Category: Trip report

Jackson-Frazier Wetland, Mary’s River Nature Park, and Mulkey Ridge Trail – 3/30/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 1, 2024
No Comments on Jackson-Frazier Wetland, Mary’s River Nature Park, and Mulkey Ridge Trail – 3/30/2024

A sunny Easter weekend provided us an opportunity to visit three trails in the Corvallis area. The first two were new to us while the third, the Mulkey Ridge Trail, filled in a gap between two of our previous hikes in the area.

Our first stop for the day was at the Jackson-Frazier Wetland just to the NE of town.

A short, paved path leads to a 3/4-mile boardwalk that loops through the wetland.
A footbridge along the paved path crosses Frazier Creek.

Kiosk at the start of the Bob Frenkel Boardwalk.

A fairly rainy week had left the wetland wet, but not flooded. By the sounds, birds were everywhere although we only managed to spot a small fraction of them as we made our way around the boardwalk.
The start of the loop. We went counterclockwise.

Northern flicker

We listened to this sparrow sing for a bit. It was putting on quite the performance.

One of a couple viewing platforms off the main boardwalk.

Blackbird

Robin in the morning sunlight.

Sparrow

Hummingbird

Easter rabbit?

While short (0.9 miles) this was a really nice walk, and there is something about hearing birds that is uplifting.

From this wetland we drove through Corvallis and parked at Mary’s River Natural Area (If you are using Google Maps you want Mary’s River Natural Park not “Area”.
Kiosk at the trailhead.

Mary’s River Natural Area is another wetland with a short, paved path leading to a boardwalk although here there is no loop.

Interpretive sign along the path.

Buttercups and a bog saxifrage

The start of the boardwalk.

Three California scrub-jays

One of the scrub-jays up close.

We walked a short distance from the end of the boardwalk to visit Mary’s River.

Swollen Mary’s River. It did appear that it might be possible to make this a loop in the dry season by following a grassy track, but it was too wet and muddy to even attempt that today.

We returned the way we’d come stopping a couple of times to watch birds flitting between the trees.
Mary’s Peak (post) from the boardwalk.

Black-capped chickadee

Anna’s hummingbird

This was another 0.9-mile hike, and while not as interesting as the Jackson-Frazier Wetland it was a pleasant walk with a fair number of bird sightings.

Since these new to us hikes totaled less than two miles, we wanted something longer as we continue to build our base back up for longer hikes later this year. This gave us the perfect excuse to revisit part of two previous hikes, Bald Hill (post) and Fitton Green (post). We’d visited the Fitton Green Natural Area just over a year ago and on that hike noted that the Mulkey Ridge Trail made it possible to connect that area with the Bald Hill Natuarl Area which we had visited in October of 2016.

Just as we’d done in 2016 we parked at the Oak Creek Trailhead which is West of town.
Kiosk just on the other side of Oak Creek from the trailhead parking lot.

At the first kiosk we turned right along Oak Creek to a second kiosk at the boundary for the Bald Hill Farm Conservation Area.

This is the 3.7-mile long Mulkey Ridge Trail which we followed along Oak Creek to a fence where we turned left along a gravel road. The road jogged right heading uphill past a large barn.
Bald Hill from the trail.

Mary’s Peak

The barn across the gravel road.

Our fist camas sighting of the year. The only one in bloom that we’d see all day.

A half mile from the trailhead we stayed straight at a junction to continue on the Mulkey Ridge Trail.
We’d turned left here on our 2016 Bald Hill hike.

The trail continued for approximately another 0.4-miles before briefly joining it at a farm road with a sign pointing downhill to a farmhouse, barn, and shops.

Crossing the farmhouse road to join the gravel road.

We followed the gravel road past a private residence after which the road turned into a trail again.

As the trail entered woods where we began seeing a variety of Spring wildflowers.

The first of many fawn lilies we’d see.

Giant white wakerobin

Toothwort

More fawn lilies

Bleeding heart

At the 1.2-mile mark we came to a map board at a “Y” junction. We had a couple of choices to make here. Sullivan added Fitton Green as a featured hike in his “100 Hikes Oregon Coast” 1st edition, describing an 8.2-mile out-and-back starting at the Oak Creek Trailhead while the Oregonhikers.com field guide describes a 6.9-mile lollipop loop beginning from the same TH. While the lollipop is shorter it involves nearly a mile and a half of road walking. Our first choice was easy, we prefer loops when possible, even if they involve some road walking. The second decision to make was did we want to do the road walk now or wait until we were heading back. While the Oregonhikers entry saves the road walk for the return we opted to do it now, primarily because road walking tends to be harder on the feet and we didn’t want to wait until they were even more tired to put them through that.

We veered uphill to the right at the junction and in 0.2-miles arrived at gravel Wynoochee Drive.

Trail pointer at Wynoochee Drive.

We turned left onto the road which climbed gradually for just over three quarters of a mile to paved Panorama Drive.

We spotted several deer in the grass at the intersection with Skipanon Drive.

I count six in this photo.

In addition to the deer we saw a large number of Stellar’s jays along Wynoochee Drive.
While most of the jays wouldn’t sit still in the open long enough for a decent photo this one at least cooperated.

Sign for the Fitton Green Natural Area at the intersection with Panorama Drive.

We followed the pointer for Fitton Green to the left and did some more climbing as Panorma Drive took us past several homes before descending to the Panorama Drive Trailhead three quarters of a mile from the intersection.

The road turned to gravel shortly before arriving at the trailhead.

Gate at the trailhead.

We hiked past the gate and in a tenth of a mile came to the Allen Throop Loop which had been part of our 2023 hike here.

We turned left onto the loop and climbed to a viewpoint of Mary’s Peak.

Mary’s Peak still sporting a decent amount of snow.

We followed the Allen Throop Loop as it wound down the open hillside for 0.7-miles to a junction with the Mulkey Ridge Trail.
Looking SE towards Corvallis

Looking West towards the Coast Range.

Common lomatium

We were hoping it was clear enough to see the Cascade Volcanoes, but the Three Sisters were hidden by clouds. We were however able to see the top of Mt. Jefferson.

The Mulkey Ridge Trail below to the left arriving at the Allen Throop Loop.

We turned left onto the Mulkey Ridge Trail and began to make our way back to the trailhead.

There were a fair number of flowers blooming along the trail.
Strawberry

Redstem storksbill

Wild iris

More fawn lilies

Candy flower

Purple deadnettle

Pacific hound’s tongue

Colorful turkey tails

The trail splits briefly along a ridge marking what used to be the end of trail from the Oak Creek Trailhead.

Dark-eyed junco

There were a pair of acorn woodpeckers in this area that we stopped to watch.

This tree was full of holes that the woodpeckers use to store their acorns in.

One of several benches along the trail.

Oregon grape

Trillium

The Mulkey Ridge Trail descending to Mulkey Creek. (Note the footbridge in the lower right-hand corner.)

Footbridge over Mulkey Creek.

Approximately 2.5-miles from the Allen Throop Loop we arrived back at the spur trail we’d followed up to Wynoochee Drive.

Toothwort

We retraced our steps back 1.2-miles to the Oak Creek Trailhead where we were happy to find our backup GPS unit was still sitting on top of our car where we’d accidently left it.
Western buttercups along the trail on our way back.

The GPS we did remember to take with us indicated this was a 7.4-mile hike, a half mile longer than the Oregonhikers field guide. I can’t account for the difference but given the elapsed time 7.4-miles seems reasonable. The hike included a little over 1150′ of elevation gain as well. Overall this was a great hike with a good variety of scenery, nice views, and some wildlife. The network of trails also makes both shorter and much longer hikes possible. Happy Trails!

