Category: Trip report

Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 04/13/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 17, 2023
2 Comments on Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 04/13/2023

We have eagerly been awaiting the arrival of Spring but instead we are seemingly stuck in Winter. I had scheduled a couple of days off in mid-April with dreams of sunny hikes filled with wildflowers and great views. Those dreams were put on hold and my hopes turned to dry hikes with decent views and maybe some wildlife.

I turned to an old reliable source for wildlife for my first hike of my extended weekend and made the 15 minute drive to the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. Despite its proximity to our house this was only my fourth time hiking at the refuge, in large part due to the fact that the vast majority of the trails and refuge is closed from October 1st through March 31st. With our official hiking season running from the start of May through the end of October our window for visiting is basically just the month of April unless it shows up on our actual schedule. (My previous visits were in April, May and July.)

The forecast was for a dry, partly cloudy morning with a chance of showers starting after 11am. There was however a frost advisory, so I was expecting a chilly outing. As I pulled out of our garage I was encouraged to see the start of what looked to be a beautiful sunrise. As the crow flies the refuge is a mere 8 miles from home, but it lies in a valley while we are on a hill. As I drove down the hill toward the highway I quickly realized that low lying clouds were camped out in the valley and a solid bank of fog greeted me at the Baskett Butte Trailhead.

The fog made my choice of whether to visit the viewing platform atop Baskett Butte now or on the way back easy, so when I came to the Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop I veered right.

I had a rough idea of where all I was hoping to go on this visit and now that I knew I was saving the viewpoint for later the plan came more into focus. I would follow the Memorial Loop to the Inter-Tie Trail and take that trail to the Moffitti Morgan Loop Trail. I planned on hiking that loop clockwise to visit Moffitti Marsh and then Morgan Lake before taking the Inter-Tie Trail back to the Memorial Loop.
There were a few buttercups blooming in the grass and not much else along this side of the Memorial Trail.

A lone strawberry blossom.

The Inter-Tie Trail was a wet and muddy affair. I could hear a lot of birds in the surrounding trees but couldn’t make any of them out unless they flew right in front of me.

I went left here which got me out of the slick mud but onto even wetter grass.

There hadn’t been a lot to get excited about as I made my way along the loop until I got close to Moffitti Marsh which was full of water from our wet Spring.
Coming up on the marsh which is just on the other side of the dip in the road.

Two rabbits trying to decide if they were going to keep eating grass or race off into the blackberry bushes.

While there were a decent number of ducks in the water at the marsh getting pictures or even making out what types they were was difficult due to the fog.

Ring-necked ducks

I think this is a marsh wren.

Beyond the marsh the trail follows a fence line along some farmland, and it was along this stretch that the I got the first sign that the fog might be starting to lift.

By the time I’d reached Smithfield Road, where the trail turns right, I was in a fairly clear pocket which was fortunate because there were several different types of birds in the area.

I think the 2nd goose in from the right is a cackling goose while the others are Canada geese. It’s a bit smaller and the white patch is shaped differently.

Swallows

California quail

Just before reaching the Smithfield Road Trailhead I passed a bustling wetland with northern shovelers and cinnamon teals.

Cinnamon teals

Northern shoveler drake

Northern shoveler females

Signs at the Smithfield Road Trailhead.

My break from the fog was short lived and I found it again at Morgan Lake.

There were a lot of ducks out on the lake but again they were not easy to make out.
Buffleheads

Ring-necked duck

Possibly a lesser scaup.

Mallards

The trail along the swollen lake was basically flooded which made for a cold trudge through the grass and mud. It turned out to be worth it though as shortly after passing the lake I spotted a herd of elk on a hillside that we’d seen elk on before.

The only bull I could pick out.

When the loop trail made a 180 degree turn to begin climbing back toward the Inter-Tie Trail I refocused on looking for wildflowers. I quickly spotted a few fawn lilies.

My focus bounced between the numerous birds that were singing and flitting about in the trees and looking for more flowers as I continued uphill.
Robin

Bench overlooking Morgan Lake

Morgan Lake from the bench.

Spotted towhees

A lot of geese way below the trail.

I took the Inter-Tie Trail back to the Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop where I veered right to finish it and visit the viewing platform.

I started seeing a lot of toothwort on this side of the loop.

More fawn lilies too.

The viewing platform on Baskett Butte to the right.

One of several western meadowlarks (Oregon’s state bird) on the butte.

American kestral

A better look at the yellow on the meadowlarks.

View from the platform.

I called an audible at the viewpoint and decided to finally follow the small but obvious path down the SE side of Baskett Butte. I wasn’t sure exactly where it came out but I suspected that it came out somewhere along Coville Road. If my suspicion was correct then I planned on following Coville Road south to the Cackler Marsh Trail, one that I hadn’t hiked before.
Sign along the path.

More fawn lilies.

The path leading down toward Coville Road. The outhouse at the Baskett Butte Trailhead is on the left below.

Baskett Butte from below.

Sure enough the path ended at Coville Road a very short distance from the outhouse. I turned south (right) on the road and followed it 0.2-miles to a gate at the start of the Cackler Trail.

The trail is simply a dike road that leads to the refuge HQs.

The headquarters is to the left of the road on the far side of South Slough.

I followed this trail to the end of the water before turning around. There were a lot of ducks, geese, and blackbirds around.

Also a bunch of American coots.

Northern shovelers

Buffleheads

Red-winged blackbird

Yellowlegs (probably lesser)

Baskett Butte (left) from my turn around point.

On the way back to the trailhead I did spot a lone ruddy duck dozing along the shore.

The ruddy duck woke up after all the American coots headed off.

Savannah sparrow

One more American kestral

My outing came in at 6.6 miles with a little over 300′ of elevation gain. It turned out to be a nice morning after the early fog and by the end I had some views of the snow in the Coast Range.

Hopefully actual Spring weather is just around the corner because our hiking season sure is. The snow pack is currently well above average which is great, but we are ready for some sunshine. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Baskett Slough 2023

Tags Baskett Butte, Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge, Cackler Trail, elk, geese, hiking, Inter-Tie Trail, Moffiti Marsh, Moffitti Marsh Trail, Moffitti Morgan Loop Trail, Morgan Lake, Morgan Lake Trail, Oregon, Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail, Ruddy Duck, Smithfield Road Trailhead, Western Meadowlark, Willamette Valley

Corvallis Hiking Oregon Trip report Willamette Valley

Fitton Green Natural Area – 03/11/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 13, 2023
1 Comment on Fitton Green Natural Area – 03/11/2023

Since mid-February we’ve had several rounds of snow, lots of rain, and a stretch of cool (cold) temperatures. We are more than ready for Spring to arrive. A well-timed break in the weather pattern gave us an opportunity to get back to hiking with a trip to Benton County’s Fitton Green Natural Area. While the Fitton Green Natural Area is managed by Benton County a network of trails also allows access to land managed by the Crestmont Land Trust, Greenbelt Land Trust, and the City of Corvallis (Bald Hill Natural Area).

We had visited Bald Hill in 2016 (post) so for this visit we chose to start at the Wren Trailhead (Cardwell Hill West TH) and visit the Crestmont Land Trust and Fitton Green trails.

The signboard at the trailhead had a good map which revealed two trails that were not present on the map I’d downloaded from the County’s website, the North and Bridge Trails.

Of the two the North Trail most interested us as it would allow us to avoid repeating a section of the Cardwell Hill Trail. The Bridge Trail would have been an option had we been looking for a shorter loop. After settling on our route we set off on the Cardwell Hill Trail.

From the trail we had a brief view of Marys River.

We followed the gravel roadbed turned trail for half a mile, crossing into the Crestmont Land Trust area, to the well signed junction with the North Trail.
The forecast was for patchy morning fog with a chance of light showers between Noon and 3pm and partly sunny skies. They got the patchy morning fog part right.

The first of three abandoned cars we’d pass on the day. This one was in a field on a hillside before entering the Crestmont Land Trust.

Interpretive signs greeted us as we entered the Crestmont Land Trust.

The North Trail junction.

We turned uphill on the North Trail at the junction where we encountered the first of several “Shovel Stations”.

The shovels can be used to remove cow pies from the trails during periods of cattle grazing in the land trust. Thankfully there was no grazing happening currently so there was no need to carry the shovel to the next station, but we thought it was a neat idea. The North Trail gained approximately 200′ in the first third of a mile where we came to a viewpoint with a fairly new looking gazebo and a unique set of table and chairs that had been carved from stumps.

The gazebo housed a small table with benches. A particularly nice touch was the lack of back on the bench that wasn’t facing the view which allows you to sit facing the view.

The view from the gazebo.

The stump table and chairs.

Not sure what the most recent gathering was but there was an interesting variety of items around the table.

After admiring the gazebo and odd table setting we continued on the North Trail which began a half mile descent back to the Cardwell Hill Trail.
Another bench along the trail.

Turkey tails

The Cardwell Hill Trail in the valley below the North Trail.

Dropping down to the Cardwell Hill Trail.

