Category: Hiking

Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 05/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 1, 2024
4 Comments on Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 05/28/2024

I extended my Memorial Day Weekend by taking a vacation day, and what better way to follow up a weekend of hiking than taking another hike. I turned to our nearest wildlife refuge and returned to Baskett Slough for a quick morning hike. This would be my fifth visit (far too few) with the most recent having been last April (post).

I started out at the Baskett Butte Trailhead and hiked up to the Rich Guadagno Observation Platform on Mt. Baldy hoping for a colorful Sunrise.

The best of the color was while I was still at the trailhead.

Checkerbloom

Common madia

Meadow checker-mallow and vetch

The platform

Too late for any color.

From the platform I headed out to the Morgan Lake Loop. There didn’t seem to be many birds around until I got to Moffitti Marsh.
There always seems to a western meadowlark or two on Mt. Baldy.

Spotted towhee

I went left to hike the loop clockwise.

Moffitti Marsh in the distance.

Geese flying over.

Snake in the grass.

Pied-billed grebes

Common yellowthroats

Gadwalls

Moffitti Marsh

Dove

Beyond the marsh the trail follows a fence line along farmland where I spotted a northern harrier. Normally these birds fly off quickly, but the one sat on his post as I slowly got close enough to get some decent zoomed photos.

When he finally flew off I continued to the Smithfield Road Trailhead then continued on the loop toward Morgan Lake.
House finch

Swallow

Sparrow

Crow

Goose family

Common yellow-throat (female)

Roses

Columbine

White-crowned sparrow

Ookow

Tolmie’s mariposa lily

After completing the Morgan Lake Loop I returned to the trailhead by completing the Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop.

Waxwing

After returning to the car I decided to check out a part of the refuge that I hadn’t seen before by driving out Coville Road to a parking area at Cottonwood Pond. It was a quarter to 8am and I wanted to avoid joining the morning rush hour traffic on the highway. It turned out to be a good decision because, as luck would have it, an American Bittern was sitting in grass near the mostly dry pond.

I watched the bittern for a few minutes then hopped back in the car and headed home. This was a 4.9-mile hike with 340′ of elevation gain.
Cottonwood Pond is in the lower left corner.

This was a nice way to end my long weekend leaving me plenty of time to do things like write these trip reports. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Baskett Slough 2024

Tags American Bittern, Baskett Butte, Baskett Butte Trailhead, Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge, Cottonwood Pond, Coville Road, hiking, Morgan Lake, Northern Harrier, Oregon, Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail, Smithfield Road Trailhead

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Crooked River Wetlands – 05/27/2024

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

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

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

The yellow-headed blackbirds were particularly noisy.

A cinnamon teal in front of two mallards?

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

Grizzly Mountain from Pond 4.

Killdeer

One of the interpretive signboards ahead.

Goose family

There were plenty of benches to enjoy the views from.

Mallards

Cinnamon teal

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

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

Spotted sandpipers

Brewer’s blackbird

Swallow

Pollinator garden

Ring-necked ducks

Wilson’s phalarope

Yellow-headed blackbirds

American coot

Adolescent geese

Dove

Gadwalls

Female yellow-headed blackbird

Pair of bucks.

Ruddy ducks

Red-winged blackbird harassing an osprey.

Gray Butte

A pair of hawks.

Not birds.

Marsh wren

Great blue heron

Observation deck at Pond 10.

Another marsh wren.

Heading back to the parking area.

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

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

Flickr: Crooked River Wetlands

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

Blue Mountains - North Hiking Oregon Trip report

Madison Butte and Bull Prairie Lake – 05/26/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 30, 2024
2 Comments on Madison Butte and Bull Prairie Lake – 05/26/2024

**Note the 2024 Monkey Creek Fire burned over the access road to this hike but spared the trails.**

We were spending Memorial Day Weekend in Prineville primarily due to our plan to hike the Madison Butte Trail. This trail was a new featured hike in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” first edition. We had switched to this edition last year after deciding we were not willing to try and drive to Dug Bar in Hells Canyon (post). We were excited for this trail primarily due to the fact that it was located in an area of Oregon that we hadn’t previously hiked in. The trailhead is located in the Umatilla National Forest east of Highway 207 between Heppner and Spray.
Sign for the trailhead along FS21.

We wound up parking along the shoulder instead of driving down the short dirt road to the official trailhead.

This mud and torn up area was why we chose the shoulder instead.

The trail began at a gate and followed an old roadbed steeply uphill.

Arnica near the trailhead.

The forest was a mix of ponderosa pine and juniper with numerous wildflowers.

Broomrape

Larkspur

Death camas

Lomatium and few-flowered pea-vine

Lupine

Woodland star

Oregon sunshine

Violet

McClellan Mountain, Moon Mountain and Fields Peak (post) in the Aldrich Mountains.

Balsamroot

At the 0.8-mile mark we passed a downed trail sign marking the junction with a spur trail to Tupper Butte.

The clearer track to the left leads to Tupper Butte in approximately 0.3-miles. We continued straight on the Madison Butte Trail.

The Strawberry Mountains with Strawberry Mountain (post) on the left and Canyon Mountain (post) on the right.

Shortly after passing the junction the trail entered a mixed forest and passed through a barbed wire fence.

Glacier lily

The fence in the distance.

After passing the fence the trail began a series of ups and downs as it followed a wide ridge. The first descent was long and steep as the trail dropped to the first of three saddles.

Huckleberry

Mt. Hood

Old man’s whiskers

Ball-head waterleaf

Small bluebells

Paintbrush

Trail marker on the tree.

One of two fresh piles of scat along the trail.

The markers were helpful because the trail was quite faint at times.

Slender phlox

Shooting stars

Rock outcrop along the trail at the 2.1-mile mark.

View from the rock outcrop.

Larches

Chocolate lily

Lance-leaf spring beauty

Violets

Madison Butte from the trail.

Just over 2.5-miles from the trailhead we arrived at Bottle Spring.

Bottle Spring

Pond below the spring.

Glacier lilies

A short climb from the spring brought us to Madison Butte Road.

Trail sign at Madison Butte Road.

We turned right on the road and followed it uphill for a mile to the Madison Butte Lookout.

Blue-eyed Mary

The Copple Butte Trail joining from the right.

Mt. Jefferson poking up in the distance.

Wild onions

There were a bunch of grass widows blooming below the lookout.

Access to the lookout platform was locked but I was able to climb most of the way up to enjoy the views.
The Strawberry and Aldrich Mountains to the south.

The Elkhorns (post) beneath the clouds.

The Elkhorns with Mt. Ireland (post) the high point on the right.

Looking SW we could see Mt. Jefferson and also make out the Three Sisters further to the south. Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams were also visible although partially obscured by clouds.

We took a nice long break at the summit and explored a bit before heading back.

A rockcress

On the way down the road the butterflies were out, and we spotted a yellow-bell lily that we’d missed on the way up.
Swallowtail

Milbert’s tortoiseshell

Skipper

As we neared the Madison Butte Trail we spotted a pair of hikers at Bottle Spring. I remarked to Heather that it would be funny if it were Cheryl and Greg, a pair of fellow adventurers. Cheryl is currently working on a book on Oregon’s lookouts, and we’d run into her last year on our hike to the Sand Mountain Lookout (post). That wasn’t the first time we’d crossed paths though. We had also run into her near Table Lake (post) in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness in 2018 and in Jefferson Park a couple of years before that. As we neared the other hikers we realized it was in fact them. It turned out that they had discussed how funny it would be if they knew the people that owned the other car at the trailhead. We had a nice talk and learned that she was down to just 35 publicly accessible lookouts (out of over 150) to visit before heading our separate ways.