Today’s hike in cyan, 2016 Bald Hill green, and 2023 Fitton Green purple

Tags acorn woodpecker, Allen Throop Loop, Anna's Hummingbird, Bald Hill Farm Conservation Area, Bald Hill Natural Area, Corvallis, Fawn Lily, Fitton Green, flowers, hiking, Jackson-Frazier Wetland, Mary's River Natural Area, Mary's River Natural Park, Mulkey Ridge Trail, Oak Creek Trailhead, Oregon, Panorama Drive Trailhead

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Ki-a-Kuts Falls Fernhill Wetlands – 02/24/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 26, 2024
2 Comments on ~~Ki-a-Kuts Falls~~ Fernhill Wetlands – 02/24/2024

A mostly sunny, near 60-degree forecast, looked too good to pass up so we decided to head out and attempt a pair of short hikes in the Oregon Coast Ranges Tillamook State Forest. Our first stop was along Maple Creek Road for a hike to Ki-a-Kuts Falls.
Sunrise from the trailhead.

Clear cut at the trailhead.

The old alignment of the road was said to be located approximately 80 yards from the trailhead, but it appears that between time, storms, and logging operations the old road has become far less obvious.
This was the view through the forest from Maple Creek Road around the 80-yard mark.

We hiked further up Maple Creek Road and checked for a way down to the old alignment, but in the end decided that the slick conditions combined with the amount of blowdown on the hillsides would have made for a much more challenging hike than we were looking to tackle.
We could hear the Tualatin River in the valley below and I managed to get far enough down the hill to get a glimpse of the water. I had descended from a pullout with a fire ring about 50-75′ looking for the old roadbed, but I still couldn’t make out where it actually was and had been slipping a lot on wet wood.

After climbing back up to Heather I called an audible and we turned to Plan B. The second hike we’d originally planned on was a 1.5-mile out and back further into the forest to visit Stairstep Falls, a rapid more than a fall, that requires fording the 25 yard wide Middle Fork North Fork Trask River. We decided against attempting that hike because it would effectively end our hiking day by leaving the only pair of hiking shoes I’d brought soaked. That was fine when it was going to be the final hike of our day, but we wanted to get a little more than 2.5-miles in. (We’d done close to 1 looking for the way to Ki-a-Kuts Falls.)

I’d known going in that there was a chance that we’d need to turn to Plan B because the most recent trip reports I could find for Ki-a-Kuts Falls was from 2014. That Plan B had been Fernhill Wetlands. Located in Forest Grove, OR the trailhead was just 26-miles from where we were. We drove back to Yamhill and then headed North on Highway 47 to the Fernhill Wetlands Trailhead.

Map and information at the trailhead.

There are several loops possible at the wetlands and we hoped to maximize these, so we headed south along Fernhill Marsh.

Starling

Lenticular clouds over Mt. Hood in the distance.

Our first wildflower of the year is Indian plum in 2024.

Egret

Path at Fernhill Wetlands.

We stayed straight at a junction with a path between Fernhill Marsh and Cattail Marsh.
Gazebo overlooking Cattail Marsh.

Great blue heron on a post above Cattail Marsh.

American coot

At the next junction we turned left between Cattail and Eagles Perch Marshes.

Another great blue heron.

Red-winged blackbird

Hawk flying over Eagles Perch Marsh.

Fittingly at the far end of the marsh were a pair of bald eagles.

We turned right and walked along Eagles Perch Marsh for a tenth of a mile to a gate along SW Geiger Rd.

Ring-necked ducks

Buffleheads

This one might be a hooded merganser?

After turning around we headed north passing Cattail Marsh and arriving at Fernhill Lake.

Fernhill Lake

The trail bent eastward along the lake to a gazebo overlooking Barney Wetlands. From the gazebo we watched a flock of tundra swans. This was our second outing in a row (Wapato Lake) seeing tundra swans after not ever having seen them on a hike prior.
This is where the trail turned east (for obvious reasons).

Barney wetlands

There were also quite a few ruddy ducks here which we don’t often see.

After a good long break watching the swans we continued around Fernhill Lake to Dabblers Marsh.
Double-crested cormorant on a post in Barney Wetlands.

Double-crested cormorant

Drying off in the sun.

Nurtia at a bench near Dabblers Marsh

Nutria

Dabblers Marsh

Green-winged teal

Great blue heron

Pie-billed grebe

We turned west between Fernhill Lake and Dabblers Marsh and came to a nice view of the lake and the start of the Dabblers Marsh Loop Trail.

We turned onto the woodchip path along Dabblers Marsh and followed pointers to a loop around some farmland.

Robin

The start of the loop at the edge of the farmland. We stayed left opting to hike the loop clockwise.

Anna’s hummingbrid

A gaggle of geese in the field.

American kestrels manning their posts.

Purple dead-nettle

More geese coming in for a landing.

Near the end of the loop the trail left the field along Dabblers Marsh.

Spotted towhee

Rabbit

After completing the loop and returning to Fernhill Lake we did a loop through the Water Gardens.
Geese on Fernhill Lake

Mallard drake

Mallard female

Water Gardens

Northern shovelers, a mallard, and a coot.

Oregon grape beginning to bloom.

Northern shoveler

Green-winged teal pair

Path along the Research Wetlands.

Egret near the parking lot at Fernhill Marsh

Looking back at the Research Wetlands from the near the trailhead.

We managed to get 3.7-miles in at the wetlands and saw a lot of birds and other animals. While there were quite a few more folks here than we’d seen on our previous hike at nearby Wapato Lake Wildlife Refuge, it never felt too busy. Plan B had earned an A+ in our books. Happy Trails!

Hiking Oregon Trip report Willamette Valley

Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge – 02/10/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 12, 2024
2 Comments on Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge – 02/10/2024

While we didn’t have another hike scheduled for February a decent forecast was too much to pass up. We were looking for something nearby (less than an hour from Salem) on the shorter side that would be more of a leisurely stroll than a hike. We decided it would be a good day to check out the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge . Originally added (2007) as part of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge (post) the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge was designated in 2013. Eight years later the refuge was opened to public use and now has approximately 2.85 miles of trail. The trails are currently open from Feb 1st through Nov 30th each year (note the 1.3-miles of natural surface is closed to hiking starting Sept 1st). Also of note is that during periods of heavy rains the access trail may become flooded, but the Refuge website has a link to the USGS Monitoring Tool where you can easily check to see if the creek’s level is over 7.5 feet.

The trailhead is adjacent to Brown Park in the city of Gaston, OR and includes two ADA parking spaces and a restroom. What it lacks is signage from Highway 47. The parking area can be accessed from that highway or via Onion Lane by turning South off of E Main Street/SW Gaston Road. A paved trail begins at an informational signboard where you can also pick up a brochure.

It was a little cloudier than we’d hopped as we set off on the paved path. We followed the path to a footbridge over Wapato Creek to the levee that partially surrounds the lakebed. We faced a choice of heading left for 0.6-miles or right for up to 2-miles. Another person had just turned left so we opted to go right.

We were a little confused by the sign on the left here stating the trail was closed. The website and signboard had said nothing about a closure and the gate at the far end of the bridge was open and others were already out on the levee. We assume they just hadn’t taken the sign down after the seasonal closure period.

Pointers on the levee.

Nutria (sigh). We had hopped it was a beaver but alas the whiskers give it away.

Geese, several species of ducks, and some shore birds.

From the bridge to the right the levee’s surface is good gravel. We took our time as we strolled south trying to discern which types of ducks we were seeing.
A great blue heron along Wapato Creek.

Great blue heron

Wapato Lake

Beaver lodge

Northern shovelers and an American wigeon

Of course we forgot to bring binoculars making it even harder to make out which types of ducks were out there.

Ring-necked ducks with an American coot in the background.

Ring-necked duck and northern shovelers

Reflections in Wapato Lake

There is virtually no shade along the lake which wasn’t an issue today but could be in the heat of Summer. There are however three benches along the levee allowing for a place to sit and watch the birds.

Lesser scaups

Ducks flying over the lake.

Old bridge over Wapato Creek. The gravel surface ended at this bridge.

After 0.7 miles of gravel the levee continued as a natural surface. The unevenness of the natural surface was a stark difference to the gravel.

We continued on the natural surface another three quarters of a mile to a gate at another old bridge. Across the lake we could see some tundra swans which were a first for us, and we startled a coyote that raced off through the brush along the lakebed.

