles and a mallard.

Long billed dowitcher

Cabbage white?

Checkerbloom along the Coyote Hill Trail.

Common yellowthroat

Savannah sparrow

Spotted towhee

Tualatin River

Deer crossing Pintail Pond. I think these are the same three I saw earlier.

I’ve been spotted.

Rabbit on the left along the River Trail.

Salmonberry

Western meadowrue

Wild rose

Stairs leading to the trail on the River Trail.

Jackson Bottom was noticeably less busy than the refuge had been. It was a nice hike with a fairly steady supply of wildlife. These are both good destinations and were a nice addition to wildlife week. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tualatin River WLR and Jackson Bottom

Tags Coyote Hill Trail, hiking, Hillsboro, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail, NW Pond. Salamander Slough, Oak Island Marsh, Oregon, Pintail Pond, River Trail, tualatin river, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Wapato Marsh, Wetlands Trail, Wildlife