It was a quite hike down to the trailhead with Cheryl and Greg being the only other people we’d see here all day.
Mushroom

Fairy slipper

A particularly large paintbrush.

Orange tip

Larkspur

This came in at 8.5-miles with 2540′ of elevation gain.

We had a second stop planned for the day at Bull Prairie Lake which was just three paved miles off of Highway 207. A 1.2-mile trail loops around the man-made lake which sports a large campground and day use picnic area.

We’d brought a sandwich and chips to have for lunch at the picnic area before taking the leisurely stroll around the lake.

Violets

Ring-necked ducks and an American coot

Arnica

Ducklings

Ring-necked duck

Fleabane?

Camas

A coot and a sandpiper

Red-winged blackbird

Our first eared grebe.

After completing the loop we drove back to Prineville and after the long day were looking for something on the quicker side for dinner so we tried The Dawg House. This turned out to be a good choice as the sausages and onion rings were a perfect post hike meal. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Madison Butte and Bull Prairie Lake

Tags Bull Prairie Lake, Bull Prairie Lake Campground, hiking, Madison Butte, Madison Butte Lookout, Madison Butte Trail, milbert's tortoiseshell, Oregon, The Dawg House, Umatilla National Forest, wildflowers

Central Oregon Hiking Ochoco Mountains Oregon Trip report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

M Hill from the trail.

The crosswalk on SW Canyon Road.

Kiosk at the bottom of the hill.

The trail climbed for a half mile to the identifier.

The “M” on the side of the hill.

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

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

Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson

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

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

Passing under a trestle and a siphon pipe.

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

Lupin

A lomatium

Ringlet

Ground squirrel

Marmot

Crossing the dry bed of Willow Creek.

Fiddleneck

Hawk

Desert yellow fleabane

Small cascade flowing into Willow Creek.

cut-leaf thelypody

Carey’s balsamroot

Rocky Mountain iris

Lazuli bunting

Taper-tip onion

Bullock’s oriole near the top of the photo.

Silverleaf phacelia

Paintbrush

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

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

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

Rock wren

Raven nest

This appears to be hound’s tongue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barnes Butte from the Calumet Trail.

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

Threadleaf phacelia

Barnes Butte from the 4-way junction.

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

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

Penstemon

Milkvetch

Phlox

Mt. Jefferson beyond Gray Butte.

Rock outcrop below Barnes Butte.

Cinnabar Mine

A skipper and flies on a groundsel.

A sulphur

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

Bench at the summit.

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

Round Mountain to the east (post).

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

Mt. Bachelor (post)

Broken Top and the Three Sisters

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

Viewpoint along The Meadow.

Orange globe-mallow

Buckwheat

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

A hairstreak

The Canal Trail running parallel to the Pave Trail.

Mountain identifier

Coming up on the end of the Canal Trail.

Lizard

Arriving back at the trailhead.

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

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

Flickr: Willow Creek, Juniper Hills, and Barnes Butte

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

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon

Elk Creek to Idiot Creek Road (Wilson River Trail) – 05/18/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 20, 2024
No Comments on Elk Creek to Idiot Creek Road (Wilson River Trail) – 05/18/2024

The Wilson River Trail currently runs 24.6 miles, with its western end beginning at Muesial Creek Road and its eastern end at Idiot Creek Road. We previously hiked two sections of the trail – the Kings Mountain TH to the Elk Creek TH segment twice (2010 & 2022) and the Footbridge TH to Jones Creek TH segment (2014). It was time to check out another section of the trail and we set our sights on the Elk Creek TH to Idiot Creek Road TH segment.

We parked at the Elk Creek Trailhead since it is the more convenient of the two trailheads to reach. There are a small number of parking spots across from a signboard where we had begun both of our Elk/Kings Mountain loops which is where we once again parked.
The first signboard near the small parking area.

We hadn’t fully woken up yet, so we didn’t think to simply take the trail here uphill 100 feet to the Wilson River Trail. Instead walked along the shoulder of Elk Creek Road to a much larger parking area at roads end.
Elk Creek Road from the small parking area.

The larger parking area.

There was another signboard at this trailhead which we stopped at to study the map.

After confirming our route, we set off past a Wilson River Trail sign and came to a junction where we realized we could have avoided the 500′ road walk.

We turned right following a pointer for Idiot Creek Loop Road (note the road is currently not a loop due to a washed-out section). The trail quickly joined the old bed of Elk Creek Road.

We followed the old roadbed along Elk Creek for approximately a half mile to a well signed junction.

Bleeding heart

Salmonberry

Fairy lanterns

Largeleaf avens

Scouler’s corydalis

Coastal monkeyflower

At the junction we turned right and crossed the seasonal footbridge over Elk Creek. (In place May thru September.)

The trail traversed a hillside above Elk Creek for three quarters of a mile before heading uphill.

Fringecup

Trillium

Star flower

The well graded trail uses a combination of switchbacks and long traverses to climb over 1000′.

Looking down at the trail below.

Vanilla leaf

Spotted coralroot

Anemone

Western buttercup

Near the 2.7-mile mark we took a short spur trail to a rocky viewpoint.

Paintbrush, parsley, and blue-eyed Mary

From the viewpoint it was another third of a mile up to Idiot Creek Loop Road.

Fairy lanterns and paintbrush

I did just a bit of exploring along the road in each direction before we headed back down.

Lupine was just beginning to bloom along the road.

On the way back down.

We had briefly considered following the Elk Creek Trail from the junction near the footbridge before heading back to the car but decided to save that for another time.

West Fork Elk Creek to the left and Elk Creek to the right from the bridge.

The junction with the Elk Creek Trail.

We returned to the car by sticking to the actual Wilson River Trail this time ending the morning at 7.7 miles with a little under 1500′ of elevation gain.
We missed a section of leafy mitrewort on our earlier pass.

On the section of the trail we missed by taking Elk Creek Road.

The small parking area from the trail.

While there was a number of cars in the parking areas, we only passed 5 other hikers this morning. Mountain bikers would have gone out the Elk Creek Trail and most hikers were likely headed to Elk Mountain or tackling the full Elk/Kings Mountain Loop. The hike to Idiot Creek Loop Road was pleasant and the gently graded trail made for a nice climb through the green forest. The lack of any major “wow” sights along the trail keeps this a quieter option for the area, but the creek, flowers, and forest make it worthy of a visit. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Elk Creek to Idiot Creek Loop Road

Tags Elk Creek, Elk Creek Footbridge, Elk Creek Trail, ELk Creek Trailhead, flowers, hiking, Idiot Creek Loop Road, Oregon, Tillamook State Forest, Wilson River Trail

Coastal Range Hiking Northern Coast Oregon Coast Trip report

Cathedral Tree, Young’s River Falls, and Fishhawk Falls – 05/12/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 15, 2024
No Comments on Cathedral Tree, Young’s River Falls, and Fishhawk Falls – 05/12/2024

After spending the night in Astoria following a full day of hiking (post) we woke up on Mother’s Day ready to head home. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a little more hiking in on the way there though.