The coyote running off through the brush.

Tundra swans

We decided to turn around at this bridge even though the levee continued. It appeared that the water was further away from the levee going forward and we hadn’t planned on going much more than 3-miles today.

We were hoping that the partly sunny skies that had been forecast would make an appearance as we made our way back, but that never happened. Nevertheless, we were enjoying trying to identify the different ducks and birds we were seeing.
Northern pintails and some green-winged teals.

American wigeons and a pair of green-winged teals.

There were a couple of times that blue sky seemed imminent.

Buffleheads

Iowa Hill (post) across the lake.

More buffleheads

Immature bald eagle

Sparrow

Horned grebe

Canvasbacks, another first for us.

Great blue heron on the osprey nest.

Ther heron on the nest.

When we arrived back at the bridge over Wapato Creek we stayed straight on the level and followed the gravel path north 0.6-miles to a gate where we turned around and returned to our car.

Mallards

Red-winged blackbird

Bald eagle

Nutria

Gaston from the refuge.

Green-winged teals

Northern pintails

Mostly American wigeons and green-winged teals

On the paved path back to the parking lot.

We wound up going a total of 4.8-miles (according to both our GPS units) which was a little further than we’d planned, but we got to see a lot of wildlife without much effort on the level trails.

This was an enjoyable visit and given its relative proximity to Salem one that we’ll likely revisit down the line. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Forest Park (Germantown Road to Newberry Road) – 02/03/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 5, 2024
No Comments on Forest Park (Germantown Road to Newberry Road) – 02/03/2024

Warm weather and possible blue sky prompted us to head out for our February hike the first day we had off. While the very recent weather had been unseasonably warm the Willamette Valley, and especially the Portland area, was still recovering from January’s Winter storm. We had changed our planned January hike due to storm damage in Portland’s Forest Park and found ourselves looking to change our planned February hike now as well.

We had originally planned on visiting some wetlands west of Portland but flooding from the ice storm and heavy rains that followed had left some of those trails flooded. A quick check of the current trail conditions at Forest Park revealed that there were no closures/detours listed for the area of the park we had planned to hike the previous week so that became our Plan B.

We had hiked in the 5200-acre Forest Park on five previous occasions with each hike including part of the approximately 30-mile Wildwood National Recreation Trail. The trail begins in Washington Park’s Hoyt Arboretum (post) and ends at Newberry Road to the NW. Our previous outings had covered all but approximately 3.3-miles of the Wildwood Trail between the arboretum and Germantown Road (post). A 2022 visit to the Pittock Mansion via the Wildwood Trail (post) connected to the hike from Hoyt Arboretum and to a 2020 loop starting on Leif Erickson Drive from Thurman Street (post). A 2019 loop from the Lower Saltzman Road Trailhead (post) didn’t connect to any of the other hikes leaving a 1.3-mile gap in the Wildwood Trail between the Maple Trail and Nature Trail junctions, and a 2-mile gap between Firelanes 5 and 7A.

We were missing all of the Wildwood Trail between Germantown Road and Newberry Road though, so that was the goal of today’s hike. We decided to start at the Germantown Road Trailhead as opposed to the Newberry Road Trailhead which was a choice we would regret later. We were the third car at the Germantown Road Trailhead at 7:15am.
Some of the damage from the ice storm at the trailhead.

One of the nice things about Forest Park is the numerous loops that are possible off of the Wildwood Trail which allows one to avoid straight out-and-back hikes. There is a price for the loops which is paid in the currency of elevation gain. The route I’d planned for the day included three loops beginning at the trailhead where instead of taking the Wildwood Trail we took the Connector Trail to the Cannon Trail and followed it downhill to the Leif Erickson Drive North Trailhead.
Sign for the Connector Trail at the trailhead.

Cannon Trail

From the Leif Erickson Trailhead we crossed Germantown Road at the gate for Firelane 9 then hiked uphill along the shoulder of Germantown Road just over 100 yards to Firelane 10.
Firelane 9 across from the trailhead.

Firelane 10

We followed Firelane 10 downhill to a stream crossing then climbed to a junction with the Linnton Trail.

Unsurprisingly the recent weather had most of the stream beds flowing which we hadn’t witnessed on our other visits.

Heading up to the junction.

The Linnton Trail heads down a ridge to the Linnton Trailhead.

We turned left at the junction sticking to Firelane 10 which climbed back up to the Wildwood Trail. The 1.7-mile detour from the Germantown Trailhead came with an elevation loss of 375′ and gain of 550′.

We passed the Keyser Trail which rejoins Firelane 10 just a quarter mile ahead. We stuck to Firelane 10 which climbed very steeply in that quarter mile leading us to believe the Keyser Trail may have been a little more gradual as the map showed it bowing away from Firelane 10 before rejoining.

The first of only three trees that were still down over the trails we hiked. In the distance is a Wildwood Trail sign at the junction.

We turned right onto the Wildwood Trail and followed it for just over a mile to the BPA Road.

The trail repeatedly bows into the hillside to cross creek beds.

We passed three pointers for Newton Road and then crossed Newton Road along this section of the Wildwood Trail. We would be using Newton Road to make another small loop on our way back.

The Wildwood Trail crossing Newton Road.

Not all of the junctions have maps, but most of the major ones do to help keep hikers and runners on track (or to give them more ideas).

Climbing up to the BPA Road crossing.

The BPA Road heading uphill with the Wildwood Trail we’d just come up to the right.

We turned off of the Wildwood Trail here and took a right onto the BPA Road. After a brief climb the BPA Road dropped to a saddle where Firelane 12 joined from the left at the Fix-the-Hole plaque.

Firelane 12 on the left.

The middle of three plaques commemorating the 1999 acquisition of 73-acres that was in danger of being developed.

We turned left onto Firelane 12 and descended for half a mile to Firelane 15 near another unnamed creek.

Once again varied thrush 1 – Deryl 0. If I was keeping score, it would probably be something like 179-10.

Firelane 15 on the left ahead.

We turned left onto Firelane 15 and climbed over 230′ in 0.4-miles to the Wildwood Trail.
The small creek along Firelane 15.

Blue sky and powerlines above Firelane 15.

Wildwood Trail crossing Firelane 15.

We turned right onto the Wildwood Trail once again and followed it nearly 1.8-miles to its end at Newberry Road. There were no firelanes or side trails along this final stretch of the Wildwood Trail.

The fanciest bridge we crossed all day.

Why is the trail way down there when the road is up above on the far hillside?

Woolly bear

Climbing to Newberry Road just to say we made it to the end of the Wildwood Trail.

Newberry Road Trailhead.

After a brief break at the trailhead we headed back. We stuck to the Wildwood Trail passing both Firelane 15 and the BPA Road. Just under 4-miles from Newberry Road we arrived at Newton Road were we turned right and left the Wildwood Trail.

Another sub-par bird photo, but it took us quite a while just to spot this woodpecker who was way up in the treetops (and mostly in the shade).

Crossing Firelane 15.

Another blurry bird. This one a wren, one of many we heard but the only one we were able to spot.

Uprooted trees along the Wildwood Trail.

Newton Road to the right of the Wildwood Trail.

We turned uphill onto Newton Road and followed it just over half a mile to the Newton Road Trailhead where we paused to use the facilities.
Mile marker along Newton Road.

Douglas squirrel

One of several small habitat restoration study areas along Newton Road.

The Newton Road Trailhead in the distance.

After our break at this trailhead we followed Firelane 10 at the far end of the parking area 0.2-miles to the Wildwood Trail.

It was just over three quarters of a mile on the Wildwood Trail from Firelane 10 to the Germantown Road Trailhead.
One of only two benches we saw all day.

Cars parked along Germantown Road in the distance.

According to the Garmin our hike was 12.2 miles with approximately 2200′ of elevation gain. A good challenge for us this early in the year. (Our feet were not too happy with us.)

Despite the challenge it had been a nice hike with excellent weather, and while Forest Park is much busier than many of the trails we visit it never really feels too crowded.