We turned back onto the Cardwell Hill Trail which quickly entered the Fitton Green Natural Area. We ignored two spurs of the Fitton Green North-South Trail on the right and followed this trail up and over its high point a total of 1.5 miles to the Cardwell Hill East Trailhead.
The first spur didn’t have any signage

The second spur had a marker naming it the Fitton Green North-South Trail.

Trail marker

Dimple Hill in the McDonald Forest (post).

The other two abandoned cars, these were outside of the natural area.

Arriving at the east trailhead.

We turned around at the trailhead and regained the 250+ feet that we’d dropped from the trail’s highpoint. The out and back to east trailhead wasn’t necessary but it was some good hill training for the hiking season to come. We then descended 300′ to the Fitton Green North-South Trail where we veered left.
One of the more impressive trees along this section of the Cardwell Hill Trail

The Fitton Green North-South Trail.

Tragedy nearly struck on this trail when a slow-moving slug barely avoided a foot.
Watch your step.

We followed this trail a total of 1.1 miles where we turned right onto the Allen Throop Loop Trail. Along the way we passed Amy’s Trail at the 0.4-mile mark, a private road at the 0.9-mile mark, and the western end of the Allen Throop Loop at the 1-mile mark.
Amy’s Trail

The clouds were beginning to break up as we climbed up this trail.

The western end of the Throop Loop.

The eastern end of the Allen Throop Loop. Continuing on the Fitton Green North-South Trail would have brought us to the Panorama Drive Trailhead.

We turned onto the Allen Throop Loop Trail which brought us to an oak savannah hillside.
There seems to have been a spelling error (Alan vs Allen) on the trail marker.

Plaque at a viewpoint along the Allen Throop Loop. Note that it is Allen not Alan on the plaque.

Despite the clouds breaking up we didn’t have a view of Marys Peak, the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range (post).

The trail overlooks the cities of Corvallis (to the left/east) and Philomath (straight/south).

Bald Hill with Corvallis beyond from the Throop Loop.

East toward the Coast Range.

We were too early for any wildflowers, especially this year with the lingering cold weather but we did spot some lupine leaves along the trail before we came to a bench at a junction with the Mulkey Ridge Trail.

This is the trail that connects Bald Hill with Fitton Green.

The trail made a slight climb from the bench arriving back at the Fitton Green North-South Trail less than a quarter mile later.
The junction from the Throop Loop Trail.

We turned left and retraced our steps on the Fitton Green North-South Trail to its junction with Amy’s Trail where we turned left (West) dropping into a denser forest.
Map at the start of Amy’s Trail.

Gate at the Fitton Green-Crestmont Land Trust border.

Creek along Amy’s Trail. With all the wet weather there was a fair amount of water in all the streams/creeks in the area.

After a third of a mile on Amy’s Trail we came to a junction with Creek Road.

We turned left crossing over the little unnamed creek to a T-junction near a picnic table. To the right was the Creek Trail while the Upper Forest Trail went left.

On the hillside above the picnic table is the Creek Trail.

Our plan was to make as wide a loop as possible through this area so we went left following the Upper Forest Trail uphill.

Switchbacks along the Upper Forest Trail.

After a fairly stiff climb the Upper Forest Trail descended more gradually arriving at High Road 0.4-miles from the Picnic Table.

Arriving at High Road.

According to the maps High Road continued to the left a short distance then became the Lookout Extension before dead ending in the forest. Something to check out on another trip. Today we turned right following this roadbed 100 yards before once again turning left, this time onto the Mid Forest Trail at a 4-way junction.
The Mid Forest Trail is hidden behind the tree on the left. To the right is the Creek Trail while High Road continues straight ahead.

Another 0.4-mile descent brought us to a junction in an oak savannah with the Lower Forest Trail and Middle Road.

Lots of green moss along this trail.

A little snow on the ridge in the distance.

Rabbit that Heather spotted.

The junction was at the far end of this open space.

Stayed left at the junction on what was now the Lower Forest Trail which descended another quarter mile to Lower Meadow Road.
This was by far the most confusing junction we’d encountered all day. It was one of only a couple that was unsigned and none of the maps that we’d seen or had brought with us showed the road continuing to the left. Since we’d planned on staying left at all junctions except for at High Road we initially turned left here thinking it was the River Trail, but it just didn’t feel right so we turned to the Garmin which did show the road continuation. It didn’t look anything like the River Trail route so we promptly turned around and returned to the 4-way junction and took a left downhill through the meadow.
Lower Meadow

The River Trail brought us to Marys River then turned north along the river for a 0.2-miles.
Gate along the River Trail just before Marys River.

Marys River

Male common merganser floating Marys River. I only had a brief second to try and get a picture as he floated by thus the poor focus.

A short spur trail led down to the river bank.

We had spent all morning watching for wildflowers knowing that everything was running late this year but holding out hope that we’d spot an early bloomer. One of the first to bloom each year in the forests around the valley is snow queen and finally along the river here we spotted a few of the small purple flowers.

The River Trail veered away from Marys River and back into the meadow before ending at Lower Meadow Road. We turned right on the road which crossed an unnamed creek before meeting the Cardwell Hill Trail.

Not flowers but mushrooms are always fun to spot.

Lower Meadow Road crossing the creek and ending at the Cardwell Hill Trail.

We turned left onto the Cardwell Hill Trail. We had missed this 0.4-mile section which followed Marys River earlier when we’d turned up the North Trail.

The short Trestle Extension led to a view of a railroad trestle over Marys River.

The signboards at the North Trail junction from the Cardwell Hill Trail.

Robin near the North Trail junction.

We retraced our steps from the North Trail junction under the partly sunny skies that had been promised.
No more fog.

Today’s hike came in as 9.3 miles on the Garmin with approximately 1200′ of cumulative elevation gain.

While it hadn’t felt at all like Spring when we’d set off that morning by the end of the hike, and after seeing the snow queen blossoms, we could convince ourselves that it might not be too far off. The forecast had been spot on with the patchy fog giving way to partly sunny skies, and we did have two very light showers pass over while we were looping through the Crestmont Land Trust.

This was a nice hike and an area that we will definitely be back to. There are trails that we didn’t take this time to come back and explore and the possibility of longer or shorter loops make it an attractive option when we were looking for something open year-round and not too far home. Happy Trails!

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Marquam Park – 02/11/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 14, 2023
No Comments on Marquam Park – 02/11/2023

A favorable forecast prompted us to head out for our February hike on Super Bowl weekend. We chose Marquam Nature Park in Portland as our destination due to it being less than an hour from Salem and allowing for a reasonable distance with some good elevation gain for an off-season hike on trails that we had not explored yet.

While there are several trailheads located around the park most have a 2-hour parking limit so we opted to begin our hike at Council Crest Park. (Note that the gate opens daily at 8:00am.) We were hoping that the forecasted “mostly sunny skies” would translate into mountain views from Council Crest after having been greeted by fog in 2018, but despite some blue sky on our drive north we were again greeted by clouds.

We held out hope that skies might clear up by the time we returned and set off on the Marquam Trail on the eastern side of the park following a pointer for the Marquam Shelter

The trail led downhill for just over a mile to a junction with the Sunnyside Trail. There were several road crossings along this stretch.

Coming up to the SW Greenway Ave crossing at the 0.3-mile mark.

Mossy bench

Small trailhead at SW Fairmount Blvd at the 0.5 mile mark.

At the 1-mile mark the trail crosses NW Sherwood Dr.

Maybe the steepest section of the hike was the tenth of a mile between NW Sherwood and the Sunnyside Trail.

The Sunnyside Trail junction.

At the junction we forked left onto the Sunnyside Trail and followed it another 0.7-miles downhill to the Marquam Shelter.

Every (official) trail junction was well marked by pointers which helped us stay on course.

The Shadyside Trail on the far hillside.

One of two hairy woodpeckers that were busy foraging for breakfast.

Coming up on the Marquam Shelter.

We saw little fungi, but these turkey tails added some color to the forest.

The Marquam Shelter.

The Marquam Shelter is one of two separate destinations that Sullivan gives options for in his “Aerial Tram & Council Crest” featured hike entry in “100 Hikers/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington”. We used our visit to Council Crest in 2018 to check this featured hike off our list but now we could officially cross off the other. We didn’t detour into the shelter to check out the historical photos due to a homeless person who seemed to be just waking up. That being said the park and trails were all well maintained and we saw almost no garbage. There did seem to be a lot of clothing items (glove, hats, and even a night splint) placed on or near a number of the trail markers.

We ignored the Shadyside Trail which headed uphill away from the shelter and continued another 20′ and turned uphill onto the Basalt Trail which was an old roadbed.

A tenth of a mile from the shelter we passed the Connor Trail on the left. This trail would have taken us to OHSU and the Portland Areal Tram. Sullivan’s described routes have you taking the Tram both ways for the Marquam Shelter option or downhill for the Washington Park to Council Crest option. (The latter route also includes a Portland Streetcar and Max Light Rail rides.) We were committed to hiking only though, so we continued up the Basalt Trail another 0.2 miles to the Marquam Trail.

