After starting my week of vacation with back-to-back hikes with 4355′ and 5300′ of elevation gain, I took a day off and then picked a much more level hike to wrap up my week. I turned to the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge located just south of Corvallis, OR. Despite several visits there were still some portions of trails that I had yet to hike there. Heather and I first visited this refuge in 2017 to complete one of Sullivan’s featured hikes (post). We hiked the Homer Campbell Boardwalk, Woodpecker Loop, and Mill Hill Loop that day. We returned in 2020 to check out the SE corner of the refuge including Pigeon Butte. I returned in 2021 during a solo April vacation and re-hiked many of the trails we’d been on during our previous visits and adding a short section of trail/road that we hadn’t yet hiked. Our most recent visit was in 2023 to the Snag Boat Bend Unit which is located approximately 3-miles east of the main unit on the other side of the Willamette River.
For this visit I mapped out a route starting at the Turtle Flats Walkway Trail. This extremely short (0.02-mile) paved path was one of those trails I had not hiked, and the parking area had a restroom and was close to another trail I had not hiked in its entirety, the Prairie Trail.
Hunting information kiosk across from the Turtle Flats parking area.
The Turtle Flats restrooms. (Photo from the afternoon.)
The entire Turtle Flats Trail in one photo.
Viewpoint at the end of the trail.
From the viewpoint a mowed path continued on to Finley Refuge Road across from the start of the Prairie Trail.
The Prairie Trail starts on a roadbed for a short distance then changes to “native surface” as it follows the edge of open fields.
I had a copy of the refuge map with me which came in handy to make sure I stayed along the correct fields.
I turned right here following said map through a small section of trees.
Poison oak is hard to miss when it is sporting its Fall colors.
Emerging from the trees and staying right.
The Prairie Trail turned East shortly after the trees and pointed me toward a pretty spectacular sunrise.
McCulloch Peak (post), Dimple Hill (post), and Vineyard Mountain (post) in the McDonald-Dunn Forest to the North.
Mary’s Peak (post) with a few clouds below its summit.
One of several raptors hunting over the fields.
Pigeon Butte to the left and Green Peak in the distance.
I thought I might see deer or even elk along the edges of the fields being fairly early in the morning, but aside from some fairly fresh deer sign the raptors and lots of smaller birds were all that seemed to be around. That was until I got to the northern end of McFadden Marsh. Still no deer or elk but I spotted the first great blue heron in a field just before arriving at the marsh.
The marsh itself was full of egrets, ducks and a few more herons.
Fog and McFadden Marsh to the left.
Mallards
Geese flying overhead.
Egret and ducks
Egrets
More egrets
Heron with the egrets.
McFadden Marsh
Egrets and a murder of crows.
Great blue heron
Red-winged blackbird
Prairie Trail along McFadden Marsh.
The Prairie Trail ends at a small pullout on Bruce Road which is where we’d parked for our 2020 hike here.
I could just make out the railings along Bruce Road from here.
Nutria family near Bruce Road.
The nutria family.
The Prairie Trail at Bruce Road.
I turned right onto gravel Bruce Road of 0.2-miles to a larger parking area on the others side of Muddy Creek.
Northern flicker
Starling
Muddy Creek
Interpretive signs at the larger parking area.
At this parking area I turned right onto the first mowed path which is the Cheadle Marsh Trail.
I followed this grassy track, between Cheadle Marsh on the left and Muddy Creek on the right, for almost a mile to a junction near the Cheadle Barn.
California scrub-jay
Peregrine falcon?
Pigeon Butte across Cheadle Marsh.
While I was photographing this egret I glanced to my left and noticed a buck staring back at me.
Meanwhile a great blue heron decided it wanted the egret’s perch.
The heron and egret
American coot
The roof of the Cheadle Barn poking up from the hill.
California quail escaping into the blackberry bushes.
The small hill up to the junction below the barn. My legs let me know that even this small hill was more than they were interested in today.
Robin
Spur trail to the Cheadle Barn.
I skipped the barn this time and continued on past a small pond to a junction with the Pigeon Butte Trail.
Spotted towhee
The pond and Cheadle Barn.
Ducks in the pond.
Pied-billed grebe. I also had a yellow-rumped warbler nearly land on me, but then it disappeared into the trees across the pond.
The gravel road that serves as the Pigeon Butte Trail ahead.
I turned right on the Pigeon Butte Trail and reluctantly made the gradual climb to a junction on the shoulder of the butte.
A successful egret and unfortunate rodent.
The junction is located at the crest of the trail/road.
Spur trail to the summit of Pigeon Butte.
My legs had already declared that they were not interested in going uphill and I’d already been up the butte twice, so I skipped the spur trail and continued downhill.
This section of trail passes the Finger Ponds which were almost completely dry this time of year.
The dry ponds hosted a good number of songbirds.