While our experience on the trails had been good we arrived back at our car to find that people had parked along a fence behind us in the parking lot which didn’t leave us enough room to back out from between the cars on either side of us. We hadn’t expected anyone to park there because of the lack of room, but we should have known better. We spent the next half hour or so waiting for the owners of any of the three cars parked around us to return and set us free. (Although the SUV parked on our right was most likely going to be in the same predicament we were.) Fortunately the people that had parked directly behind us returned and we were able to escape. There have been other times I worried about having the car get trapped, but until today it had just been my own paranoia. Hopefully we will choose our parking spots more carefully in the future. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Northern Forest Park

Tags BPA Road, Cannon Trail, Connector Trail, Firelane 10, Firelane 12, Firelane 15, Forest Park, Germantown Road Trailhead, hiking, Leif Erickson Northern Trailhead, Linnton Trail, Newberry Road Trailhead, Newton Road, Newton Road Trailhead, Oregon, Portland, Wildwood Trail

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Corvallis to Sea Trail (Sugar Bowl Creek Segment) – 1/27/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 29, 2024
No Comments on Corvallis to Sea Trail (Sugar Bowl Creek Segment) – 1/27/2024

Our 2024 hiking year has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. We try and get a hike in on New Years Day, but I was dealing with COVID for the first time. Then an ice storm arrived just as I was feeling up to hiking. With the final weekend of January being our last chance to get a January hike in we resolved to head out regardless of the weather if it was at all possible.

Heading into the month our plan had been to visit Forest Park in Portland to hike a section of the Wildwood Trail that we haven’t before, but the ice storm hit Portland hard resulting in lots of downed trees so we were in need of a Plan B. While no ice or snow was forecast, an atmospheric river was heading in which carried the possibility of bringing several inches of rain between Friday and Sunday so we were looking for an appropriate hike. Fortunately, we recently became members of the Hike Oregon website and one of the members only hikes there is a section of the Corvallis to Sea Trail. The hike was also listed as a good rainy-day hike, so it seemed like the prefect Plan B. The Corvallis to Sea Trail, or C2C Trail, is a 60-mile route connecting the city of Corvallis, OR to the Oregon Coast at Ona Beach State Park (post). Much of the trail is on roads which may be abandoned or gated and others open to vehicle traffic. For more information on the entire trail please visit the C2C Trail’s official website.

Our intent was to start our hike by parking at “The 4-way”, a 4-way junction of logging roads atop a hill on Shot Pouch Road. Google Maps labels this as the “C2C Trail Sugar-Bowl Kiosk” located approximately four and a half miles south of Burnt Woods and U.S. Highway 20. When we arrived at the 4-way though we discovered that there had been some very recent logging activity which had torn up the shoulders where cars would park leaving muddy ruts all over. In addition, in the final tenth of a mile of Shot Pouch Road mud was piled high enough in the center that it scrapped the bottom of our Subaru as we passed over. Not being comfortable parking near the 4-way we retreated four tenths of a mile back down the hill to the intersection of Shot Pouch Road and Shot Pouch Trail Road where there was enough of a shoulder for us to pull off and park.

The C2C follows Shot Pouch Trail Road for approximately 4-miles then turns up Shot Pouch Road to the 4-way so we were still starting on the actual trail.

From our parking spot we crossed Shot Pouch Creek on Shot Pouch Road and hiked back up to the 4-way.
Just before the bridge over Shot Pouch Creek is a spur trail for water which is reportedly scarce along the entire 60-mile route.

A swollen Shot Pouch Creek.

Following the trail/road up to the 4-way.

This was one of a handful of similar structures in the area. So far we haven’t found any information on their history.

Nearing “The 4-way”. Just ahead is where the Subaru bottomed out slightly.

The 4-way

We took the center road at the 4-way which led downhill to a kiosk and yellow gate.
Trail marker with the kiosk and part of the gate in the distance.

After filling out a card at the trail register we passed the gate and continued downhill on what at first was a very rocky old road.

Cloudy and wet morning as expected.

The rocks on the first stretch were not a pleasant surface to walk on but it wasn’t too long before we left the rocks behind.

Small cascade along a side creek.

A decent rain shower had passed overhead while we were on the really rocky road, but after that conditions improved and we encountered no more significant precipitation. It was however unseasonably warm with temperatures in the mid 50s. The combination of the warm weather and wet conditions seemed to have brought all the rough-skinned newts out to explore.
The first of the newts we spotted. They blend well with the leaves so we tried to really keep our eyes open to avoid accidently stepping on any. Over the course of the hike we saw several dozen and who knows how many we didn’t see.

The trail was well marked wherever an old roadbed split off and where the Sugar Bowl Creek Trail segment split off from the roadbed a little over a mile from the kiosk.
C2C Trail marker along the left-hand (downhill) fork.

This was the only significant blowdown we encountered on the hike and the tree here was a fairly easy duck under.

The Sugar Bowl Creek Trail segment leaving the old road. This was the only portion that was true singletrack along the Sugar Bowl segment. Here the trail passes through a portion of the Siuslaw National Forest.

The Sugar Bowl Creek Trail switchbacked downhill to the East before turning back to the SW in the Sugar Bowl.

The trail eventually rejoined the old roadbed.

Actual blue sky.

Arriving at Mary’s Peak Road.

Signage along Mary’s Peak Road for the C2C.

We followed Mary’s Peak Road just over a mile to another kiosk and gate near Harlan Road where we turned around.

This particular newt was not about to move out of Heather’s way.

A side creek flowing toward Sugar Bowl Creek.

Sugar Bowl Creek was never visible from the C2C but it was out there somewhere.

The Harlan Road Gate and kiosk.

The uphill hike back was a little warmer than we were prepared for, and it didn’t help that we were needlessly wearing raingear which doesn’t breathe.

Coral fungus

Unnamed creek

Back on the rocky roadbed below the 4-way.

Back at the gate and kiosk.

Aside from getting a little sweaty the hike was great. We didn’t see anyone else all morning and the lack of rain was a pleasant surprise. While there isn’t anything along this part of the C2C that is going to blow you away visually it was indeed a perfect rainy winters day hike. With our starting point the roundtrip hike was 7.2 miles with a little over 700′ of elevation gain.

It felt great to finally get our 2024 hiking year underway. We’re looking forward to seeing where our wanderings wind up taking us this year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: C2C Trail -Sugar Bowl Segment

Tags Burnt Woods, C2C Trail, Corvallis, Corvallis to Sea Trail, Hike Oregon, hiking, Oregon, rough skinned newt, Shot Pouch Road, Sugar Bowl, Sugar Bowl Creek Trail, Sugar Bowl Segment, The 4-Way

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Mt. Tabor, Mt. Talbert, Scouters Mtn., & Hidden Falls Parks – 12/16/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 19, 2023
No Comments on Mt. Tabor, Mt. Talbert, Scouters Mtn., & Hidden Falls Parks – 12/16/2023

For our final outing of 2023 we headed to Portland to visit some Boring volcanoes. Not to be confused with boring, the Boring Volcanic Field which consists of more than 80 small volcanic vents and associated lava flows dispersed throughout the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Several of the resulting cinder cones are home to parks providing hiking opportunities and we planned on visiting three of these along with a city park with a 15′ waterfall.

We began our morning at Portland’s Mt. Tabor Park. We parked in in the lot next to the Mount Tabor Visitors Center and set off toward the playground.
The playground behind and to the right of the signboard at the Visitors Center.

We were attempting to follow, as closely as possible, the route described by Matt Reeder in “PDX Hiking 365”. (His hike has a different starting point but loops through the parking area where we were starting.) After a little confusion near the playground we located the red trail and followed it to the Mount Tabor Stairs where we turned right.
The red trail continuing on the far end of the playground.

Mt. St. Helens from the playground.

On the red trail.

The Mount Tabor stairs extend from the park border up to the summit.

Summit restrooms

The restrooms were reopened in 2017 after being renovated.

Mount Tabor summit

Mt. Hood from the summit.