We forked left onto the Marquam Trail (right would have allowed for a much shorter loop) and climbed a series of switchbacks 0.3-miles to SW Gibbs Street.
The Marquam Trail to the left and right with the Basalt Trail in the center from the first switchback.

Trail marker near SW Gibbs.

The trail briefly followed the road past a large water tower then crossed over and dropped 0.2-miles to a junction with the Flicker Trail.

The Flicker Trail from the Marquam Trail.

We stayed on the Marquam Trail at the junction for another 0.7-miles where we met the other end of the Flicker Trail.

This time we turned onto the Flicker Trail following it uphill for 0.3-miles to the Warbler Trail.

Note it is still not “mostly sunny” even though it was now almost 10am.

We decided to detour up the Warbler Trail which climbed 0.4-miles to another small pullout along SW Fairmount Blvd.

While not a warbler this spotted towhee graced us with a song.

Checking out a budding leaf.

The end of the Warbler Trail.

We dropped back down to the Flicker Trail and turned left continuing North 0.3-miles to the Towhee Trail (where we did not see any towhees).

We turned left on the Towhee Trail which climbed a half mile to yet another small trailhead, this time on SW Marquam Hill Road.

We crossed the road and continued on the Towhee Trail another 0.6-miles to its end at the Marquam Trail.
Pointer for the Marquam Shelter at the trailhead.

Bench along the switchbacks down to the Marquam Trail.

The Towhee Trail junction with Marquam Trail was nearly all the way back down to the Basalt Trail (the lower trail in the photo).

We turned left onto the Marquam Trail and followed it another 0.6-miles to the junction with the Sunnyside Trail.
Not sure what the story is behind this post but it was the only one we spotted with this type of number.

We passed the Shdayside Trail after half a mile.

There was a short section with some railing before dropping down to the Sunnyside Trail.

After completing our loop we turned left had hiked the 1.1-miles back uphill to Council Crest where the clouds were finally starting to break up.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to provide a view of any Cascade volcanoes but it was at something at least.
Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams are out there beyond the clouds.

Freemont Bridge spanning the Willamette River with the Columbia River in the distance.

Hummingbird

Hermit thrush looking for snacks at Council Crest Park.

Our hike came to 7.8-miles with at least 1700′ of elevation gain.

This was a nice hike and a good one for this time of year since it doesn’t really have any big sights along the way. A mountain view would have been great and of course by the time we on the freeway driving home Hood, St. Helens, and Adams were all clearly visible. Oh well, there will be plenty more opportunities over the next months.

After our hike we were able to meet up with some of Heather’s family for a great lunch at Salvador Molly’s. It was a great way to cap of the day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Marquam Park

Tags Basalt Trail, Conners Trail, Council Crest, Flicker Trail, Hermit Thrush, hiking, Marquam Nature Park, Marquam Shelter, Marquam Trail, Oregon, Portland, Shadyside Trail, spotted towhee, Sunnyside Trail, Towhee Trail, Warbler Trail

Central Coast Hiking Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

Lincoln City Parks – 01/01/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 3, 2023
1 Comment on Lincoln City Parks – 01/01/2023

It has been a couple of years since we kicked off a new year with a hike but January 1st, 2023 was forecast to be a lone dry day in the foreseeable future. Not only was the day supposed to be rain free, it was also going to be at least partly sunny. While Heather works back from her injury we are targeting shorter hikes that don’t involve too much elevation gain. Specifically looking for hikes that fit these criteria has led us to some hikes that we might have otherwise overlooked. We discovered several such trails in Lincoln City.

I put together a plan to visit five of the city’s open space areas over the course of four stops. The four stops would be just under six and a half miles with approximately 800′ of cumulative elevation gain. Following the hikes our plan was to have lunch at the newly opened Pelican Brewing Siletz Bay Brewpub.

Since the brewpub is located just south of Lincoln City we planned to start at the northern most trailhead and worked our way south. This meant that the Friends of Wildwoods Trailhead. The hike here was supposed to be a 1 mile out-and-back with a short side spur to a platform overlooking a swamp.

We somehow managed to turn it into a 1.5-mile hike including a loop that isn’t shown on any maps. It’s worth noting that in all of these open space areas we visited on this day there were multiple use trails leading off in different directions. We used our GPS a surprising number of times throughout the day. One nice feature was that there were QR codes available at the trailheads which accessed maps for our phones. Even so we somehow managed to not find the viewing platform but instead wound up overlooking the wetlands from a different spot.

Junction with the spur Wetlands Trail. The larger sign on the left is a Trail Challenge sign. We would see several more over the course of the day. The challenge, we learned later, is to visit all eight of the Open Spaces.

End of the trail at East Tide Ave.

The wetlands.

We may have overlooked the trail down to the platform due to debris left over from a big storm the week before which packed wind gusts over 70 mph. We had been prepared for the possibility that some of the trail might be inaccessible due to damage but overall they were in good shape.

After finishing our hike we hopped in the car and drove less than a mile south to our second stop at Regatta Park.
Devil’s Lake from Regatta Park.

From this trailhead we would visit two open spaces, Regatta and Spring Lake. Before hitting the trails though we walked down to the shore of Devil’s Lake to get a closer look.

From the lake we walked back uphill across the parking lot to a large Nature Trail sign.

Once again the plethora of trails got the best of us and our route through the Regatta Open Space was not how we’d meant to do it, but we managed to see what we had wanted to.
Pointer for a heritage tree.

Sitka Spruce. This approximately 400-year-old Oregon Heritage Tree is 212′ tall with a 32 1/2′ diameter.

Another Trail Challenge sign.

After looping through the Regatta Open Space we walked uphill out of the park to West Devil’s Lake Road where we turned left for 400′ to a trail on the far side of the road.
Heading out of Regatta Park

Neat dragon sculpture.

West Devil’s Lake Road. The trail is ahead on the right just beyond the driveway on that side.

There was no sign along the road but there was a trail marker just uphill.

This was the Spring Lake Trail which made a short steep climb to a ridge top.

The trail briefly leveled out atop the ridge before diving down the other side.

The area around Spring Lake was by far the most confusing of the day with numerous trails crisscrossing and intersecting seemingly every few feet. We used the GPS quite a bit here as we made our way counterclockwise around the lake.
This junction is where our loop began and ended.

Another fork just beyond the one in the previous photo.

Footbridge over the northern arm of the lake.

Spring Lake from the footbridge.

Found another one.

Small trailhead at 14th Street.

Spring Lake from the 14th Street Trailhead.

We had to walk a few feet along 14th Street to find the trail on the east side of the lake.

Approaching the junction at the end of our loop.

After completing the loop around the lake we returned to our car and drove another 2.7 miles south to the Agness Creek Open Space.

There are two trailheads here, a north and a south, separated by 200′. We parked at the South Agness Creek Trailhead and started with the 0.3-mile loop there.

This forested loop was full of bright green mossed covered ground.

After completing the loop we took a connector trail between the two trailheads to reach the North Agness Creek Trailhead.
The connector trail at the south trailhead.

Two short out-and-back trails begin at the north trailhead. We started with the left hand trail.

The left hand spur abruptly ends on a ridge above what we assume was Agness Creek although we couldn’t really make out an actual creek.

Agness Creek?

We returned to the trailhead and took the right hand fork which led a third of a mile to SW 19th Street.

Approaching SW 19th Street.

After reaching the neighborhood at the end of this trail we returned to the south trailhead and drove 1.8 miles to our final stop at the Spyglass Open Space.

Sticking with the theme for the day we got turned around a bit here as well and instead of doing a 1.4-mile loop around the perimeter we followed an old roadbed directly up the middle of the open space. We had planned on doing a counterclockwise loop but didn’t see the trail we actually wanted which was right next to a chain link fence.
This should have been the end of our loop, not the beginning. Had we realized we weren’t on the perimeter trail we would have taken the first left hand trail which would have allowed us to do our planned loop in reverse (clockwise). Instead we headed straight up the ridge.

The Trail Challenge sign here was located at a second junction, near the ridge top. A short distance beyond was another junction with an unsigned trail veering off to the right. We still hadn’t figured out our mistake and thought that the right hand trail was a spur trail shown on the map leading to a neighborhood so we went left.

The trail never quite reached the ridge top as it veered left in the forest below.

I scrambled up one of several use trails to see what kind of a view the ridge offered.
A lot of clearcuts is what I could see.

When the trail made a sharp turn left and suddenly headed downhill we began to realize that we hadn’t been where we thought we were. We pulled up the map and GPS track and began comparing and figured out what we’d done. We weren’t sure where we had missed the right turn at the beginning of the hike though. When we reached another split in the trail we went left, leaving the perimeter to cut back uphill to the junction at the Trail Challenge sign.

We turned left at the junction and then took the right hand spur that we’d mistook for the spur to the neighborhood. We followed this trail uphill, encountering our first and only downed tree for the day, to a junction with the actual spur. This section was fainter and a little harder to follow but we stayed left along the ridge as much as possible.

We were really surprised that this was the only real obstacle we encountered all day given the recent storm.

An example of the fainter tread along this section.

The spur to the left led to a neighborhood so we turned right.