Our plan for the day was visit the Astoria Column by way of the Cathedral Tree, then take an alternate route from Astoria to visit a pair of waterfalls. We made the short drive from our motel to the Richard Fenscak Cathedral Tree Trailhead on Irving Street and set off past a gate.

A map at the trailhead provides a high-level overview of the mile long route to the Astoria Column. The AllTrails map was particularly helpful as it showed most if not all of the spur trails. The trail begins as a wide gravel path that climbs, briskly at times, approximately 250′ in a third of a mile to a junction on a boardwalk.

Thimbleberry

Coming up on the start of the boardwalk.

Scouler’s corydalis at the base of the boardwalk.

The boardwalk junction.

We turned left at the junction and arrived at Cathedral Tree in just 150′.

The base of Cathedral Tree.

One of two benches near the 300+ year old stika spruce.

Cathedral Tree

After visiting the tree, we returned to the junction and continued uphill towards the column.

Beyond the boardwalk the trail was a bit rougher.

Trail markers were present at times to help identify the correct route.

Pacific waterleaf

The Astoria Columnn.

We wandered around the column taking in the views and the art on the column itself.

Megler Bridge

Young’s River on the left and the Lewis & Clark River on the right

The early bird.

We decided to go up the column since it had been years since I had visited, and Heather had never been.

The spiral staircase.

It was stuffy inside and with a rail only on one side of the staircase Heather quickly realized that this was going to be outside her comfort level so she headed back down. I continued to the top, a little dizzy, but otherwise feeling good.

The view was great despite the clouds. They were high enough to allow for decent visibility and they were already breaking up.

Young’s River

Traffic on the Columbia River.

Looking out toward the Pacific beyond Astoria.

Deer in the grass below the Astoria Column.

Heather below the column.

After taking in the view, I wound my way back down the stairs (and got dizzy again).

We returned to the Cathedral Tree trail and hiked back down to Irving Street.

This was a spur trail 0.2-miles from the column (0.6-mile from the trailhead) that also leads down to Irving Street and could be used for a loop if you don’t mind some street walking. We opted to pass and did the hike as an out-and-back.

False lily-of-the valley

The last trillium?

Fringecup

From the Cathedral Tree Trailhead we followed Google map directions through Astoria to Young’s River Road and eventually to Young’s River Falls Park.
The start of the short trail to the falls.

It was clear from the parking area that it is unfortunately popular with the party crowd who can’t be bothered to pack out their mess. Regardless the falls were impressive, and the 0.3-mile round trip was well worth the stop.
Interpretive signs near the start of the trail.

The falls were noted during Lewis and Clark’s stay at nearby Fort Clatsop (post).

This was a tough one to photograph due to the amount of spray being blown straight at us by the force of the water.

After admiring the falls we returned to the car and made our way to Highway 202 following directions from Google. Once we’d made it to the highway we headed SE to Lee Wooden Fishhawk Falls County Park.

A quarter-mile trail here leads to Fishhawk Falls which we honestly weren’t expecting much from.
We pulled over onto the shoulder of Hwy 202 to snap a picture of these bulls.

Bleeding heart

Fairybells

Scouler’s corydalis

We spotted it too late to get a photo, but as we neared the falls a bald eagle took flight. The trail ends at Fishhawk Creek nearly a tenth of a mile from the 72′ falls.

The view is good from the end of the trail, but since this was our last stop of the day I decided to ford the creek and get a closer look. The water was knee deep, but not too cold.

I was joined by a pair of ouzels at the falls.

Looking back at Heather on the other side of Fishhawk Creek.

Me through the trees below the falls.

Maybe it was the timing of our visit, but this was one of the nicest waterfalls we’ve seen in a while. We finally pulled ourselves away and returned to our car. We made one more stop on the way home at the Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area to use the public restrooms before driving home.

Please note that you need a permit to park at the refuge.

The three short hikes came to a total of 3 miles and 500′ of elevation gain, mostly from the Cathedral Tree hike. They were quite enjoyable, and we were able to get home before Noon giving us time to unpack, clean up, and then visit my Mom on Mother’s Day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cathedral Tree, Young’s River Falls, and Fishhawk Falls

Tags Astoria, Astoria Column, Cathedral Tree, Cathedral Tree Trail, Clatsop County, Fishhawk Falls, hiking, Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area, Lee Wooden Fishhawk Falls County Park, Oregon, Young's River, Young's River Falls, Young's River Falls Park

Hiking Northern Coast Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

Crescent Beach, Ft. Stevens Historic District, and the Skipanon River Loop – 05/11/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 14, 2024
3 Comments on Crescent Beach, Ft. Stevens Historic District, and the Skipanon River Loop – 05/11/2024

We spent Mother’s Day weekend hiking several trails in Clatsop County. We began on Saturday by driving to Ecola State Park and parking in the Ecola Point parking lot. We last visited the park in December 2013 when we hiked north along the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) to Tillamook Head’s high point. (post)

For this visit our plan was to hike south on the OCT then take the Crescent Beach Trail down to that beach.
The trail begins near the restrooms.

The trail began by climbing via a couple sets of wooden stairs to Ecola Park Rd which it briefly followed along the shoulder.

Ecola Park Road.

Where the trail left the shoulder, we came to a pair of cyclists who we thought were looking out at the Ocean. It took a second for us to realize that they were actually watching a small herd of elk in the forest below.

After watching the elk for a moment we started down the trail which wound up switching back down toward the elk. Luckily they were following proper Leave No Trace Principals and remained an acceptable distance from the wild hikers.

We continued on past the elk following the OCT approximately a mile from parking lot to the junction with the Crescent Beach Trail.

Skunk cabbage

Scouler’s corydalis

Window to the Pacific.

We turned right at the junction and descended a quarter mile to Crescent Beach.

Ecola Point

Chapman Point and Bird Rocks

We decided to head north toward Ecola Point to check out the tide pools. We had inadvertently timed our visit nearly perfectly as it was about an hour and a half from low tide.
Prior to reaching the tide pools we passed Waterfall Creek.
The upper falls.

Waterfall Creek

The lower falls.

The tide pools from Waterfall Creek.

The tide pools wound up being some of the most impressive we’d seen. We spent a good amount of time walking around to the different pools. We were careful not to climb on any of the rocks or to disturb any of the wildlife. In fact some of the rocks that were exposed are likely part of the Oregon Islands Wilderness.

We found Patrick from Spongebob!

After admiring the tide pools we headed south along the beach toward Chapman Point and the Bird Rocks.

We were curious as to what forces carved out the backside of this rock.

Chapman Point is only passable at certain low tides. On the far side is Cannon Beach (post).

This cave through Chapman Point was flooded at the far end.

Pigeon guillemot

Goose

We turned around at Chapman Point and headed back to the Crescent Beach Trail.

Whibrel

We retraced our steps back to Ecola Point where the lot was beginning to fill up.

Seaside bittercress

Youth-on-age

Our hike here came to 4.4-miles with approximately 600′ of elevation gain.

We hopped in our car and headed north to Fort Stevens State Park for our next hike. There are several parking lots at Fort Stevens and we opted to park at Battery Russell lot.
Battery Russell from the lot.