Downtown Portland

At the southern end of the summit, near the former site of a statue of Harvey W. Scott (and later a bust of York), we headed downhill on a steeper trail.

At a wide junction we turned right onto the Red Trail and passed above Reservoir No. 1.

At Reservoir Loop Road we veered left staying on the Red Trail climbing up and over Poison Oak Hill. The trail then dropped back down to the loop road near Reservoir No. 5.

Mallards

We walked along reservoir road to a small building then crossed the road and headed down a long flight of stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs we turned right on the Green Trail and followed it past some tennis courts before turning uphill. We stuck to the Green Trail as it neared the parking area and followed it back behind The Crater before arriving back at the Visitors Center.

We forked right at this junction sticking to the green pointers.

Arriving at The Crater.

Coming around The Crater near the Visitors Center.

This was just over a two-mile loop with approximately 350′ of elevation gain.

From Mount Tabor we made the nine-mile drive to the Sunnyside Road Trailhead for the Mount Talbert Nature Park.

We set off on a gravel path that descended to a metal bridge over Mount Scott Creek.
Mount Talbert from the path.

Mount Scott Creek

Beyond the creek the forested trail began to climb Mount Talbert. We passed a junction with the Cedar Park Trail joining from the left and after 0.4-miles arrived at a T-junction with the Park Loop Trail.

The Park Loop Trail junction just uphill.

Mount Talbert is an Oregon Metro park which meant well marked junctions complete with small maps.
Note that the map at the Park Loop/Sunnyside Road Trail junction mis-identifies the location with the “You Are Here” star located at the Park Loop/Summit Ridge junction.

We turned left onto the Park Loop Trail and followed it further uphill to the actual Summit Ridge Trail junction.

We turned right onto the Summit Ridge Trail and followed it up and over the wooded summit to the West Ridge Trail.

Arriving at the West Ridge Trail junction.

We turned right again and followed the West Ridge Trail as it traversed the hillside brining us back to the Park Loop Trail.

Rejoining the Park Loop Trail.

We completed the loop and turned down the Sunnyside Road Trail to return to our car to complete this 2.5-mile (and 700′ gain) hike.
Mt. Adams was visible through the web of small branches.

A snowy Mt. Adams.

Back at the Sunnyside Road Trail.

From the Sunnyside Road Trailhead it was just a 3.5-mile drive to the parking area at Scouters Mountain Nature Park.

From the parking area we set off on the paved Shelter Trail toward the summit.

After just 0.2-miles we arrived at the shelter and a great view of Mt. Hood.

The benches throughout the park contained various nature sculptures, this one is “Moss Group”.

After admiring the mountain we made a small loop on the summit then continued on our larger loop by taking the Boomer Trail at the southern end of the summit downhill and looping around the East side of the mountain to return to the parking area.
On the Boomer Trail.

The Boomer Trail turned left at the bottom of these stone steps.

Another Metro trail map and pointers.

The Boomer Trail, named for Mountain Beavers which are sometimes called boomers, crossed the entrance road before climbing back up to the parking area.

This was an impressive root system.

A less obstructed view of Mt. Adams. (Mt. St. Helens was also briefly visible from this section of trail.)

Slightly clearer shot of Mt. Adams.

Back at the trailhead.

This was just a 1.3-mile loop with 200′ of elevation gain, and it was still early enough that we could easily fit one more stop in. From Scouters Mountain we drove another 4.5-miles to Hood View Park

At the far end of the parking area we followed a service road down to SE 162nd Ave and followed it right to its end at a sign for the Hidden Falls Nature Park.

Mt. St. Helens from the service road. Mt. Hood was also visible to the right through some fences around the ball fields.

A wide path led somewhat steeply downhill a third of a mile to an impressive bridge over Rock Creek and a view of Hidden Falls.

The large area to the right didn’t offer much of a view of the falls, but the view from the bridge was great.

We continued past the bridge a short distance along Rock Creek before turning around when the path veered away to climb up into another neighborhood.

The Oregon Hikers Field Guide describes a 4.1-mile loop that visits some other parks while also passing through several neighborhoods. We were content with seeing the falls and headed back making this just a 1.2-mile out-and-back with a couple hundred feet of elevation gain. For the day we logged 7.2-miles and 1475′ of cumulative elevation gain. It was a nice relaxing way to end our 2023 hiking season. Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Tags Happy Valley, Hidden Falls, Hidden Falls Nature Park, hiking, Hood View Park, Mount Tabor, Mount Talbert, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Tabor Park, Mt. Talbert, Mt. Talbert Nature Park, Oregon, Oregon Metro, Portland, Rock Creek, Scouters Mountain, Scouters Mountain Nature Park

Central Coast Hiking Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

D River, Nesika Park, and Cutler City Wetlands – 11/18/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 20, 2023
1 Comment on D River, Nesika Park, and Cutler City Wetlands – 11/18/2023

Back on January 1st we kicked off our 2023 hiking year by visiting several trails in Lincoln City, OR (post). During that outing we kept seeing signs referring to the Lincoln City Trail Challenge. A little post hike research revealed that the challenge involved trails in eight of the city’s open spaces, the five we’d visited that day plus The Knoll which we’d visited in 2021 (post) and two hadn’t visited, Nesika Park and Cutler City Wetlands. The actual challenge is to find the trail challenge signs at each open space and snap a selfie, but we rarely ever take a selfie, and we didn’t have a picture of the sign from The Knoll. That didn’t stop us from wanting to at least visit the final two challenge locations, so when a brief window of dry weather presented itself on one of our days off we headed to Lincoln City to do just that.

Given that the two remaining locations provide less than a mile and a half of hiking we consulted the Oregon Hikers Field Guide for additional ideas and landed on their Nelscott Beach Hike. This approximately eight-mile hike would visit a lake, the D River (Once recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records as the worlds shortest river.), and Siletz Bay.

We began the hike at the D River State Recreation Site.

Before heading onto the beach we walked inland, crossing Highway 101 at a stop light, then passed over the D River and turned right into Hostetler Park.
The highway from the parking lot.

The D River from the highway bridge. The river flows between Devil’s Lake and the Pacific Ocean and at high tide has a length of approximately 40 yards.

Hostetler Park.

At the far end of the small park was a sign for the D River Open Space and a short trail leading to a long boardwalk.

We followed the boardwalk to a campground at Devil’s Lake State Recreation Area.
Several interpretive signs were located along the boardwalk.

One of the interpretive signs.

Nearing the campground.

We turned right at the campground entrance and followed the campground road to a paved (and flooded) path to a moorage.

Orange cones, and a cat, at the far end of the path.

We were able to follow the path far enough to see the moorage and a small portion of the lake.

We returned to the campground road and looped back around to the entrance booth and the boardwalk then hiked back to the parking lot and headed down to the beach.
Program area in the campground.

View North from the beach.

Cascade Head (post) in the sunlight behind God’s Thumb.

Seagulls at the mouth of the D River.

We headed South along the beach for nearly three miles to Siletz Bay where we turned inland across from Salishan Spit (post). It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was perfect and there was little to no breeze. We spent the majority of time watching pelicans glide just above the ocean while the occasional seal would pop it’s head up in the surf. There were also a number of ocean birds floating offshore, mostly surf scooters but there were some others mixed in.

There were of course plenty of seagulls present.

There weren’t very many ocean rocks along this stretch of beach.

Surf scooters

Loon, probably a common loon.

Baldy Creek

The largest group of offshore rocks were near the Inn at the Spanish Head.
The inn on the left with the rocks extending into the Pacific.

Cormorants and seagulls

This was a big tree that we were able to walk under.

A short distance beyond the Inn at the Spanish Head are some stairs leading down from 44th St. Here the beach widens as it nears the bay. We turned inland toward the stairs and followed paths through the brush and driftwood.

Salishan Spit across the Siletz.

Asters on the beach.

Pelicans on the left and seals on the right at the end of Salishan Spit.

Pelicans and seagull

Seals and a seagull

We walked along the bay to the Taft Dock for a short break before heading back.

We stopped briefly on our way back to watch the wildlife on the spit.