The trail arriving at the trailhead entrance road. The chain link fence at Taft High is on the left.

Our hike here was just over 1.5-miles long with a little over 300′ of elevation gain which was the most of the fours stops. We changed at the car and drove on to the Pelican Brewery arriving just before they opened at Noon. We watched the birds in Siletz Bay while we waited for the restaurant to open then enjoyed a great lunch before heading home.
Siletz Bay from the brewpub.

A gull and an egret.

Once we were home we did a little research on the Trail Challenge which is when we learned that the challenge involves eight open spaces. The five we visited on this day plus The Knoll which we had visited back in 2020 (post), Cutler Wetlands, and Nesika Park. It looks like we have a couple of reasons to head back to Lincoln City (and the Pelican Brewpub) sometime soon. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lincoln City Parks

Tags Agness Creek, Agness Creek Open Space, Devils Lake, Friends of the Wildwood Open Space, Friends of the Wildwoods, hiking, Lincoln City. Lincoln City Trail Challenge, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Pelican Brewery, Pelican Brewery Siletz Bay Brewpub, Regatta Open Space, Regatta Park, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Open Space, Spyglass Open Space, Spyglass Ridge

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Talking Water Gardens – 12/17/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 19, 2022
1 Comment on Talking Water Gardens – 12/17/2022

After a couple of months of being on my own while Heather recovered from a bad knee she had been released to take short hikes with minimal elevation changes. With Heather cleared for action we just needed a favorable forecast for our December hike. When a day off coincided with a rain-free forecast we set off for the Talking Water Gardens in Albany. The site of two former mills Talking Water Gardens is a series of wastewater ponds created to assist with water treatment for the cities of Albany and Millersburg. While it may not sound like a typical place for a hike a series of paths and maintenance roads provide for a nice stroll with plenty chances to spot wildlife.

There are a couple of possible starting points for a visit to the gardens and we chose to begin at Waverly Lake and follow a route suggested in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide.

Waverly Lake at sunrise.

We headed left (clockwise) around Waverly Lake where a number of ducks were paddling around.

Mallards

Buffleheads

I think this is a ruddy duck.

American coots

Guessing these are some sort of domestic/mallard? crossbreeds. Very interesting looking.

More mallards near Cox Creek

Cox Creek flowing toward Waverly Lake.

Nearing the outlet of Cox Creek.

When we arrived at Cox Creek flowing out of the lake we crossed Salem Avenue then crossed Cox Creek on a footbridge.

We turned left on far side of the creek and followed a paved path 0.3 miles to Waverly Dr. NE and the other possible starting point, Simpson Park.

We almost got off-track here. This path on the right (just after passing under some railroad tracks) does lead into the wetlands but it wasn’t part of the Oregon Hikers described hike.

One of several interpretive signs along the trails.

Frosty leaves, it had been a chilly 28 degrees when we started out.

Simpson Park

We walked over to the park to take a look but didn’t check out the Simpson Park Trail this trip.
The Simpson Park Trail is a 1 mile out and back along the Willamette River. It also offers access to the Riverfront Trail which one could follow SW almost 3.5 miles to Monteith Riverpark at the mouth of the Calapooia River. With Heather being limited to shorter hikes for now that wasn’t an option today but will be something we look forward to trying in the future.

After the brief detour we recrossed Waverly Road and entered the gardens through a black gate.

We headed left past a mostly frozen pond.

Map on a welcome sign.

Frozen leaves

There are numerous different loops and routes available through the gardens. We followed the Oregon Hikers description linked above. We had to stop numerous times to consult the track map from that description to stay on the right path due to the trails not being marked/signed and the only maps having been located near the entrance. The paths themselves were in good shape and we saw a lot of ducks and other birds as we wound through the wetlands.

American wigeons

Bald eagle fly over

Flock of geese flying over

One of many unsigned intersections.

Robin

One of two memorials in the gardens.

Bufflehead

Green winged teal

Northern shoveler

Frost

Simpson Park across a pond.

After completing our loop we headed back to Waverly Lake where some fog had rolled in.

Fishermen heading into the fog at Waverly Lake.

Mallards hanging out in the fog.

Dark eyed junco

The GPS had us at a 3.5-mile hike, a little more than what Oregon Hikers showed but we did double-back a handful of times for one reason or another.

This was surprisingly nice hike and we’re anxious to visit again when the plants are green and water is flowing through the ponds. This was perfect though for a first outing to test Heather’s progress. Merry Christmas and Happy Trails!

Flirck: Talking Water Gardens

Tags Albany, Bald Eagle, Cox Creek, Ducks, hiking, Oregon, SImpson Park, Talking Water Gardens, Waverly Lake, Waverly Lake Trailhead

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Eagle Creek to 7 1/2 Mile Camp – 11/19/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 23, 2022
7 Comments on Eagle Creek to 7 1/2 Mile Camp – 11/19/2022

I took advantage of some favorable weather and headed to Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge for a pre-birthday hike. I was on my own again with Heather still working her way back from her injury (Good news she has been released to do some short hikes), so I was looking for something we’d done before but also wouldn’t be a total repeat. We’ve visited Eagle Creek twice in the past, both prior to the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire but never gone past Twister Falls so my plan was to continue on beyond that waterfall to at least Sevenmile Falls.

I left home at 5:30am and found myself being pushed around by the wind as I drove Interstate 84 along the Columbia River. Luckily the wind was calm at the Eagle Creek Trailhead where it was right around 30 degrees. I bundled up and set off on the trail past a burned area warning sign.

Despite the fire the scenery was good. I had to pay attention to my footing though due to areas of slick ice mixed in the wet portions of the trail.

It was hard to tell at times which parts were frozen.

Snow at the higher elevations.

A pink cloud in the direction of the Columbia River Gorge.

Near the 1.5-mile mark I found the first major difference post fire, a view of Sorenson Falls which had been hidden by trees and other vegetation on our previous visits.

Sorenson Falls splashing down into Eagle Creek.

Prior to December 2016 there had been a short spur trail just up the trail from this new view of Sorenson Falls that led to a viewpoint of Metlako Falls. A landslide claimed that spur trail but as I continued along the trail Metlako Falls became visible through the remaining trees.
Looking back down Eagle Creek. It was hard to tell where the spur trail had been.

Runoff falling from the cliffs into Eagle Creek.

Metlako Falls

I crossed Sorenson Creek on round concrete steps that were fortunately ice free and quickly found myself at the Lower Punchbowl Falls Trail junction.

I detoured down this nearly 0.2-mile spur trail even though I knew that the former view of Punchbowl Falls was lost in 2018 after a post-fire landslide rerouted Eagle Creek.

Lower Punchbowl Falls

Rocks from the landslide on the right.

I returned to the Eagle Creek Trail and continued to the Punchbowl Falls viewpoint to get a look at that fall.

Beyond the viewpoint the trail crosses Tish Creek on a footbridge followed by a second footbridge over Fern Creek after another 0.6 miles.
Tish Creek Bridge

Tish Creek

More snow on the ridge.

Fern Creek Bridge

Fern Creek

After Fern Creek the trail passed through a scree slope where I kept my eyes open for pikas hoping that one might brave the chilly temperatures but alas no luck.

Following the pika-less scree slope I came to a section of trail where a cable acts as a rail as the trail passes along a rocky cliff. This was the first section where I encountered actual icicles.
Coming up on the cable section with a bit of ice to start things off.

Careful where you step.

The last part was ice free.

Continuing on the trail brought me to a view of Loowit Falls. This was another case of the fire having created a better view of Eagle Creek below the falls.

Passing Loowit Falls.

More cable passing Loowit Falls with High Bridge in
the distance.

At the 3.3-mile mark I came to High Bridge.

Eagle Creek from High Bridge.

Eagle Creek from High Bridge, looking upstream.

Less than a quarter mile from High Bridge I came to another dramatic change in the trail when I got a good view of Skoonichuck Falls. Previously only the upper portion of this 50′ waterfall was visible from the trail above it but again the fire had removed enough vegetation to provide a nice view of the waterfall.

Skoonichuck Falls

I was briefly distracted by a varied thrush (my nemesis bird).
Not my worst varied thrush photo.

Another nice view of Skoonichuck after I’d given up on the thrush.

Sad looking penstemon but I’m counting it as a flower.

Some nearly as sad pearly everlasting.

This fall was visible across the creek on an unnamed creek (at least on the maps I’ve seen).

At 4 1/2 Mile Bridge I recrossed Eagle Creek.
I arrived at nearly the same time as the Sun.

Beach and Summer swimming hole at 4 1/2-mile bridge.

Just beyond the bridge is Tenas Falls on the other side of Eagle Creek.

Tenas Falls

A little further along the trail passes Opal Creek which begins below Tanner Butte.
Opal Creek flowing into Eagle Creek.

I continued along the trail chasing the Sun past Wy’East Camp and to the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness boundary.

The sites on the East side of the trail were posted closed for restoration at Wy’East Camp.

The wilderness begins a little over 5.5 miles from the trailhead.

A bluebird sky above a few green topped trees.