As with Ecola Point we had started a hike here before. In September 2017 we visited Battery Russell, Coffenbury Lake, and a shipwreck at the park (post). Again today we were going in the opposite direction, this time north to visit the park’s Historic Area. We followed a paved path east from the parking lot then over Jetty Road on an overpass.

The overpass

We followed the paved path to a junction near a pill box where we went right.

The path led past Swash Lake which helped explain the host of mosquitos that were flying around us.

We stayed right at the next junction and Jetty Lagoon on the Swash Lake Bridge.

Looking out toward Swash Lake from the bridge.

A little under 2 miles form the parking lot we arrived at the visitor’s center.
The gate to the Historic Area is locked in the evening.

Visitor’s center

A number of trails and paths wind around the Historic Area as well as open spaces that one can simply walk across. We made up our own route based on a suggested hike from the Oregonhikers Field Guide.

We began by walking past a jeep on display and looping behind the visitor’s center.

From the visitor’s center we headed into a large open space where the barracks had once been.

We made our way to the far end of the open space and turned south to see the old guardhouse and Battery Clark.
The guardhouse on the left.

Battery Clark

We then turned back north cutting across the barracks area toward a pair of smooth bore cannons and Battery Freeman.

We passed the cannons and hiked through a guarded underpass.

Fort Stevens Earth Works.

We crossed a grassy field to the cannons atop the Earth Works then descended a staircase.

White-crowned sparrow

We cut across the grass below to the footbridge in the distance.

Columbia River

Looking west toward the Pacific.

At the Columbia we turned right on the Jetty Trail and followed it past some disc golf holes and Battery Smur to a former roadbed.

Battery Smur

The roadbed coming in from the former barracks site.

We turned left on this road and followed it to a gate and the former Torpedo Loading Room.
Mine Loading Building

Searchlight Generator

Torpedo Loading Room

We turned around here and walked back to the Jetty Trail and followed it west through the Disc Golf Course to the Clatsop Longhouse site.

From the longhouse site we continued on the Jetty Trail toward Battery 245.

Battery 245

We hiked around Battery 245 and onto Battery Mishler.

We passed this battery and Battery Pratt then veered right on a paved path which led back to the path we’d followed from Battery Russell.

Sign for the Lil’ Oozlefinch Putting Course.

We headed back toward the parking lot and at the Pill Box we veered right which was a more direct route to the parking lot. The drawback was that there was no overpass here so we had to watch for traffic before crossing Jetty Road.

Bald eagle

Gate near Jetty Road.

After crossing Jetty Road, we followed the paved path left a tenth of a mile to the Battery Russell parking lot. This hike came to 6.3-miles with just 75′ or so of elevation gain.

Our final stop of the day was just 5 miles from the Battery Russell parking lot at Lighthouse Park in Warrenton.

The parking lot at the park.

Our plan here was to hike the 2-mile Skipanon River Loop. Three things drew us to this trail. First it was a trail we hadn’t yet hiked. Secondly, we hadn’t hiked along the Skipanon River yet, and while it isn’t an official goal we are trying to visit as many of Oregon’s rivers as possible. Finally, one of our favorite post hike restaurants, Nisa’s Thai Kitchen is located along the route.

From the parking lot we crossed NE Skipanon Drive and followed the sidewalk past a storage facility to a path next to E Harbor Drive that promptly passed beneath the road.

Emerging from the underpass.

We turned right onto a paved path along the Skipanon River for a third of a mile to Skipanon River Park.

Mallard family

Sign at the park.

At the park the trail ended and we turned right onto SE 3rd St and followed it a block to S Main Avenue where we turned left. After two blocks on Main we turned left onto SE 5th St and then took a right on a grassy track behind some buildings.
Eighth Street Dam from the grassy track.

We crossed the river on the 8th Street Dam where we finally saw an official trail map.

Until we saw this sign we’d been thinking that maybe the trail didn’t exist any longer. We were also questioning how the loop was supposed to get back across the river at the other end since the only bridge across the river there was Harbor Drive. Until seeing this we were thinking of turning around at the dam, but instead we decided that we’d do the loop with Heather getting a table at Nisa’s while I recrossed the river to retrieve the car.

With lunch calling, and our feet feeling a bit worn, we opted not to do the optional out-and-back B1 spur trail and continued on the loop past a gate.

On this side the trail was a nice grassy track following a dike which was far more pleasant than Main Avenue.

Not the clearest picture but I think this is a greater scaup based on the head shape. We’ve seen a number of lesser scaups, but this would be our first greater.

Great blue heron

Cormorant

A brief paved section.

Nisa’s Thai Kitchen across Harbor Drive.

There was a nice wide bike/pedestrian lane on the bridge making the crossing not too bad even with traffic. As I was made my way across I noticed a path leading down to the underpass on the south side of Harbor Drive which meant I wouldn’t need to cross the main street on foot.
Looking back up the path from Harbor Drive.

The loop came in just over 2-miles with minimal elevation gain.

This would probably be a nicer hike early in the morning when less traffic was about. It was a little awkward walking along the city streets as well, but the grassy dike was a comfortable walk. What really made this worth the stop though was the Drunken Noodles and Pad Thai. After a satisfying meal we drove to Astoria arriving at our motel right after check in time (3pm). We originally thought we might head out to the Astoria Riverwalk after cleaning up, but after showering a resting for a bit it was clear that 12.9 miles were enough for one day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Crecent Beach, Fort Stevens Historic Area, and the Skipanon River Loop

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Sheppard’s Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest – 4/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 29, 2024
No Comments on Sheppard’s Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest – 4/28/2024

After a dry spell, April showers returned as we prepared for a planned outing to the Columbia River Gorge. On the plus side the plan was to visit several waterfalls which would only benefit from the additional precipitation, and it might keep a few folks home meaning less crowds. On the minus side was the potential for limited views during our planned loop to Devil’s Rest, and possible difficulty keeping the camera lens dry. The pros won out and we got our typical early start to try and make sure there would be a parking spot when we got to our third stop at the Wahkeena Falls Trailhead.

Our plan for the day was to begin by stopping at the two shorter hikes first then end with a longer lollipop loop hike from the Wahkeena Falls Trailhead up to and around Devil’s Rest. Note that all loops visiting Devil’s Rest rely in part on a network of user-created trails. This network of trails, sometimes known as “Foxglovia”, was largely the result of the hard work of “Red Shorts” who sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this month. Thanks to his work the trails we used on this day were in good shape and well signed for the most part. It will now be left up to others to carry on his work if the trails are to remain passable. As always it is important to attempt to get updated trail conditions before heading out.

We started with the shortest hike of the day by parking at a small pullout along historic Highway 30 across from a sign for Sheppard’s Dell.
The trailhead at 6:15am.

A short path on the far side of the highway leads to a viewpoint at Young Creek and of the 1914 highway bridge.
The Bishops Cap along Highway 30.

The stone railed trail can be seen along the cliff above the lower falls.

The upper falls can be seen through the trees with the lower falls more visible.

End of the trail.

The bridge from the trail.

From Sheppard’s Dell we drove east on Highway 30 (less than a mile) to the Bridal Veil State Scenic Viewpoint.
Informational signboard at the trailhead.

This park hosts two short trails, the Bridal Viel Falls Trail and the Overlook Loop Trail. We started with trail to the falls which began as a paved path next to the restrooms.