Drying off

On our way back we noticed that some pelicans had joined the cormorants and gulls on the rocks near the Inn at Spanish Head.

Pelican mouths are a sight to behold (righthand side).

Cascade Head and God’s Thumb both in the sunlight now.

After reaching our car we made the 0.8-mile drive to Nesika Park. The park is part of the trail challenge and home to sign #8. There is only room for a couple of cars at the end of the gravel road which was fine given we were the only car there at 11am.

While there is a trail through a small, forested area, the entire outing was just 0.3 miles out-and-back. We did however get a photo of the Trail Challenge sign near the Nesika Park Story Circle.

The Story Circle

Trail Challenge sign #8.

The trail ends at SE 3rd St (no parking available).

After accomplishing our goal here we hopped back into the car and continued South on Hwy 101 to find the Cutler City Wetlands Trailhead.

Here there were three other cars and a few more trail options.

While there are more trails to choose from here the total milage is just about 1.25 miles. We opted to loop around the outside with detours to the Salt Marsh Overlook and Pond’s Edge.

To the left is the very short spur to the Salt Marsh Overlook which was too overgrown to really see anything.

Interpretive sign at the overlook.

A noisy little hummer near the overlook.

There was pretty good signage at the main trail junctions.

Boardwalks helped cross the wet areas.

Pond’s Edge spur trail.

At the edge of the pond.

We hadn’t expected to see any blooming rhododendrons.

Arriving at the signboards at the start of the loop.

This was a nice area and a pleasant hike, but by sticking to the outside trails we missed seeing the Trail Challenge sign. I briefly thought about wandering through the center searching for it, but since we didn’t get a picture of the sign at The Knoll even if I found it, we wouldn’t have a full set. Maybe someday we’ll get actual pictures of those last two but for now we’re satisfied with having visited all these unique little parks/open spaces.

In all the days mileage came in at 9.3 with no more than 50′ of total elevation gain.

Today’s hikes are highlighted. The others are from our January outing.

Late Fall and Winter are great times to visit the Oregon Coast and today was no exception. Happy Trails!

Flickr: D River, Nesika Park, and Cutler City Wetlands

Tags Cutler City Wetlands, D River, D River State Recreation Area, Devil's Lake State Recreation Area, Devils Lake, hiking, lincoln city, Lincoln city trail challenge, Nesika Park, Oregon, Oregon Coast, salishan spit, siletz bay

Central Coast Hiking Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

Oceanside, Short Beach, Tillamook Wetlands, and Anderson Hill – 10/28/23

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 30, 2023
1 Comment on Oceanside, Short Beach, Tillamook Wetlands, and Anderson Hill – 10/28/23

A cold snap arrived in conjunction with the final hike of our official 2023 season leaving us with a decision to make about where to go. One of the great things about living in Western Oregon are the hiking options. We were debating between heading to Government Camp near Mt. Hood to see some of the new snow that the system had brought with it, or to the beach where things would be a little bit warmer. In the end we decided that we weren’t quite ready for a Winter wonderland yet, and highs in the low to mid 50s sounded a little more appealing than highs in the low to mid 30s. The beach it was where we had some unfinished business at Oceanside.

We had attempted to hike the beach at Oceanside earlier in the year on a different multi-stop day (post), but had saved it for the final stop only to find the area so crowded that there was no place to park. We wouldn’t be making that mistake again so this time it was stop number one on the itinerary. We had no issue finding a parking spot this time arriving just as the Moon was disappearing behind Three Arch Rocks.
From left to right: Storm, Finely, and Shag Rocks.

Three Arch Rocks is one of two designated wilderness areas along the Oregon Coast Managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife as a wildlife refuge the 15-acre wilderness area was the first designated refuge West of the Mississippi and is one of only a few wilderness areas entirely closed to entry by the general public.

From the parking lot we took the stairs down to the beach and headed north toward the Tunnel which leads through Maxwell Point to Tunnel Beach.
Cape Lookout (post) to the south.

Maxwell Point

View from beside Maxwell Point.

The Tunnel was built in 1926.

The Tunnel from Tunnel Beach.

Three Arch Rocks from Tunnel Beach.

We hiked North along the beach passing a rocky point to Agate Beach before turning around where that beach ended at a cliff a little more than a third of a mile from the Tunnel.
The end of Tunnel Beach. At higher tide it’s not possible to get around the point here.

Getting closer to the end of Tunnel Beach. This set of ocean rocks are part of the Oregon Islands Wilderness, A string of of over 5,600 rocks, reefs, islets, and islands lying within three miles offshore mirroring almost the entire length of the Oregon coast from Tillamook Head to the California border. Like Three Arch Rocks this wilderness is also closed to the public.

Bald eagle on top of one of the rocks.

Seal

Agate Beach

Cape Lookout from Agate Beach.

After reaching the cliff we headed back to the Tunnel and then continued South along the beach 2.3-miles to Hodgdon Creek across from Netarts Spit (post).

An assortment of sea birds.

Maxwell Point and Cape Lookout

Sun starting to hit the Three Arch Rocks.

Sand dollar

Cormorants. There was a steady stream of flocks of birds heading south along the coastline.

Footbridge over Fall Creek.

Fall Creek

Frosty leaves near Fall Creek.

Great blue heron in a tree above Fall Creek.

Happy Camp

Hodgdon Creek

Seagulls and common mergansers near Hodgdon Creek.

Buffleheads

Netarts Spit

Happy Camp from our turn around point.

We returned the way we’d come and then drove North on Cape Meares Loop Road just under a mile and a half to a pullout across from a sign for Short Beach.
Three Arch Rocks and Maxwell Point now in full Sun.

A local built the staircase leading down to Short Beach and it is about as “Oregon Coast” as a staircase could be.

The beach only extends a short distance to the South.

The sea stack and Short Creek Spillway to the North.

We headed North along the cobblestone beach which isn’t the easiest surface to hike on, especially when they are wet and slightly frosty. On the positive side the cobblestones added some great sounds to the ocean as the waves tossed them about then rolled them over one another as the waves receded.

Starfish

The sea stack

Cape Meares (post)

I didn’t notice the little waterfall along the cliffs below Cape Mears until I looked at the pictures.

Red-throated loon

A third of a mile from the stairs we reached Larsen Creek Falls.

Apparently at low tide it’s possible to reach the cliffs below Cape Meares, but the tide was coming in and it also appeared that some sliding had occurred at some point, so we turned around a tenth of a mile beyond Larsen Creek Falls.
The area ahead in the shade is where things started looking a little sketchy.

These two beach hikes came to a total of 6.6-miles, 5.5 at Oceanside and 1.1 at Short Beach. From Short Beach we drove to Tillamook to try the Tillamook Bay Wetlands hike which I’d found as I was looking through the Oregon Hikers Field Guide. We parked at the Goodspeed Road Trailhead. The field guide entry showed this as a 3.6-mile loop following dikes through wetlands between the Wilson, Trask, and Tillamook Rivers. We were immediately confused due to the field guide mentioning a map and metal gate at the Goodspeed Trailhead but there was neither at the signed parking area.
Apparently there used to be a metal gate here instead of a the rope/chain.

We were pretty sure we’d followed the driving directions though so we stepped over the chain onto the grassy dike and began following it through the wetlands.

Bald eagles in the tree tops.

Bald eagles

The map in the field guide showed an elongated loop following what Google Maps and the GPS showed as the continuation of Goodspeed Road to the Wilson River then along that river to the Tillamook River where the route looped back along it then the Trask to Sissek Road. The dike we were on though reached a slough where it turned sharply South.
This is where the dike/path turned South. Our best guess is that there has been additional wetland restoration since the entry in the field guide and some of the dikes that the guide route followed have been removed.

We didn’t come up with our theory about what was going on until after we got home. While we were hiking we kept checking the GPS map/track and comparing it to the map in the field guide. We still weren’t sure if we really had started in the right spot given the lack of a metal gate and map at the trailhead or if we’d missed a turn somewhere. We continued to follow the dike system which looped around and after just over a half mile the GPS showed that we were on Sissek Road (now a grassy dike).
We weren’t getting across that.