Next up was Wy’East Falls which was more visible than before as well from the trail. I opted not to attempt to get closer to the falls this time due to not being able to pick out the route we had taken on our previous visits.

I continued on from Wy’East Falls enjoying the wonderful weather.

Near the six-mile mark I passed the signed Eagle-Benson Trail which hasn’t been maintained since the fire, in fact the sign was the only sign of a trail here.

Sunrays over Eagle Creek.

At the 6.5-mile mark I got a good look at Grand Union Falls.
Note the hexagonal shape of the basalt columns making up the trail surface here.

Grand Union Falls

Not far past Grand Union Falls I got my first glimpse of Tunnel Falls in the distance through the trees.

The falls disappear as the trail gets closer then after rounding a corner they are back.

Tunnel Falls on East Fork Eagle Creek.

The trail passes behind the falls in a tunnel built in the early 1900’s (pre-1920).

I had brought my micro spikes just in case, but even though there were some impressive ice features there was enough good footing (and cable) to not require putting the spikes on.

The slickest section was exiting the tunnel here.

With the ice situation being manageable I continued on beyond Tunnel Falls to Twister (or Crossover) Falls just a short distance upstream on West Fork Eagle Creek.

No ice on this section which was welcome because it can be intimidating anyway.

Twister Falls. There is another hiker ahead on the left.

The section passing Twister Falls was the one that I had been most concerned about ice on. I assessed the situation and decided that with care it was passable and continued on.
This was the trickiest section but again there was just enough good footing to allow passing without need spikes.

I soon found myself looking at another waterfall which turned out to be Sevenmile Falls. I had been mistakenly thinking that it was 7 1/2 Mile Falls confusing it with 7 1/2 Mile Camp.

I continued on thinking that this must have been the waterfall but confused because 7 1/2 Mile Camp was still a half mile away. I decided to keep going until 10:45am or I found another waterfall, whichever came first. At this point the trail maintenance, which had been excellent up to a small slide between Tunnel and Twister Falls, really fell off.
A bit more overgrown here.

Hair ice, only the second time I’ve encountered it.

I stopped at this campsite which some maps show as 7 1/2 Mile Camp, but I pulled out my National Geographic topo which showed the camp a little further ahead near a pair of small creeks. I think both are correct and this was just the first of the sites that make up the “camp”.

Eagle Creek near the first campsite.

It was only 10:15am so I kept going, now thinking that I would either turn around at 10:45 or at the Eagle-Tanner Cutoff Trail junction which didn’t appear too far beyond the pair of creeks.
More campsites near the first creek.

The first small creek. This one was a lot icier than any of the other creeks I’d crossed. I was able to find enough dry rock to make my way to the other side though.

Looking back at the creek.

The next creek was a different story though. There were no dry rocks here.

It was almost 10:40am anyway and I was now sure that the earlier waterfall had been what I was calling 7 1/2 Mile Falls where I’d intended to turn around anyway. I made my way back stopping to admire all the falls again along the way.
This cascade was across Eagle Creek near the last campsites.

Woodpecker

Green pool above Twister Falls.

Above Twister Falls.

Plant in ice.

Wren

Chipmunk

With a couple of detours my hike came in at approximately 16.2 miles with 1400′ of elevation gain.

It was a great day overall. The weather, although a bit chilly to start, was great and there weren’t a lot of other hikers out. I still passed a fair number of other hikers on my way out but nothing like it would be on a warm Spring or Summer Saturday. The falls had enough added water from recent rain/snow to be flowing better than they had been when we visited in early October which was also a plus. I missed having Heather out there with me, but it was nice to get out one last time before I turned 50 (yikes!). Happy Trails!

Flickr: Eagle Creek 2022

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Silver Falls Perimeter Loop – 10/29/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 2, 2022
5 Comments on Silver Falls Perimeter Loop – 10/29/2022

With October and our official hiking season coming to an end I was hoping to go out with a bang by doing a long loop around Silver Falls State Park. I had gotten the idea during our 2021 hike in the backcountry of the park (post). While looking at the map for that hike I had started doing the math for the loop and it appeared to be a little over 20 miles which would be a long day but doable. Heather was not as enthused as I was about the possibility, so I had originally planned on attempting the loop on a day off while she was working. With her knee ending her season early it seemed like a good way to put an exclamation on the end of mine.

As the day neared I started second guessing myself. Some much need wet weather had moved in, and Friday was the wettest day we’ve had in months. The forecast for Saturday was for more rain in the morning, a 70% chance, followed by several hours of patchy fog then mostly cloudy skies. Twenty plus miles with wet feet wasn’t my ideal way to spend a hike but I decided to give it a try figuring I could cut the loop short by using one of the many trails running through the park. I packed some extra pairs of socks in a dry sack and had my rain gear ready as I made the 40-minute drive to the South Falls Trailhead.

It was a dark and raining when I left home but shortly after turning onto Highway 214 I popped out of the low clouds and left the rain behind. Things were trending positive. When I got to the South Falls Day Use Area entrance I was reminded that by the gate that the Park opens at 8am and not 7am from October through March and it was only 7:30am. I needed to purchase a pass so I drove to the North Falls Trailhead where I knew there was a pay kiosk, only I had forgotten that the station there only accepts cash which I didn’t have. After using the restroom there I drove back through the park to the campground entrance remembering that there was a station along the entrance road that did take cards. I decided that I would get a pass there and then park at the 214 Trailhead like we had in 2021 since there was no gate blocking that one. At the kiosk I immediately inserted my card into the cash slot. Things were trending down. I managed to retrieve the card using a pair of travel nail clippers and finally got my pass. It was nearly 8am as I came to the turn into the trailhead at Lookout Mountain Road. Given the time I changed my mind here and decided to revert back to my original plan and drove back to the now ungated South Falls Day Use Area.
A lot more blue in the sky than I had expected to see.

The route I had penciled out was to take the paved bike path from the parking lot to the campground where I would pick up the Nature Trail. I could take that trail to the 214 Trail followed by a portion of the Newt Loop to the Catamount Trail. I hoped to take that trail up to Buck Mountain then take the Perimeter Trail down to the Trail of Ten Falls near the North Falls Trailhead. I planned on visiting all ten falls and returning to the parking area via the Canyon Trail portion of the Trail of Ten Falls. I crossed South Fork Silver Creek on a footbridge to pick up the Bike Path on the far side where I turned left.

Crossing Highway 214 to the campground.

I detoured left to check out this bridge over Howard Creek.

Howard Creek

With the Nature Trail being a loop I could have gone either direction from the campground to reach the 214 Trail. Going left was a tenth of a mile shorter but I really wanted to make the loop as wide as possible so I went right at a pointer for the trail and Ampitheater.

We had been on the Nature Trail in 2021 so it was familiar surroundings as I made my way to the 214 Trail where I turned right.

Sign at the 214 Trail junction to let people know that there are no waterfalls in the backcountry.

I followed the 214 Trail for 1.3 miles to the Newt Loop.
Just a little fog but no rain.

Passing the Smith Creek Trail (left) after 0.6 miles on the 214 Trail.

Rough skinned newt on the 214 Trail. (Probably headed for the Newt Loop too.)

Big nursery tree along the 214 Trail.

The trail post at the junction shows the Catamount Trail instead of the Newt Loop but the map at the junction labels it the Newt Loop.

Map check.

I turned right onto the Newt Loop and arrived at a junction with the Catamount Trail after 0.4 level miles.
This second post included the Newt Loop along with a pointer for the Catamount Trail.

Crossing a CAT road along the Newt Loop.

Turning onto the Catamount Trail.

The Catamount Trail was new trail for me having not used it on our loop in 2021. The park map showed this trail extending 4.6 miles to a junction with the Lost Creek Trail then continuing another 0.9 miles to Buck Mountain. As a mountain bike trail the Catamount wound steadily uphill through the forest.
Lots of nursery stumps along the trail.

Another nursery stump.

Side trails were well marked.

Did not expect to see that overhead today.

I believe this short section of fire scar was from the 2020 Beachie Fire.

After 3.8 miles on the Catamount Trail I came to a 4-way junction with a maintenance road.

The Catamount Trail continued on the far side the road only there was a “Do Not Enter One-Way” sign on the post.

This was the first I’d heard of the trail here being one-way and I haven’t had a lot of luck since my hike in finding that information online or maps, but I honored the sign and turned left on the maintenance road following a Catamount Trail pointer.
Turning onto the road.

The opposite side of the post had a pointer for the Lost Creek Trail.

I followed the road for half a mile to the Lost Creek/Buck Mountain Trail junction.

I veered uphill to the right here.

The Lost Creek/Buck Mountain junction.

On our previous visit we had arrived at this same junction having come down the Buck Mountain Trail. To make this hike as different as possible (and to remain as far to the outside of the park as possible) I turned right on the Lost Creek Trail.
The Lost Creek Trail doubles as a fire road.

I followed this trail for 0.8 miles to a junction with the Catamount Trail at the edge of a clear cut.

Here is where I would have come up had the Catamount Trail did not have the on-way section. (Note that on some mountain biking maps the one-way section is labeled “Upper Catamount Trail.)