After a short distance the trail turns to gravel as it begins to descend to Bridal Veil Creek.

Bridal Veil Creek

The trail crosses the creek on a wide footbridge then turns right and climbs slightly to a viewing platform across from the falls.

The 120′ two-tiered Bridal Veil Falls.

After admiring the waterfall we returned the way we’d come and set off on the Overlook Loop Trail. The half mile interpretive loop passes several viewpoints across the Columbia River to Washington.

There was a lot of camas blooming along the trail.

Cape Horn (post) across from one of the viewpoints.

Sand Island to the west.

The Overlook Loop arriving back at the trailhead parking area.

The short 1.1-mile hike here was still a mile longer than that at Sheppard’s Dell which meant it only a little after 7am as we headed for our final stop of the day. There are actually several starting points for loop hikes involving Devil’s Rest with the most popular seemingly being the Angel’s Rest and Wahkeena Falls Trailheads. Multnomah Falls and Palmer Mill Road are two others that allow for loops under 10-miles. While the Angel’s Rest Trailhead was closer to Bridal Veil it is a slightly longer loop with more elevation gain than starting from Wahkeena Falls Trailhead. Starting at Wahkeena Falls also means getting to see that waterfall and Fairy Falls prior to the start of the loop.

There were a few parking spots available at the Angel’s Rest Trailhead and even fewer cars at Wahkeena Falls when we arrived at 7:15am. We’d been to Wahkeena Falls before. Heather, Dominique and I on an out-and-back from the aforementioned Angel’s Rest Trailhead in 2013(post) and just myself in 2022 after hiking to Larch Mountain from Multnomah Falls (post). Before starting the 1.4-mile climb to the start of the loop we stopped at the Wahkeena Falls viewpoint.

While the Wahkeena Trail passes just below the falls the upper portion of the falls is only visible from a distance.

The trail begins as pavement as it switchbacks uphill before turning to rock/dirt and arriving at a footbridge below the lower portion of Wahkeena Falls at the 0.2-mile mark.

Beyond the falls the trail climbs to a spur trail to the Lemmons Viewpoint then continues along Wahkeena Creek (crossing it twice) to Fairy Falls at the 1.1-mile mark.

The Wahkeena Trail switchbacking up to the Lemmon Viewpoint junction.

Sitka mist-maidens

Woodland-star

The Forest Service includes maps at junctions involving official USFS trails. Note that the map does not extend to Devil’s Rest or include the Foxglovia area.

Our first paintbrush sighting for the year was at the Lemmons Viewpoint.

Archer Mountain in the foreground with Hamilton Mountain (post) and Beacon Rock (post) further to the east.

The first crossing of Wahkeena Creek.

Second footbridge.

Since my visit in October 2022 the trail has experienced a couple of slides, likely a lingering result of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. As of 2/18/24 the Forest Service advises caution if attempting to navigate the slides and in fact does not recommend attempting it. They had not officially closed the trail, but also do not have an eta on repairs.
This was the first sketchy new obstacle. The large tree is cutting across a switchback rerouting the trail steeply uphill. While there were some footholds the steepness combined with muddy conditions required caution.

Wahkeena Creek

Fairy Falls with Wahkeena Creek through the trees on the right.

Fairy Falls

Trillium

Bleeding heart

The worst of the slides was a short distance beyond Fairy Falls.
The worst slide took out a section of trail just before a switchback.

Looking down the washout.

The switchback in 2022.

Not pictured, but just above the missing section of trail was another large, downed tree. It was possible to pass under but to do so we both needed to get on our hands and knees.

Neither of us were looking forward to going down either of these washed-out sections but that was a problem for later. The rest of the Wahkeena Trail was in good shape and we followed it past its junction with the Vista Point Trail to a junction with the Angel’s Rest Trail and the start of the loop.
Coming up on the lower end of the Vista Point Trail.

The Angel’s Rest Trail junction.

We went left at this junction sticking to the Wahkeena Trail as it climbed to a junction with the upper end of the Vista Point Trail.

Signs at the junction with upper end of the Vista Point Trail.

Beyond this junction the Wahkeena Trail descended slightly to a junction with the Devil’s Rest Trail.

We veered uphill to the right on the Devil’s Rest Trail.

The Devil’s Rest Trail (Trail 420C) is an official USFS trail that ends at the rocky outcrop atop Devil’s Rest after 1.6 miles. The trail climbs approximately 800′ but is fairly gradual initially using switchbacks to keep the climb reasonable.
Coltsfoot along the trail.

Bleeding heart

Violets lining the trail.

After switchingback along Shady Creek the trail arrives at the rim of the Wahkeena Bowl where the climb becomes even more gradual.

Traveling along the rim of the Wahkeena Bowl.

A small pocket of forest that escaped the Eagle Creek Fire.

Devil’s Rest looking a little foggy from below.

There were a lot of trillium along the rim.

We passed a trail crew that was just hiking in to start work. Not sure how they got up there, but it was nice to see them out and we thanked them for their efforts.

The trail passed two rocky viewpoints before making a final climb to Devil’s Rest.
The first viewpoint was slightly off the trail.

We could at least make out the Columbia River below.

We were going in and out of fog ever few minutes.

Archer Mountain making an appearance.

A trail led to the second outcrop which had a rock sticking up.

Company at the viewpoint.

Something for the trail crew to work on.

Nearing Devil’s Rest.

The Devil’s Rest Trail veered right at a fork and ended at a rock outcrop.

Even without the foggy conditions there wouldn’t have been much of a view from Devil’s Rest, the FS mentions that in their description, but it still makes for a nice destination.

Earlier I mentioned that there were several potential places to start a hike to Devil’s Rest, but there are also several options for returning. The obvious being simply returning via the USFS Trail. To make a loop out of the hike there are a number of options. The steepest and most difficult would be finding the Primrose Path which reportedly heads directly downhill from Devil’s Rest. We didn’t see that trail, but we also weren’t planning on using it. We hiked back along the Devil’s Rest Trail to the junction below and turned right following a pointer for Angel’s Rest.

From there things got a little confusing for us. While we had our GPS and maps showing loops from both Oregon Hikers and NW Hiker none of them showed all of the current trails, but we didn’t realize that initially. This trail is part of the upper Foxglove Way Trail.

A short distance from the the first Angel’s Rest point we came to a fork in the trail with another Angel’s Rest pointer. This one saying to go take the left hand fork.

By going left we were now on a newer (22-23) route. This new trail is referred to as either the She Devil Trail or Red Shorts Cut Trail.
The pointer says “To She Devil Trail” with Red Shorts Cut at the bottom but AllTrails and some more recent Oregon Hikers maps label this section the She Devil Trail.

Regardless of which is the official name it wasn’t on the maps we had but it took us a bit to realize we weren’t where we thought we were. As it turns out Red Shorts built this trail as a more gradual, albeit longer, option. This explained the Angel’s Rest pointer since this was his intended route. The trail itself was in great shape and easy to follow.

The first clue that we might not know where we were came when we passed a stake marking a less worn trail that simply said “Multnomah Basin Road” with a pointer.

Post hike research revealed this was the Lil’ Devil Trail which connects to yet more trails. We correctly ignored this spur and continued on She Devil.