Somewhere out that way, beyond the slough, was the Wilson River.

Now heading East toward Sissek Road.

At this point we had left Sissek Road which used to extend straight from Goodspeed Road where the signs and rope/chain is in this photo (ahead to the right at the 90-degree turn).

The dike system brought us to another signed parking area we’d pass on the way to the Goodspeed Road Trailhead. This one is just past a one-lane bridge over Hall Slough.

At this point we were sure we’d started at the correct trailhead and were now convinced we’d missed a turn somewhere near the start of the hike. First we tried walking a grassy track South from this parking area which brought us to another muddy slough, but not before spotting an egret and a great blue heron.

We backtracked to the parking area and then hiked Goodspeed Road back to the trailhead where I began searching for a different route.
Hawk above Goodspeed Road.

One path led down to Hall Slough ending in mud at it’s bank.

A second path led north on what the GPS showed as a former road but it was too overgrown and flooded to make it far.

We wound up doing just 1.9-miles here including the out-and-back explorations.

It was a fine little hike and we saw a nice little variety of birds, but it was a little disappointing not to be able to see any of the rivers. We had one last stop planned, another short hike I found in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide, the Anderson Hill Loop . The trail begins at Anderson Hill County Park to the right of a metal picnic table.

The 1.2-mile reverse lollipop loop gains just 130′ as it climbs to a power line corridor on Anderson Hill. The view from the power lines is of course limited due to the power lines, but the trail was in good shape and the forest was nice making for a decent little outing.

Junction with the spur trail to the power line corridor.

Footbridge and stairs leading back up to the picnic table.

The four hikes came to just 9.7-miles and 270′ of cumulative elevation gain and included ocean views, waterfalls, forests, wetlands, and ample wildlife.

It was a beautiful day weather wise and great way to end our season. We’ll scale back our hiking for the next 5-6 months, but we plan on getting out at least once a month until our 2024 season kicks off. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tillamook Area Hikes

Diamond Peak Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 23, 2023
No Comments on Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

After skipping a planned hike due to illness (and some less-than-ideal weather) we got back on track with a trip to the Diamond Peak Wilderness. The plan for the day was to start by taking the Vivian Lake Trail to Vivian Lake in the wilderness then hike the nearby Hemlock Butte Trail up to a former lookout site followed by a second stop to visit Pool Creek Falls. We began at the Vivian Lake Trailhead following the Vivian Lake Trail past an empty wilderness registration box and gaining some views of Diamond Peak.

The trail climbed gradually for 0.6-miles to a junction with the Diamond Peak Tie Trail. We had been at this junction before when we backpacked around Diamond Peak (post).

Along the way we entered the wilderness area.

We continued on the Vivian Lake Trail arriving at Notch Lake after another quarter mile.

We continued beyond Notch Lake arriving at the Mt. Yoran Trail junction after another 0.2-miles.

During our loop around Diamond Peak we’d turned onto the Mt. Yoran Trail here, but today we stuck to the Vivian Lake Trail which spent the next 1.2-miles climbing to a saddle. At times the trail was nearly level while at other times it launched steeply uphill. While it was too late in the year for flowers there were numerous colorful mushrooms and fungi along the way.

It looks to have been a good year for beargrass.

The trail was well maintained with only one small log across the entire route to Vivian Lake.

Another level section.

Pond along the trail.

The saddle at the high point of the trail.

After catching our breath at the saddle we began the mile and a half descent to Vivian Lake. The first two tenths of a mile the trail dropped steeply downhill to a shelf where it leveled out as it passed a pair of unnamed lakes.
Maiden Peak (post) across Highway 58 through the trees.

We passed the smaller of the two lakes a half mile below the saddle.

The second lake, which was just 100 yards from the first, was much larger.

Mt. Yoran from the lake.

Ridge above the lakes.

A tenth of a mile from the lakes the trail began another steep descent along a trickling creek before leveling out next to a marsh.
Just before beginning the descent the trail passed South of a third small pond/lake that was visible through the trees.

Heading down to the creek.

The marsh

Mt Yoran from the marsh. While it looks like a meadow, Fall Creek flows through here, and at times we could see water out in the grass.

Just 0.2-miles beyond the marsh we arrived at a junction with a spur trail to Vivian Lake.

We’d been to this junction before as well, in 2013 we had visited the lake as part of our Salt Creek Falls Hike (post). We turned left onto the spur trail and followed it a short distance to the lake.

We were able to use these rocks to hop across this narrow channel to the North shore of the lake where we were able to get a view of Mt. Yoran.

After exploring part of the northern shore I headed back across the channel and followed the trail around the South side of the lake until it petered out near a peninsula.

While I was exploring Heather was admiring the changing leaves.

When we headed back we took a brief off-trail detour from the Vivian Lake Trail to Fall Creek which we could hear from the junction with the spur trail.

After returning to the trail we headed back the way we’d come. The climb to the saddle was as steep as we’d expected so a rest was warranted prior to dropping down to Notch Lake where we stopped to watch several ducks enjoying the warm Autumn day.
Varied thrush. These continue to be the most frustrating frequently seen bird to try and photograph.

I believe these were ring-necked ducks.

Beyond Notch Lake we finally ran into some other people. We passed a single hiker on the far end of the lake and a group of six near the wilderness boundary. Those were the only people we would see on the trails all day.

Diamond Peak from the trail on the way back.

When we made it back to the trailhead we had the choice of getting in our car and driving a tenth of a mile back up Forest Road 23 to the Hemlock Butte Trail or walk there. We opted to walk and hiked past our car and up the road to the well signed trail.

The Hemlock Butte Trail is just a half mile long but gains 500′ to the site of a former fire lookout. While it was well signed, this trail was not anywhere near as well maintained as the Vivian Lake Trail had been. A number of downed trees combined with overgrown sections and some poor tread made the short climb an adventure.
Not all of the blowdown was as easy as this log to get over/under.

Multiple switchbacks kept the lower portion of the climb from feeling too steep.

The Hemlock Butte Trail succumbing to the vegetation.

The summit of Hemlock Butte is a rocky outcrop which required a fair amount of scrambling over the final 250′ to reach the small flat summit where the lookout once stood.

An obvious spur trail at the base of the rock outcrop leads to a view of Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak. For those not comfortable with the scramble this is a good goal.

The trail to the summit at the junction with the spur.

Scrambling up

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak from the summit.

Wolf Mountain to the NW with clouds covering the Willamette Valley in the distance.

The view South.

Looking down from the summit. (The trail is to the right.)

Heather opted to stick to the spur trail viewpoint so after I’d taken in the view I headed back down. We decided that I would go ahead and bring the car up to the Hemlock Trail to pick her up. My hike here came in at 10.4 miles with approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

After picking up Heather we headed for Pool Creek Falls which was located back off of Forest Road 23. The driving directions had been plugged into my phone but at some point during the first hike the route was lost and without signal we couldn’t use the phones to relocate Pool Creek. We had made note of it when we’d passed by that morning though so we started back trying to picture what the area/road had looked like because the creek was not visible from the road. Now the first 15.7 miles this road is paved (save for one very short gravel section) before turning to good gravel for the final 3.7 miles to the Vivian Lake Trailhead and we were both fairly certain that we had been on the gravel section when we’d passed by (wrong) so when we reached pavement we pulled over and used the GPS unit. We found Pool Creek on that map and confirmed that it was still about 2 miles away. We parked along the shoulder of FR23 across from the partially hidden sign announcing the trail.
The “trailhead” was just under 14 miles from Highway 58 or just over 5.5 miles from the Vivian Lake Trailhead.

The trail sign on the right. The Pool Creek Trail #4228 shows up on the Forest Service map, but they don’t have a dedicated webpage for it. We were made aware of the trail by following Hike Oregon, a good resource both online and through several guidebooks.