I turned left onto the Catatmount Trail at the junction and quickly found myself walking through the clear cut.

The treeless section wasn’t long. It appeared to have been an area impacted by the 2020 Beachie Fire.

Still some bleeding heart blooming.

There wasn’t a lot of bright Fall colors in the backcountry, but this maple stood out.

Was a bit surprised to see a few violets along this section.

Nearing the end of the logged area.

At the tree line the trail split unexpectedly (another feature not shown on the park map) into two one-way trails. The right hand fork (in this direction) was one-way uphill while the left down. I was going down at this point so I stayed to the left.

It wasn’t long before the two trails rejoined. The trail continued downhill to the Buck Mountain Loop near its crossing of Howard Creek.
The rejoining of the trails.

There were several bridges along this section of the trail. I also ran into the only mountain bikers that I would encounter all day in this area, a group of five.

The Buck Mountain Loop junction.

I turned right at the junction and crossed Howard Creek then turned right again back onto the Catamount Trail.
Bridge over Howard Creek.

The continuation of the Catamount Trail on the right.

The trail now climbed uphill for 0.2 miles to the large trail junction on Buck Mountain, a total of 1.1 miles from the Lost Creek Trail junction.

The map showed the section I had just done as 0.9 miles, but my track was a bit more twisty than the map.

From the junction I took the Perimeter Trail.

The park map lists this trail as 5.9 miles in length and has a “Steep” warning not far from the Buck Mountain junction. The trail was in good shape and although it lost over 350′ of elevation in just under a mile to a crossing of South Fork Silver Creek the grade was reasonable. Compared to some of the other trails we’d been on this year it didn’t seem all that steep.

A small opening on the way down.

Footbridge over South Fork Silver Creek.

South Fork Silver Creek

If I had paid better attention to the elevation numbers shown on the park map I might not have been so surprised when the trail began to climb on the other side of the creek. Over the next 2.1 miles the trail gained over 650′ before arriving at junction with the Rackett Ridge Trail. Up until the Rackett Ridge junction I had only encountered 8 people, the group of 5 mountain bikers and three trail runners (one solo and two together). The number of people seen doubled at this junction.

I’m a hiker so I went right here.

Big fungus on the tree ahead.

Map at the Rackett Ridge junction.

I continued on the Perimeter Trail which now began a nearly 3-mile descent that was at least as steep as the section before with the warning. The use of switchbacks allowed the grade to stay reasonable though.

Another impressive nursery log.

I stopped in this area to change out of my sweaty socks and into one of the extra pairs I’d brought expecting rain.

The vegetation went through several changes as the trail lost elevation.

This was a big tree in the midst of much smaller ones.

Roemer’s Meadow Trail (left) isn’t shown on the park maps yet, but it was completed in 2021 with help from the Salem Area Trails Alliance. (They do a lot of good work in the park and the area.) The trail is approximately 1.7 miles from the Rackett Ridge junction.

The Trail of Ten Falls junction near Highway 214.

Looking back up the Perimeter Trail.

For the hike to be a true loop I would have turned left onto the Trail of Ten Falls, but in order to see Upper North Falls I needed go right for 0.3 miles so that’s what I did.

Upper North Falls

After visiting the falls I headed back and passed under the highway to a large map at a “T” junction.

A left would have taken me to the North Falls Trailhead.

I turned right at the signboard then veered right onto the Canyon Trail at a congested fork in the trail.
The Rim Trail to the left and Canyon Trail to the right, both part of the Trail of Ten Falls.

The Canyon Trail descended some stairs then wound its way behind North Falls in approximately a tenth of a mile.

The trail followed the creek arriving at Twin Falls a little over three-quarters of a mile from North Falls.

I’m always impressed by the size of this rock in the creek.

Not Twin Falls, but a nice little cascade nonetheless.

This post could be a little confusing without a map. The Twin Falls Trail climbs uphill to a group camp and does not lead to Twin Falls. The falls are the opposite side along a very short spur trail that connects at either end to the Canyon Trail.

Twin Falls isn’t very easy to see from the spur trail either even though you’re right next to it.

I was able to find a better viewpoint of Twin Falls further along the Canyon Trail.

Twin Falls

My next detour came 0.3 miles beyond Twin Falls when I turned left onto the Winter Falls Trail.

The Winter Falls Trail crosses the creek on a footbridge then climbs gradually to the base of Winter Falls before steepening to climb up to the Rim Trail. I turned around before the steep part.

North Fork Silver Creek

Winter Falls, as the name suggests it’s not much of a waterfall outside of Winter when rain and snowmelt provide more water.

With the dry Summer it isn’t a great Fall color year but there was a decent display along this trail.

After saying hi to Winter Falls I returned to the Canyon Trail and continued toward the South Falls Day Use Area. Next up was Middle North Falls and another detour to go behind this one as well.
I turned left here on the spur trail behind Middle North Falls.

I again returned to the Canyon Trail and quickly arrived at the Drake Falls viewing platform.
Middle North Falls from the Canyon Trail.

The 27′ Drake Falls.

Approximately a quarter mile beyond Drake Falls I turned right onto the Double Falls Trail.

Much like Winter Falls, Double Falls is on a side creek which has a low flow much of the year.
The hiker at the base gives a good idea of the fall’s height, you just have to use your imagination to add water.

On my way back to the Canyon Trail I ran into one of Heather’s friends which allowed me to pause for a moment to talk and update her on our new kittens. Just beyond the Double Falls Trail I passed the eighth waterfall of my hike, Lower North Falls.

It was about here that my feet started to let me know that this was a long hike. It was almost a mile from Lower North Falls to my next marker, a junction with the Maple Ridge Trail.
The Canyon Trail crosses the creek just downstream from Lower North Falls then makes a short climb to get above the canyon cliffs.

A quarter mile from the Maple Ridge junction was Lower South Falls, another that the trail passes behind.

After passing behind the falls the trail climbs a number of stairs which at this point of the hike was a mean trick.

After conquering the stairs it was another 0.6 miles level miles to a footbridge at a fork in the trial within sight of the tenth and final waterfall, South Falls.

I walked out onto the bridge for the view then returned to the junction to take the right hand fork and go behind this fall as well.

I stayed right at junctions as I climbed to the top of South Falls then followed a paved path to a footbridge where I crossed the creek.

View toward South Falls from the footbridge.

I followed the paved path to the Bike Path where I recrossed the creek then made my way along the parking lot to the car.

Not sure what this old building was, possibly restrooms by the doors.

One of several picnic shelters in the park.

Approaching the Bike Path where I recrossed the creek.

I can see the car!

The hike turned out to be close to 22 miles with somewhere around 2900′ of cumulative elevation gain. The GPS originally said 22.4 miles but that was partly due to it jumping around when I was behind the different falls and it didn’t have a good connection to the satellites. Removing some of the points put the total down to 21.5 miles but doing that lost the out-and back behind Middle North Falls and some of the switchbacks up from South Falls. Whatever the actual distance it was a lot for me but overall everything held up pretty well. A couple of small blisters on one heel were the worst consequence. The fact that it hadn’t rained surely helped with the feet.

Track prior to trying to remove some of the jumps in data points.

The lack of people in the backcountry is almost a shame as the forest is lovely and the trails well maintained. I say almost a shame because for those of us who do take the time to explore it, the solitude only adds to the beauty. The Trail of Ten Falls was busy comparatively, but it wasn’t the zoo that it would have been on a Summer weekend which was nice. Doing the loop in reverse would have resulted in less folks at the falls but we’d been to the falls in the morning on all our other visits so this gave me a chance to see them with the Sun at a different angle. The only minor bummer was not being able to hike the full Catamount Trail due to the one-way section. If I were to do it over I would probably start at the North Falls Trailhead and go clockwise so that I would have been going the right way for that section and still would have ended with most of the Trail of Ten Falls. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Silver Falls Perimeter Loop

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Washington Area Oregon Trip report

Mount Washington North Ridge – 10/15/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 17, 2022
4 Comments on Mount Washington North Ridge – 10/15/2022

Our lack of rain unfortunately continued for another week allowing the numerous fires in Oregon and Washington to remain active. To top it off a warm, dry East wind arrived in time for the weekend creating a red flag warning for high fire danger and blowing the smoke from the current fires into Western Oregon. The combination of the smoke and unseasonably high temperatures had me searching for a suitable hike. My Plan A, B, and C hikes were all forecast to be in the smoke (and warmer than I’d prefer in October) then I remembered seeing that Hike Oregon had gone up Mount Washington’s North Ridge back in August using a climbers trail off of the Pacific Crest Trail. I had been interested in that trail ever since hearing about it during the Chemeketans Route Finding course we’d taken and then later passing it on our hike to Mount Washington Meadows in 2017 (post). A quick of check of the forecast there showed clear (but breezy) skies and a high below 60 at the mountain, I was sold.

Just as we had done in 2017 I parked at the Pacific Crest Trailhead at Big Lake which at this time does not require a Cascade Wilderness Permit for day-use (one is required for overnight stays).