It wasn’t long before we passed another trail and pointer, this time on our right.

This turned out to be the She Devil – Devil’s Fork Trail junction. Taking the Devil’s Fork Trail would have saved us a fair amount of distance as it descends to the Foxglove Trail in 0.2 miles then continues another 0.4 to the Lily’s Lane Trail. Because we didn’t have all the existing trails on our maps we mistook this for a different trail altogether. Instead of turning right we stuck to the She Devil Trail.

We now had enough of a GPS track that we could compare it to the route shown on the Oregon Hikers/NW Hiker maps and see that something seemed off. Our track had headed too far to the SSW compared to the maps so when we came to the next split in the trail we veered right on a flagged trail.
The pointer on the left is for Smith Road. We didn’t see any signs for the right-hand fork.

Despite not seeing a sign for the flagged trail we knew we didn’t want to continue heading SSW. This turned out to be the Red Shorts Cut Trail which slowly curved around to head NNW and meet up with the Foxglove Trail.

Mushrooms

Approximately 0.4-miles along the Red Shorts Cut Trail we arrived at the Foxglove Trail where we were initially confused once again. We could continue in a NNW direction or turn right (ENE). We correctly, although not confidently, turned right onto the Foxglove Trail.

After a third of a mile we arrived at a 4-way junction.

This was the Devil’s Fork Trail crossing the Foxglove Trail. In other words, had we taken the Foxglove Trail way back when we veered left on the She Devil Trail it would have led us here. Likewise had we taken the Devil’s Fork Trail when we stayed left on the She Devil Trail it would have brought us here. Regardless of which trail brought us to this 4-way junction following the pointer for the Wahkeena Trail was the direction we wanted to go.

We turned left onto the Devil’s Fork Trail which briefly followed an old road bed.

We passed the signed Devil’s Cut-off Trail a tenth of a mile from the 4-way junction. This is the trail we mistook the upper portion of the Devil’s Fork Trail for. The cut-off leads over to the Primrose Path.
The Devil’s Cut-off Trail on the right.

Signage on the Devil’s Cut-off Trail.

Sticking to the Devil’s Fork Trail brought us to the Lily’s Lane Trail in another third of a mile.

This was honestly the most debris/blowdown we encountered on the user-maintained trails.

Pointers at the junction with the Lily’s Lane Trail.

Devil’s Fork Trail signs at the junction.

We turned right on Lily’s Lane for 0.2-miles to its end at the Angel’s Rest Trail.

Columbian larkspur getting ready to bloom.

Sign at the Lily’s Lane/Angel’s Rest Trail junction.

We turned right on the Angel’s Rest Trail and followed it for 1.5-miles back to the Wahkeena Trail.
Mist Creek Footbridge.

The first of two logs that required crawling under.

There was a short section filled with Scouler’s corydalis.

The Primrose Path joining from the right.

Primrose Path warning.

Does anyone know the story of this columbine at the Primrose junction? It has to be non-native.

Wahkeena Creek from the Angel’s Rest Trail.

Valerian

Nice display of Oregon grape near Wahkeena Springs.

Arriving at Wahkeena Springs.

Wahkeena Springs

The Wahkeena Trail junction is a very short distance from Wahkeena Springs.

We turned left onto the Wahkeena Trail and began our decent. It was busier than it had been that morning, but it still wasn’t crowded. The less-than-ideal weather seemed to have worked in our favor. Aside from a couple of brief light showers we’d stayed dry and couldn’t have hoped for better given the forecast. We carefully navigated the tricky slides and made our way back down to Wahkeena Falls.
Both female and male versions of western meadowrue. Today was by far the most meadowrue we’d ever seen on a hike.

Female

Male

Fairy Falls

Starting down the switchbacks.

Gold stars

Wahkeena Falls.

The version of the loop that we did came to 9.4-miles with 2350′ of elevation gain.

This turned out to be a great day in the Gorge with the first two waterfalls being more than worth the quick stops and the Devil’s Rest hike added a good amount of adventure. I was saddened to learn of Red Shorts passing when I got home and started researching what we’d done wrong. I was glad to have taken the route that we wound up with though as it was a testament to his hard work and effort.

Flickr: Sheppard’s Dell, Bridal Veil Falls, and Devil’s Rest

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Jackson Bottom Wetlands and Rood Bridge Park – 04/20/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 22, 2024
2 Comments on Jackson Bottom Wetlands and Rood Bridge Park – 04/20/2024

In the original version of our 2024 hiking schedule we’d planned on visiting Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve and Rood Bridge Park in March, but the thing about wetlands is that they tend to be wet. We’d been waiting for all of the trails at Jackson Bottom to dry out, and according to online reports that had finally happened.

Both the preserve and park are located in the city of Hillsboro with the preserve being home to a nature center open 10am – 4pm seven days a week. We began our day at Jackson Bottom by parking at the south entrance near the nature center. (We did not visit the nature center primarily due to the fact that we finished our hike here before 9:30am.)

A network of trails provides numerous options to explore. For our hike we began on the River Trail at the SW corner of the parking lot.

This trail descended a staircase to a view of the Tualatin River.

The trail follows the river through woods with several varieties of Spring wildflowers.

Camas

Solomonseal

Fawn lilies

Thimbleberry

Giant purple wakerobin

The River Trail ended at the Kingfisher Marsh Loop where we turned right.
The trail signs were very helpful in keeping us on track.

Anna’s hummingbird

Viewpoint overlooking Kingfisher Marsh.

The trail crossed Jackson Slough on a footbridge.

After crossing the slough we turned right on a connector trail that brought us to the Pintail Pond Loop where we once again turned right.
Pintail Pond Loop

American goldfinch

A short distance from the connector trail junction we passed the Ash Trail which was temporarily closed due to unstable conditions.

We would have preferred sticking to the Pintail Pond Trail even if the Ash Trail had been open simply because the Pintail Pond Trail provided constant views of the pond where numerous ducks, geese and other birds could be seen.
Red-winged blackbird

Sparrow

Purple martins

American robin

There is a lot of lupine in the preserve but only a few had started blooming.

There was a connector trail down to the Ash Trail near a covered viewing deck, but again we opted to stay on the pond loop.

We paused near the viewing deck to watch the tree swallows glide around their houses.

Pintail Pond

Northern shoveler drake and a gadwall

Green-winged teal

Geese

Killdeer

At the northern end of the pond we arrived at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail where we turned right.

We followed this trail past the northern end of the Ash Trail to a junction with the Coyote Hill Trail where, you guessed it, we turned right.
More camas

The Ash Trail.

Orange-crowned warbler

Jackson Bottom Wetlands

Can’t emphasize enough how helpful the map/pointer combinations are.

The Coyote Hill Trail doesn’t actually climb a hill, but rather it loops around a meadow with a view of Coyote Hill.

Noisy crow

Mourning dove

Our assumption was that that is Coyote Hill in the distance.

Western buttercups

Some houses on the wetlands border.

Golden-crowned sparrow

The Coyote Hill Trail brought us back to the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail near its end. We finally made a left turn and headed back toward Pintail Pond.

End of the trail.

Savannah sparrow

Spotted towhee

Passing Pintail Pond.

We stayed right at junctions following the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail to its end at Jackson Bottom North Trailhead.
Wapato Marsh

White-crowned sparrow

American robin

American coot

Ring-necked ducks

Wapato Marsh

Cormorants

Raised viewing platform with many tree swallow photobombs.