We had a little trouble getting started as the Forest Service and GPS maps both showed the trail following the right (East) side of the creek for a short distance before crossing over and initially there was obvious tread heading in that direction. The canyon quickly narrowed though, and we came to a large log that would have to be the trail in order for us to proceed any further but it was obvious that it wasn’t really the trail.

What looks like it might be tread ahead is actually the log.

Looking across at the other side of the creek the canyon wall seemed too vertical to be supporting a trail but we weren’t going any further on this side, so we backtracked to what looked like a faint path we had passed near the beginning. We had taken it to be a use trail down to the creek but now that we looked closer, we could make out a trail covered in leaves switchbacking up on the far side.
The Pool Creek Trail to the left of the creek. Here you can see the first switchback turning steeply uphill.

The makeshift creek crossing.

At the third switchback.

The trail was in reasonably good shape with a couple of larger logs to navigate. A little research showed that the Cascade Volunteers have this trail on their radar and had done some work on the trail in 2022.

The reason we hadn’t noticed the trail on the far side was because it climbed quite a bit in an initial series of short switchbacks so from where we had been the trail was already much higher than we’d expected it would be. In the photo Heather is coming up to the third switchback below.

These two trees are mentioned in the May 2022 trail update on the Cascade Volunteers webpage.

This one was high enough to easily pass under. On the far side are more cut logs.

Just under a half mile from the road we arrived below Pool Creek Falls.
First view of the falls from the trail.

Pool Creek Falls

After navigating a slightly slick crossing of the creek I followed a trail up to and behind the falls. We were happy to find that there was enough water flowing this time of year to get to see the falls, but it would be much more impressive in wetter seasons.

We spent some time at the waterfall then headed back to the car and drove home. It had been just under a mile with a little over 200′ of elevation gain for Pool Creek Falls. It had been an interesting day with wilderness lakes, a summit viewpoint, and a waterfall on trails in various conditions. One word of warning regarding FR23 – the paved section has some massive holes/dips and a number of sunken sections requiring alert driving. For once I had actually been looking forward to reaching the gravel portion of the road. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls

Tags Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Fall Creek, Hemlock Butte, Hemlock Butte Trailhead, hiking, Mt. Yoran, Notch Lake, Oregon, Pool Creek Falls, Pool Creek Trail #4228, Vivian Lake, Vivian Lake Trail, Vivian Lake Trailhead, Willamette National Forest

Grants Pass Area Hiking Klamath/Siskiyou Mountains Oregon Trip report

Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake – 10/09/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 14, 2023
3 Comments on Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake – 10/09/2023

After double checking the weather forecast for our final two days in Grants Pass we’d decided that making an attempt at doing both of our remaining featured hikes on Monday provided us the best chance at semi-decent weather. Both trailheads were less than 40-miles from our room, but Grayback Mountain was to the SE while Babyfoot Lake was to the SW. A minor inconvenience but the extra driving in between might allow for some better weather in the afternoon at Babyfoot Lake. We’d already decided to stick to the shorter options for both hikes, partly due to the forecasted cloudy conditions and partly because Heather hadn’t been feeling well all weekend and I was feeling pretty spent after the previous two days of hiking. We began our morning under surprisingly dry skies as we left Grants Pass but soon found the rain as we neared the O’Brien Creek Lower Trailhead.

For his featured hikes Sullivan uses the O’Brien Creek Upper Trailhead but mentions a section of sharp rocks that can cause flat tires on the way to that trailhead. Starting at the lower trailhead would add 2-miles round trip but we felt it was worth not risking a flat. What we didn’t count on was how steeply sections of the 1-mile stretch would be as it climbed nearly 650′ to the upper trailhead.
O’Brien Creek near the trailhead.

It seemed like all of the climbs this weekend had been steep.

After two warm sunny days this hike finally felt like Fall.

As I approached this footbridge I noticed a yellow jacket fly into the big hole along the right side of the trail. A quick peak in revealed a busy nest so we wound up bushwacking uphill and around it hopping onto the bridge at the edge of the marsh ahead.

A nice newer looking sign at the upper trailhead.

At the upper trailhead we gave up on our rain gear. A light mist is all that was falling and our sweat from the climbing was making us wetter than the mist would. From the upper trailhead the trail followed an old roadbed for 0.2-miles.

At the end of the old roadbed this trail too decided to steepen greatly gaining approximately 900′ in nearly a mile to a junction with a spur trail to the Grayback Snow Shelter.

There were a few really big trees in the forest along the trail.

Grayback Mountain from the trail.

The trail crossing O’Brien Creek.

The junction with the spur trail to the snow shelter. It took me far too long to realize that the sign was upside down. I couldn’t figure out why it thought the Boundary Trail was to the left, after looking at it a few more times it dawned on me that the words were upside down.

Ah ha! It wouldn’t stay this way but it sure made more sense.

For the longer option to the summit of Grayback Mountain we would have taken the right-hand fork and gained another 1600′ to 1700′ over the 1.8-miles to the summit. Instead we forked left losing a little elevation over the 0.2-miles to the shelter.

There had been another car at the lower trailhead and we thought that the owner might be staying in the shelter but when we hiked past the shelter into Grayback Meadows we could hear voices in the trees.

There used to be a cabin out in the meadows and now there is a snow gauge and a campsite which may be where the voices were coming from.

We took a quick peak inside the shelter where some of the backpacker’s stuff was.

After checking out the shelter and meadows we returned the way we’d come.
It was steep going down too.

Trail pointer near the upper trailhead marking the continuation of the O’Brien Creek Trail to the lower trailhead.

We always enjoy seeing madrones on our hikes in Southern Oregon.

Slug on a shroom.

Bug on a shroom.

One more steep drop to the lower trailhead.

Our hike here came to 4.8-miles and upwards of 1750′ of elevation gain.

From the trailhead we drove North to Murphy then cut over to Highway 199 and headed back South to the Babyfoot Lake Trailhead. While the amount of precipitation during our hike to Grayback Meadows had been far less than we’d expected (we even spotted a small window of blue sky) it was raining steadily as we started up the gravel roads to the Babyfoot Lake Trailhead. Not only that but we quickly found ourselves in the cloud limiting visibility so it was a tedious 12-miles of bumpy roads.

Wind and rain met us at the trailhead and our rain jackets made a second appearance. The trail began at a signboard and traversed a hillside below Hungry Hill for 0.3-miles to a fork.

The forest is recovering from the 2002 Biscuit Fire.

To the left was the Babyfoot Lake Rim Trail. Sullivan’s longer option here include following this trail 0.9-miles to a viewpoint above the lake. Given the fog that seemed pointless, and it also looked like that trail was in need of some maintenance.

We forked right and continued to descend through the fog for nearly a mile to the lake.

A small stream with crystal clear water along the trail.

My nemesis, the varied thrush.

Near the lake the trail passes this rock outcrop which is a viewpoint without the fog.

Some of the trees around the lake survived the 2002 fire.

Babyfoot Lake lies just within the Kalmiopsis Wilderness boundary, marking just the second time (post) we’d visited this nearly 180,000-acre wilderness.

After visiting the lake we headed back up toward the car. Before we’d even made it past the rocky viewpoint the clouds began to break up revealing some patches of sunlight and blue sky.

I of course had to head out onto the viewpoint given the rapidly changing conditions.

Conditions continued to improve as we climbed back to the trailhead revealing more of the wilderness and surrounding terrain.

The patterns on this snag caught my eye.

The trailhead on the ridge ahead.

This short hike came to just 2.6-miles and 360′ of elevation gain and marked the completion of our quest to hike at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” edition 4.2 (post).

With Southern Oregon complete, joining the Central Oregon Cascades, Coast & Coast Range, and NW Oregon & SW Washington, we are down to just 16 Eastern Oregon hikes to reach 500. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake

Tags Babyfoot Lake, Babyfoot Lake Trail, Babyfoot Lake Trailhead, Boundary Trail, Grants Pass, Grayback Meadows, Grayback Mountain, Grayback Snow Shelter, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, O'Brien Creek Lower Trailhead, O'Brien Creek Trail, O'Brien Creek Upper Trailhead, Oregon, William L Sullivan