It appeared that there had been a number of controlled burns performed throughout the refuge.
The 0.9-mile section ended at a junction with the Cattail Pond Trail.
I turned left onto that trail (also a roadbed) and followed it a mile to a pointer for Cattail Pond.
Viewpoint bench looking toward Cabell Marsh.
Woolly bear caterpillar sharing the trail.
Gray Creek
At the pointer the Cattail Pond Trail turns left, and the road becomes the Mid-Refuge Connection Trail. I turned left at the pointer to visit the pond and hike a 0.6-mile section of the Cattail Pond Trail that I’d yet to hike.
Mallards
More mallards
Maple Knoll on the far side of Cattail Pond.
I’m assuming nutria but am not 100% convinced on this one.
The 0.6-mile section of trail looped around the pond and connected me to the Beaver Pond Trail which is the trail I’d taken on previous visits.
This section was a mixture of the edge of fields and wooded trail.
Follow the pointer.
A cedar waxing joined by a pair of finches.
I turned right at this sign onto the Beaver Pond Trail and followed it a half mile back to the gravel roadbed.
Just under 100 yards from the Cattail Pond Trail is this unsigned junction. The left is a half mile out-and-back spur on along the side of Maple Knoll. I stayed right this time having done the spur in 2020 with Heather.
The trail passes the Beaver Pond just before arriving at the roadbed.
The Beaver Pond was pretty well deserted given its lack of water.
I turned left onto the Mid-Refuge Connecting Trail.
The connector trail climbed gradually to a signed 4-way junction that serves as the start of the Mill Hill Loop.
Authorized personnel only on the right-hand fork here.
Arriving at the junction.
The right fork is the trail I came up. The center fork is the Mill Hill Trail, and the left fork is the Mill Hill Loop Trail which loops around Mill Hill in 1.7-miles and arrives back at the junction where I took this photo from.
Having done the Mill Hill Loop twice before I decided to save myself the distance and more climbing and took the center fork which would lead me to the Intertie Trail and eventually the Woodpecker Loop Trail.
There are several junctions along this stretch, most of which are well signed.
This junction marks the start of the Intertie Trail.
Crossing Finley Refuge Road.
I was moving pretty quickly through the forest here and startled a doe that came around a bend from the other direction. She bounded into the trees but didn’t go too far.
When I arrived at the Woodpecker Hill Loop I turned left. It meant a little bit of climbing, but going this direction would lead me past the Environmental Education Shelter on Woodpecker Hill.
Signage at the Woodpecker Hill Loop.
The Woodpecker Hill Loop is a well-developed interpretive trail.
Stellar’s jay
Each of these kiosks has an informational placard inside.
Near the crest of the trail.
The shelter on Woodpecker Hill.
I took a quick break on the shaded bench at the shelter then headed downhill to the Woodpecker Hill Trailhead.
Dragon fly
Signboard at the Woodpecker Hill Trailhead.
From the trailhead I walked down the entrance road to Finley Wildlife Refuge Road and turned left. I now had a 0.7-mile gravel road walk to reach the Cabell Barn.
Yay, more uphill.
The back of a killdeer.
Bald Hill on the left.
Winkle Butte is the near rise on the left. On a clearer day Mt. Jefferson would be visible in the distance to the right of Winkle Butte.
Cabell Barn ahead.
I turned right across from the barn on Cabell Lodge Road following a pointer for the Cabell Marsh Overlook.
Historic granary
The Cabell Lodge burned on December 13, 2023.
The lodge in April, 2021.
From the parking area at the end of the road I followed a path to the overlook then descended to the marsh on the seasonal trail.
Cabell Marsh was busy with a lot of mallards and a few other species mixed in.
Geese
Pigeon Butte from the marsh.
Great blue heron towering over the ducks.
An egret along the shore to the right.
The egret facing off with the heron. The mallard appeared to be ready to act as the referee.
After a brief face off the egret moved on.
Observation blind accessed via the Homer Campbell Boardwalk.
When I reached the boardwalk I turned left and followed it a little over a third of a mile to a parking area where I picked up Finely Refuge Road again. I turned right and followed the road a half mile back to the grassy path that led to the Turtle Flats viewpoint.
Signboard at the boardwalk trailhead.
Back on the refuge road.
Muddy Creek
The path to Turtle Flats on the left and the start of the Prairie Trail ahead on the right.
The loop today came in at 13.2-miles with maybe 400′ of total elevation gain.
This was a nice mix of trail types, and as always seems to be the case here, it was full of wildlife sightings. Much of the refuge is only open seasonally (April 1 through October 31) although the Woodpecker Hill, Intertie, Mill Hill trails and the Homer Campbell Boardwalk (only to the observation blind) are open year-round. It was great to be able to hike some new to me trail and there is still a small unhiked spur off the Prairie Trail for a future visit. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Finley Wildlife Refuge 2024
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