This couple was having quite the discussion.

The Bobcat Marsh Trail on the left.

Water treatment pipes at the other end of the Bobcat Marsh Trail.

NW Pond

The trail passed between the NW Pond on the left and Oak Island Marsh on the right.

NW Pond had a variety of waterfowl. This is a northern shoveler drake, ring-necked duck pair, four lesser scaups, and an American coot.

Pied-billed grebe in NW Pond

Lesser scaups

Goose and mallards

Yellow-rumped warbler

The northern trailhead.

Viewing platform at the trailhead.

On the way back we took the Bobcat Marsh Trail which passed Meadow Mouse Marsh.

Cinnamon teal on Meadow Mouse Marsh

Near the southern end of the Bobcat Marsh Trail a pair of geese were nesting on a pole and were noisily fending off a second pair of geese.

After rejoining the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail we followed it back to the Kingfisher Marsh Loop where we turned right.
Mt. Hood beyond Wapato Marsh

Back on the Kingfisher Marsh Loop.

We followed this trail to a junction below the Nature Center where we stayed straight at a junction and climbed a small hill to the Nature Center Trail.
The Kingfisher Marsh Loop turned left here.

The trail passed behind the Nature Center to some gardens.

Mason bee house

We followed the Nature Trail down to the River Trail which we followed back to the parking lot. Our hike here came in just under 5 miles with just 50′ of elevation gain. From the parking lot we drove 4.3 miles to Rood Bridge Park (it’s less than 2 miles as the crow flies).

The parking area here is rather large, but we chose to park at the northern end near the playground. From our parking spot we made our way toward the rhododendron garden.

Sign for the rhododendron garden.

Numerous paths loop through the garden, but we stayed mostly to the right as we made our way east to the Woodland Pond.

The Woodland Pond

At the pond we turned right on a paved trail which led us to the Rock Creek Trail.
Heading for the Rock Creek Trail.

Rock Creek from the Rock Creek Trail.

We were familiar with the Rock Creek Trail having hiked its two other segments in May 2022 (post). The eventual plan is for the three current segments to be connected to make a single 8-mile trail. We turned right onto the Rock Creek Trail and followed it to a junction with Lakeside Loop Trail where we took another right.
The maps for the park were a little tougher to follow as most of the trails weren’t named and there were a lot of interconnected short segments.

We followed this paved path past a trail leading downhill to a lake.

We stuck to the paved trail which brought us back to the parking lot and the beginning/end of the Rock Creek Trail.

The junction ahead is where the Rock Creek Trail beings/end according to the Rock Creek Trail maps. Maps of Rood Bridge Park simply refer to this as part of the “Main Trail Loop”, if they label it at all.

We followed the Rock Creek Trail downhill past a sign for a watercraft launch along the Tualatin River. The trail then followed the river before arriving at junction with the Lollipop Loop.

Mallards

Footbridge at the start of the Lollipop Loop.

We crossed Rock Creek on the footbridge and quickly found ourselves climbing a short but steepish hill to a forested ridge. The loop began a short distance after the trail flattened out.

As we had for most of the day we went right when the trail split and followed the path through the woods. There were several use trails cutting through the center of the loop as well as some spur trails leading to nearby homes, so it took some trial and error to find the “official” trail. We managed to only veer off course once, but we spent a fair amount of time pondering which way to go at several junctions. The highlight of this loop was the abundance of trillium. We were just catching the tail end of the bloom, but it was impressive.
There was a fair amount of Oregon grape as well.

Violets and trillium

After completing the loop we returned to the Rock Creek Trail, turning right and climbing back to the junction where we’d turned onto the Lakeside Loop earlier.

Western meadowrue

Fawn lilies

We veered right off of the paved trail onto a dirt path since it was a much more inviting surface.

The dirt path rejoined the paved path behind the Rhododendron Garden and playground.

We continued on the Rock Creek Trail as it passed behind the playground area and descended back down to Rock Creek on what was now a dirt/gravel trail.

Sparrow

Footbridge over Rock Creek.

Just over 100 yards beyond the footbridge the trail arrived at S 1st Avenue where the segment currently ends.

We turned around at street and headed back, taking a somewhat muddy spur trail that ran parallel to the main trail for 0.2 tenths of a mile just to change things up on the way back. When we got back to the Rhododendron Garden we passed through again on different paths to see more of the plants.
Left is the dirt path we’d taken earlier, straight is the Rock Creek Trail, and right led to the Rhododendron Garden.

This hike was approximately 2.5-miles with 100′ or so of elevation gain giving us just under 7.5-miles and 150′ of elevation gain for the day.
Jackson Bottom on the left and Rood Bridge to the right.

Both of these destinations would be great for kids. (Note dogs and bicycles are not allowed at Jackson Bottom.) We enjoyed Jackson Bottom a little more given the wildlife, but Rood Bridge was a nice park and the trillium display along the Lollipop Loop will not be forgotten. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Jackson Bottom Wetlands and Rood Bridge Park

Tags Bobcat Marsh Trail, Cinnamon Teal, Coyote Hill Loop, hiking, Hillsboro, Jackson Bottom, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail, Kingfisher Marsh Loop, Nature Center Trail, Oregon, Pintail Pond, River Trail, Rock Creek Trail, Rood Bridge Park, Trillium, Wapato Marsh

Columbia Gorge North Hiking Trip report Washington

Lower Archer Falls, Wind Mt., Sams-Walker, & Doetsch Ranch – 4/13/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 15, 2024
1 Comment on Lower Archer Falls, Wind Mt., Sams-Walker, & Doetsch Ranch – 4/13/2024

Our first April outing was a trip to the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge to check out four short hikes. These were all new hikes for us located within 23-miles of each other.

We began our day with me realizing that I hadn’t made sure that our NW Forest Pass was in the car since one was needed for two of our planned stops. This despite thinking that I needed to do that several times over the previous several days, including the day before when I was putting the Washington Discovery Pass we needed for Doetsch Ranch in the glovebox. Fortunately we were only in downtown Salem so we weren’t too far from home. Unfortunately the pass wasn’t in the other car or any of the places that I could think (at 5am) of where I might have put it. I decided it would probably quicker and much less stressful to purchase an ePass online for the day and look for the missing annual pass later.

Once we had our pass situation straightened out we drove to our first stop at the St. Cloud Day Use Area.

The day use area has picnic tables, a 1-mile loop trail, and a vault toilet (thus the need for a NW Forest Pass). Before exploring the day use area though we wanted to check out nearby Lower Archer Falls. To reach the trail to the falls we walked back to Hwy 14 and crossed to an unsigned trail that lead into overgrown woods. The need to cross the highway was the deciding factor on us starting our day here. We figured that there would be less traffic before 8am than there would be later in the day.
The brown strip in the grass near the center of the photo is the trail.

The trail entering the woods.

Pointer for Lower Archer Falls.

The user-maintained trail was in pretty good shape up until just before the falls where a small slide has done a bit of damage and just beyond that one of the make shift bridges seemed a little sketchy.
Bridges over Gable Creek.

Big Doug Bridge (Jan 23) over Archer Creek.

Archer Creek

After crossing the creek the trail did a short climb gaining approximately 150′ of elevation.