I set off South on the PCT shortly before sunrise and followed it for three miles to a cairn marking the obvious climbers trail.
Mount Washington from the Mt. Washington Wilderness boundary just a few hundred feet from the trailhead.

Three Fingered Jack to the North from the PCT.

From left to right – Sand Mountain (post), Hoodoo Butte, and Hayrick Butte.

Mount Washington

Sunrise on Hoodoo Butte.

Sunlight hitting the spire of Mount Washington.

Hayrick Butte and Three Fingered Jack at sunrise.

Big Lake, Hoodoo, Hayrick Butte, and Three Fingered Jack.

Just over two miles from the trailhead I passed a sign for the non-maintained use trail from the private Big Lake Youth Camp.

Shortly before reaching the climbers trail the PCT left the 2011 Shadow Lake Fire scar.

The cairn and climbers trail from the PCT.

I turned left onto this trail which was fairly easy to follow through the trees.
Huckleberry leaves turning color.

There were a few logs to navigate and keeping an eye on the tread was helpful.

The trail climbed moderately at first then steepened as it went, with occasional flatter sections before reaching the ridge.

Maxwell Butte (post) behind Hoodoo and Hayrick Butte.

Mount Washington

I stopped here for a moment to admire a raptor that was hovering high above the ridge (small black dot in the middle of the photo).

The only movement that I could see was when it tilted its tail feathers which would catch the sunlight.

First view of Mt. Jefferson behind Three Fingered Jack.

Coming up on the ridge.

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, and a lot of smoke to the North.

Cache Mountain and Black Butte (post) to the NE.

Approximately 1.5 miles from the PCT the climbers trail turned North along the ridge toward Mount Washington.
View along the ridge to Mount Washington.

That East wind was really noticeable as I made my way along the open ridge crest.

I didn’t have much trouble following the trail for the first three-quarters of mile up the ridge. It was typical Cascade volcanic rock which isn’t the most fun rock to hike through but the views were great.
Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson to the left. Green Ridge (post) across the center, and Cache Mountain & Black Butte to the right.

Big Lake came into view as I climbed.

One of the steeper sections I went up. The spire is poking up on the right.

Mount Washington’s shadow.

View back down the ridge.

I was hoping to get up and over these rocks where the map showed a more level bench but I wound up reaching a chute where I was unsure of the correct route. The further up I’d gone the more braided the trail became and I may have been too far left. A climber had passed me way back on the PCT but if I had been able to watch him go up here I may have found a better route.

The chute that turned me back. It’s a bit hidden by the rocks in the foreground but there was no way across that I would have been comfortable with and scrambling up looked way too sketchy for my taste (especially w/o a helmet).

I sat down here and took a brief break to catch my breath and have a snack. I was just over 7100′ in elevation and had been feeling that on the climb up.
My shadow on the left from my break spot.

This was the place I’d come up.

Zoom of Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson

With all the smoke I hadn’t noticed Coffin (flat top) and Bachelor Mountains (post) beyond Hoodoo, Hayrick, and Maxwell Buttes.

After catching my breath I started carefully down, pausing often to admire the view.
The Moon overhead to the West.

Patjens Lakes (post) in the forest below.

Lookout tower on Black Butte.

Unfortunate that my timing once again put the Sun directly in line with my view.

I passed three more hikers heading up the ridge on my way down and at one point wound up following a wrong trail too low on the ridge and had to scramble back up to the correct one.
Using a tree to try and get a better view.

A framed Mt. Jefferson.

Sometimes it’s the little things, like these bent trees that I really appreciate on a hike.

This mushroom casting a shadow was another one.

When I got back to the PCT I turned right and hiked the three miles back to the trailhead.

Looking back at Mount Washington from the PCT.

Three Fingered Jack

Hoodoo and Hayrick Buttes behind Big Lake.

Huckleberry bushes and ferns adding some Fall colors.

The best Fall colors were near the trailhead.

The trailhead from the wilderness boundary sign.

This hike came to 10.7 miles with a little over 2700′ of elevation gain. In total I saw 7 hunters, 4 climbers, and two fellow hikers, not bad for a sunny Saturday. It might not be one for those uncomfortable with heights or climbing/descending loose volcanic rock (for those reasons it was a good choice since Heather is still sidelined) but if you don’t mind those things this would be a worthwhile outing.

When I got back to Salem around 2pm it was 90 degrees, in mid-October! The good news is that the high pressure system causing the warm, dry weather is supposed to break up this week with rain to follow. Hopefully it will be enough to put an end to the fires. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Mount Washington North Ridge

Tags Big Lake, climbers trail, Hike Oregon, hiking, Mount Washington, Mount Washington Climbers Trail, Mount Washington North Ridge, Mount Washington Wilderness, Mt. Washington, Oregon, Pacific Crest at Big Lake Trailhead, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain – 10/10/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 14, 2022
5 Comments on Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain – 10/10/2022

With Heather still sidelined with a bum knee and a Monday holiday that most of the rest of Oregon didn’t have off I decided to tackle the climb from Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain. Starting at the Multnomah Falls Trailhead the hike to Sherrard Point is roughly 14.5 miles out-and-back with just over 4000′ of elevation gain. If I was feeling up to it, my plan was to extend the hike just a bit by detouring on the way back to visit Fairy and Wahkeena Falls adding another 1.7 miles and 500′ of elevation to the days total.

We had hiked to Multnomah Falls on a big loop in 2012 starting at Oneonta Trailhead (post), Larch Mountain in 2020 from Road 315 Trailhead (post), and Wahkeena Falls in 2013 from the Angels Rest Trailhead (post). Even though we had visited all of these main attractions before, this route would provide several miles of trail that I had yet to be on. Two of those trips also occurred prior to the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire which burned most of the forest along the lower portion of this hike.

I arrived at the Multnomah Falls parking lot a little before 7am and was pleased to find that I was just the fourth car.

It was still a bit before sunrise but there was enough light once I had gotten everything together to set off towards the falls.

The lack of light did nothing for my point and shoot camera but that was a small price to pay to have the falls to myself (save for a few staff preparing the grounds for the day).

Multnomah Falls

The Benson Bridge.

View from the bridge.

Multnomah Falls from the bridge.

Beyond the bridge the paved trail climbs steeply via 11 switchbacks. (I’m pretty sure they squeezed a very short 12th in there.)

The Moon beyond the Columbia River and Multnomah Falls Lodge.

Beacon Rock (post) to the east on the Washington side of the Columbia.

The second switchback.

Another view of the falls. I passed a pair of hikers along this stretch then didn’t see another person for another couple of hours.

After climbing above the falls via the switchbacks I took my first detour to visit the Multnomah Falls Viewpoint.

Viewpoint trail.

This trail descends a tenth a mile to a viewpoint above the falls.

Small fall just upstream from Multnomah Falls.

Cape Horn (post) to the right across the Columbia.

I returned to the Larch Mountain Trail and continued towards Larch Mountain. After a brief descent to cross Multnomah Creek the trail began a long gradual climb along the creek.
Bridge over Multnomah Creek.

Approaching Middle Dutchman Falls.

Middle Dutchman Falls

Upper Dutchman Falls

Dutchman Tunnel

Wiesendanger Falls is located just beyond Dutchman Tunnel.

A short distance beyond Wiesendanger Falls is Ecola Falls.

Ecola Falls

A quarter mile beyond Ecola Falls (and 2 miles from the trailhead) I arrived at the Wahkeena Trail junction.

Good signage at nearly all trail junctions, especially those closest to the trailheads.

I stayed on the Larch Mountain Trail which crossed the creek on a newer (2018) steel bridge that replaced the one burnt in the Eagle Creek Fire.

Looking down the creek at sunlight starting to hit the hillside.

A few bleeding heart were still in bloom.

Penstemon

This section is flooded in late Winter/Spring. The signed High Water Trail leads up and around it for those high water times.

Sign for the High Water Trail at its southern end.

The southern end of the High Water Trail heading uphill to the right.

I couldn’t find a name for this creek but it had a good flow, in fact it was more water than what was in Multnomah Creek upstream from their confluence.

Multnomah Creek upstream from the unnamed creek.

One point two miles from the Wahkeena Trail junction I came to the Multnomah Basin Road where the Larch Mountain Trail jogged slightly left before continuing on and entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness.

The forest around the wilderness boundary had mostly been spared by the fire but I quickly reentered the burn before arriving at a junction with the Franklin Ridge Trail.
Reentering the fire scar.

The Franklin Ridge Trail on the left.

A tenth of a mile from the junction the trail crossed the nearly dry East Fork Multnomah Creek on a small footbridge.

The trail continued briefly through a patch of green trees up a ridge between the East and West Forks of the creek then reentered the fire scar. Four tenths of a mile from the East Fork crossing I came to a second footbridge, this one crossing the West Fork.

Beyond this second footbridge the trail crossed a large scree field where I was taunted by the distinctive “meep” of pikas. They were seemingly all around but I wasn’t ever able to spot any of the little rock rabbits this time.

Maple changing colors

I’m sure there is at least one pika in this photo somewhere.

Looking back toward Franklin Ridge.

A short distance beyond the scree field the trail left the fire scar for good arriving at a junction with the Multnomah Creek Way Trail 1.8 miles from the Multnomah Basin Road crossing.

Arriving at the junction.

I stayed left at this junction on the Larch Mountain Trail and climbed 0.4 more miles to a road crossing of gated FR 315 (Where we had started our previous Larch Mountain hike).

I crossed the road and continued climbing. The trail steepened noticeably at first but quickly relented and resumed a more gradual grade.

I was hoping for less smoke in the air but these sunbeams told me that there was still a fair amount lingering around much as it had been for the last several days.

After 1.25 miles I passed a pair of old campsites with picnic tables on the right. I stayed right at an unsigned junction with a trail that led uphill to the left. We had come down that way on our previous trip skipping a short section of the actual Larch Mountain Trail.

Another quarter mile brought me to the Larch Mountain Trailhead
There were four cars at this trailhead.

I’d passed one person with a dog followed by a pair of ladies with another dog between FR 315 and the trailhead. I turned onto the paved Sherrard Point Trail expecting to see the other car owners along this 0.3 mile path but was pleasantly surprised to find that I had Sherrard Point all to myself.
Vine maple near the Sherrard Point Trail.

One of the factors that had led me to choose this hike for the day was due to the forecast calling for clear sky at this viewpoint whereas the other hikes I had considered were expected to have widespread haze. Technically I think the forecast was correct because if I looked straight up it looked like a blue bird day. Looking out was a different story though with smoke in every direction.

Mt. St. Helens in the smoke to the left and Mt. Adams a bit above it to the right.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams

Mt. St. Helens

Silver Star Mountain (post)

Unbeknownst to me at the time a new fire, the Nakia Creek Fire, had started near the Larch Mountain in Clark County, WA to the SW of Silver Star less than 24 hours earlier contributing to the smokey conditions.

It wasn’t the view I’d hoped for but it was something, at least I could see parts of several mountains. I didn’t spend much time at the viewpoint given the conditions and made my way back to the old picnic tables by crossing over Larch Mountain. I took a short break at one of the tables to drink a Gatorade I had been hauling around and put on a clean pair of socks for my return hike.
Heading down.

From the picnic table I returned to the way I’d come up to the Wahkeena Trail junction. Up to that point I had only encountered a total of eight other hikers. I had however seen dozens of woolly caterpillars.

I heard fewer pikas on my way back through the scree field but saw the same number, zero. There was an encounter with a squirrel that came crashing through the brush, jumped across the trail, and climbed a snag so that it could give me a scolding.

Lots of fungi on this tree.

Hedgenettle

Ouzel

The solitude that I had been enjoying ended abruptly at the Wahkeena Trail junction where a number of hikers could be seen heading uphill on the trail ahead and a group was effectively blocking the trail at the junction as they attempted to make sense of the trail signs.

I tried to align my photos with the hikers ahead passing behind trees.

I had made the decision to take the longer way back past Wahkeena Falls since I had been making good time and I was still feeling pretty energetic. I hadn’t really paid attention to the fact that the Wahkeena Trail gains over 300′ in the first mile as it traverses up the hillside to a junction on a ridge top.
Looking back down at Multnomah Creek.

Cape Horn again across the Columbia.

I couldn’t recall seeing these before on a hike, not this color anyway.

The Devil’s Rest Trail on the left at the ridge top.

I wound up getting distracted by the different hikers coming and going atop the ridge and turned right onto the Vista Point Trail instead of staying straight on the Wahkeena Trail which had been my planned route. In the end I was glad I did. It was only about a tenth of a mile longer to take this detour which was a bit overgrown but it also passed a viewpoint that I detoured out to.
I should have followed the Wahkeena Trail Pointer here.

Instead I followed the pointer for Wahkeena 1.0.

Vista Point Trail

I could see my car in the parking lot from the viewpoint.

There is the trail I had intended to be coming down arriving at the junction with the other end of the Vista Point Trail.

The Vista Point Trail was in pretty good shape (other than the overgrowth) save for the final 10-20 feet which was now part of a stream bed. The combination of slick wet rocks and it being downhill made for a tricky descent to the junction.
Looking back at the Vista Point Trail from the junction.

After successfully navigating the wet rocks I turned down the Wahkeena Trail. I immediately was glad that I’d chosen to come this way as I had forgotten how scenic Wahkeena Creek is flowing through the narrow gorge. Even after the fire it was still beautiful.
Lots of tight switchbacks to get down the gorge.

Fairy Falls

Looking out across the Columbia River.

A half mile down this trail I took a short detour to Lemmons Viewpoint.

Cape Horn (again)

The Wahkeena Trail from Lemmons Viewpoint.

Another half mile descent brought me to the base of Wahkeena Falls where I was happy to find only a small number of other hikers.
The poison oak was really colorful.

Approaching Wahkeena Falls.

Wahkeena Falls

Wahkeena Falls.

Looking back at Wahkeena Falls.

There were plenty of folks at the trailhead as I passed by before hopping onto the Multnomah Falls Return Trail.

One last look at Wahkeena Falls through the trees.

It was roughly half a mile back to the now busy lodge at Multnomah Falls and another tenth or so to my car.

A line of cars on Historic Highway 30 in front of the lodge.

This hike came to 16.2 miles with around 4500′ of elevation gain. A tough but scenic outing with highlights at the start, mid-point, and end to help take the mind off the body.

I was on my way home at 1:45pm and looking forward to spending some time with our new kittens. After losing Buddy in 2020 (post) and Hazel in 2021 (post) we’d been cat-less for over a year. With Heather unable to hike it seemed to the perfect time to open our home up again and on Monday the 3rd Heather picked up Merry and Pippin from the Humane Society.
Merry (black) is 3 mos. and Pippin is 2 mos. Both boys from separate litters.

They have been keeping us plenty busy. Merry is a snuggler while Pippin is a ball of chaotic energy until he runs out, then he likes to snuggle too. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Multnomah Falls to Larch Mountain

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Sky Lakes Basin Day 2 – 09/25/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 30, 2022
2 Comments on Sky Lakes Basin Day 2 – 09/25/2022

We woke up way too early for the time of year and found ourselves playing Yahtzee on Heather’s phone lest we would be hiking out from our camp at Trapper Lake in the dark. After some less than stellar scores we packed up camp and set off on the Sky Lakes Trail back toward the Cold Springs Trailhead.

Low-light at Trapper Lake.

Sunrise from the trail.

Sunlight hitting the tops of trees.

Just before reaching the Heavenly Twin Lakes we came to the Isherwood Trail where we turned right.

The Isherwood Trail passed by the larger of the Heavenly Twin Lakes.

The trail left the lake and climbed gradually through the forest to a rocky bluff above Isherwood Lake.

Heading up to the bluff.

Pelican Butte beyond Isherwood Lake.

Fall foliage above Isherwood Lake.

About half way along Isherwood Lake we detoured to the other side of the trail to visit Lake Liza.
Heading for Lake Liza through a dry bed.

Great reflection

After returning to the Isherwood Trail and passing Isherwood Lake we passed Elizabeth Lake on our left.

Elizabeth Lake was followed by Lake Notasha on the right with another nice reflection.

Lake Notasha

Depending on the angle the water was a beautiful green.

A short distance beyond Lake Notasha we came to the end of the Isherwood Trail at the Sky Lakes Trail.

We turned right for a third of a mile to a junction with the Cold Springs Trail.

We turned left this time following the Cold Springs Trail pointer. This trail climbed a lot more than we’d expected as it passed by Imagination Peak but after nearly two miles we arrived back at the junction with the South Rock Creek Trail which we had taken the day before.
Parts of the latter half of this trail passed through the 2017 fire scar.

Fireweed seeds

Pelican Butte as we descended toward the junction.

We turned right here for the final 0.6 miles to our car.

Leaving the Sky Lakes Wilderness

Dark-eyed junco seeing us off.

An as of yet unidentified flower.

Another unidentified flower.

I do know this one – bleeding heart.

Woodpecker (it was a busy final 0.6 miles).

Back at the shelter and trailhead.

Our hike out came to 6.6 miles with just over 1000′ of elevation gain.

Dark track is Day 2 while the light solid line is Day 1.

It had been a great Autumn weekend for a backpacking trip and the hikes were great. The only negative to come out of it was Heather’s knee which had been a lingering but manageable issue for most of the year finally decided it had had enough. She has some PT ahead and no hiking so I’ll be on my own for a bit. The good news her knee should be fine and we didn’t have any more featured hikes on our schedule until mid-Spring next year. It also means we might be welcoming some new kitties into our home sooner than we’d expected since she won’t be joining me on the October hikes. Happy Tails! (or Trails!)

Flickr: Sky Lakes Basin Day 2

Tags backpacking, Cold Springs Trail, Cold Springs Trailhead, Heavenly Twin Lakes, hiking, Isherwood Trail, Lake Elizabeth, Lake Liza, Lake Notasha, Oregon, Sky Lakes Trail, sky lakes wilderness, Trapper Lake