Trillium along the trail.

One of several of these style bridges on the way to the falls.

The “sketchy” bridge. It felt pretty solid underfoot, but the rail seemed ornamental only.

The final footbridge before the falls.

The trail extends beyond the falls climbing to a junction with the Archer Mountain Trail, but that route is reportedly less maintained with blackberry, poison oak, and nettles crowding the trail at times. We weren’t interested in that much adventure today so after enjoying the falls we headed back stopping along the way to admire the Spring wildflowers.
Steps leading up from Lower Archer Falls.

Trillium

Scouler’s corydalis

Bleeding heart

Salmonberry

Fairy bell

Fringecup

After successfully recrossing the highway we hiked the mile long St. Cloud Loop.
The start of the loop.

The trail loops around a former apple orchard.

Apple blossoms

A spur trail leading down to the Columbia River.

Devil’s Rest and Multnomah Falls (post)

Multnomah Falls

Yellow-rumped warbler.

The St. Cloud Day Use Area was the westernmost stop of our day, and from there we headed for the easternmost stop at the Wind Mountain Trailhead. The trailhead is approximately a tenth of a mile downhill beyond a quarry. We parked at the quarry where two other vehicles were parked instead of continuing down the narrow, steep, slightly rutted road.
The quarry later in the morning.

Pullout at the actual trailhead.

The Wind Mountain Trail at the trailhead.

The Wind Mountain Trail gains over 1100′ in just over a mile as it climbs to the summit of Wind Mountain. The mountain’s summit is sacred to the area’s Native American tribes and signs near the summit show the areas where hikers are allowed to be.

The climb was a good workout. While the trail didn’t appear to be all that steep our legs reminded us that it was.

There was a nice variety of wildflowers on display and at the 0.4-mile mark we came to a spur trail leading out to a rock outcrop.
Slender toothwort

Trillium

Red flowering currant

Close up of red flowering currant

Pioneer violet

Fairy slipper

Blue-eyed Mary

The spur trail down to the outcrop.

The spur trail was steep a little sketchy in spots so Heather opted to skip the viewpoint while I carefully made my way down.
Looking back up the spur trail.

Serviceberry

Augspurger Mountain (post) from the outcrop.

Dog Mountain (post)

After taking in the view I returned to the trail and continued uphill.

Largeleaf sandwort

Talus slope on Wind Mountain.

Slender toothwort along the trail.

One of the signs near the summit.

Interpretive sign with a map of the areas open to hikers.

Trillium

View west down the Columbia River. Hamilton Mountain (post), Table Mountain (post), and Greenleaf Peak (post) from L to R in the center.

Mt. Defiance (post) from the summit.

Vision quest pits on Wind Mountain.

Mt. Adams beyond Augspurger Mountain.

Mt. Adams

Looking across the Columbia River.

There was a nice breeze at the summit, and we took a well-earned break before heading down. Up till that point we’d only seen five other hikers all morning, but now that it was later we found ourselves stepping aside regularly to let the uphill traffic pass. From the quarry we headed back West to our next stop at the Sams-Walker Day Use Area.

Similar to the St. Cloud Day Use Area the area is a former homestead with picnic tables, a 1.1-mile loop trail, and vault toilet. We were surprised to find the small parking lot here almost entirely full. As it turned out group from the Friends of the Columbia River Gorge were out doing some planting.

We were able to park along the edge of the trailhead entrance and set off on the loop.

There are a couple of loop options here, but no maps to assist with navigation. We had our GPS map and a map from the Oregon Hikers Field Guide, but it turns out they are both outdated so when we veered right at the first split we planned on hiking the outer loop counterclockwise.
The first split where we went right.

A tenth of a mile later we came to another split which managed to confuse us based on the maps we had available.
To continue on the counterclockwise loop we should have turned right at the junction ahead.

We veered left thinking that the righthand trail was a connector passing through the middle of the day use area. In another tenth of a mile though we arrived at “T” junction where we realized that the left at the first junction was the outer loop going in a clockwise rotation.
We turned right at the junction now doing the loop clockwise.

Coming up on one of the picnic tables along the loop.

The Columbia River from the picnic table.

Horsetail Falls (post) from the picnic table.

We continued on loop which eventually passed through a cedar grove before bringing us back to the second junction we’d passed.

Chipping sparrow

White-crowned sparrow

Bleeding heart and fringecup

The cedar grove

Completing the first loop.

When we got back to the second junction we decided to go right and then take a left at the third junction to hike the portion of the outer loop that we’d missed. It was along this quarter mile section that we passed the group from Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

Spider on perriwinkle

After hiking all the trails here we returned to Highway 14 and drove 2 miles back to the east to turn into the Doetsch Ranch Day Use area of Beacon Rock State Park.
Kiosk at Doetsch Ranch.

A 1.1-mile paved loop circles the picnic area. We set off counterclockwise from the kiosk following the paved path for a little over 3/4 of a mile to another parking area along Beacon Rock Moorage Road.

Beacon Rock (post) from the trail.

Beacon Rock and Hamilton Mountain.

Coming up on the other parking area.

We left the loop at the road and followed the road down to the river. Next we walked up the road passing under railroad tracks to find the start of the 0.75-mile River to Rock Trail.

Woodward Creek

This trail climbs over 250′ before dropping to the River to Rock Trailhead. Along the way the trail passes around Riddle Lake and an old stone structure along with many wildflowers.
Fairy bells, vine maple, and fringecup

Columbian larkspur

Trillium and voilets

Checker (chocolate) lilies

Bleeding heart

This was just one part of the best display of chocolate lilies we’d ever seen.

There were a couple of lilies with this coloration which was new to us.

Riddle Lake

Dropping down to the River to Rock Trailhead.

Looking back up the River to Rock Trail.

We hadn’t planned on re-hiking Beacon Rock and the steady stream of people we could see from the trail going up and down the stairs reenforced that choice. We returned the way we’d come and then completed the paved loop at Doetsch Ranch to finish off our day.
Passing back by the large patch of chocolate lilies.

Our first butterfly of 2024, an echo azure.

Completing the loop.

Our mileage for the day came to 9.2 with 1.6 coming at each Sams-Walker and St. Cloud, 2.7 at Wind Mountain, and 3.3 at Doestch Ranch. The elevation total was a nearly 1700′ with nearly 1200′ coming at Wind Mountain, 185′ at St. Cloud, and 270′ on the River to Rock Trail.
St. Cloud and Lower Archer Falls

Wind Mountain

Sams-Walker

Doetsch Ranch

While none of the hikes were long enough to justify the 1:30 to 2hr drive from Salem combining them made for a more than worthy outing. When we got home it took me all of 5 minutes to remember where our annual forest pass was. I’d put in a shoebox on the work bench in our garage. Apparently 5am brain isn’t up to par with 3pm brain. Happy Trails!

Flickr: St. Cloud, Wind Mt. Sams-Walker, & Doetsch Ranch

Tags beacon rock, Beacon Rock State Park, Columbia River, Columbia River Gorge, Doetsch Ranch, Doetsch Ranch Day Use Area, Friends of the Columbia River, hiking, Lower Archer Falls, River to Rock Trail, Sams-Walker, St. Cloud Day Use Area, Washington, Wind Mountain, Wind Mountain Trail