Tag: hiking

Cape Lookout State Park – 01/24/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 29, 2026
1 Comment on Cape Lookout State Park – 01/24/2026

While a winter storm was impacting much of the country the Oregon Coast was experiencing clear skies and high in the low 50’s, which was too good to pass up so I headed out for another solo hike. I decided to head out to Cape Lookout State Park to check out the recently reopened North Trail along with the Cape and South Trails. Heather and I had visited the park way back in November 2011 but had not hiked the North Trail that day (post).

A section of the North Trail was closed in December 2024 after a tree fell and damaged the suspension bridge over Cape Creek and as of this post both the Oregon Hikers Field Guide and AllTrails still show the trail as closed, but when I checked the park’s website there was no longer a closure notice for the trail. (There is a notice that the park will be closed starting April 1st for improvements which will likely last into the Summer.) With no closure notice listed on the website I was pretty confident that the trail had been reopened. Worst case scenario would be that there would be notices posted at the trailhead in which case I would still be able to hike the Cape and South Trails allowing me to still get plenty of hiking in.

I made the hour and a half drive from Salem to the Cape Lookout Trailhead which is open from either 7am to 9pm or Dawn to Dusk depending on who you ask. Regardless with first light not being until 7:12am and sunrise at 7:44am I had timed my departure to arrive in between and was ready to set off just before 7:30am.

The trailhead signboard says Dawn to Dusk.

Unsurprisingly I was the first car in the lot and after double checking for any closure notices for the North Trail I started off on the Cape Trail.

My plan was to hike the Cape Trail out to the end of Cape Lookout first to avoid the crowds that would surely be arriving later. After hiking the Cape Trail I would take the North Trail to the Cape Lookout Day Use Area where Heather and I had parked for our Netarts Spit hike in 2020 (post). Assuming I had anything left in the tank after returning from the North Trail I planned on hiking the South Trail down to the beach for the up-close view of the basalt cliffs of Cape Lookout’s southern side. It’s 2.4 up and down miles to the end of Cape Lookout with occasional views to both the north and south.

In between views the trail passes through a coastal forest.

Looking SE toward Sand Lake.

Looking south to Haystack Rock and Cape Kiwanda (post) with Cascade Head further south (post).

Haystack Rock with the tip of Cape Kiwanda to its left. Cascade Head is next and the headland furthest south is Cape Foulweather.

A little over a mile and half in the trail passes a memorial plaque for an Army Air Force plane that crashed nearby claiming the lives of the crew.

The trail is almost always muddy in spots and downed trees sometimes require less than ideal reroutes of the trail.

Coming up to the first view to the north.

View north along the coast.

Three Arch Rock across from Oceanside (post) followed by Cape Meares (post), and then Cape Falcon (post). The inland peaks starting with the rounded one of the left are Neahkahnie Mountain (post), Angora Peak, Rock Mountain, West Onion Peak and Onion Peak.

Wells Cove

It was close to freezing so the trails weren’t as muddy as they can be on warmer days. The good news was there was no ice to deal with.

Here comes the sun.

Along this section I heard a blowing sound in the ocean below.

At 400′ above the water I could see something swimming around but couldn’t make out what it was. I had the larger camera that I like to use at the wildlife refuges in my pack, so I pulled it out and started taking pictures. The way it was coming up out of the water and making a blowing sound I mistook it for a small whale, but it turned out to be a sea lion.

The sea lion was attracting seagulls which began arriving en masse.

The sea lion eventually moved on and so did I.

Seagulls and cormorants.

Barrier at the end of Cape Lookout.

There is a small bench and viewpoint at the end of the trail where I paused briefly to appreciate the views.

View south.

View north.

I headed back toward the trailhead stopping to get a few pictures with the bigger camera now that it was unpacked.

American kestral

I’m fairly certain this is a ruby crowned kinglet in the salal.

Hermit thrush

Three Arch Rocks

Varied thrush

Back at the trailhead I turned left and headed down the North Trail.

It was clear from the trail tread that this trail hadn’t been used much recently however there were signs of recent trail maintenance. Aside from a few trees that I needed to watch my head going under the trail was clear as it dropped down to the suspension bridge over Cape Creek.

There was a lot of blowdown, mostly older, along this section.

Reenforced trail along this switchback.

It was 0.8-miles to the bridge with an elevation loss of 550′, but the bridge is worth seeing and would be a worthy turnaround point for a shorter hike.

Camp Creek

The trail made a quarter mile climb on the north side of Camp Creek to a signed junction at an old roadbed.

Sea stack out on the ocean.

This junction is where the trail had been closed coming from the day use area.

I double checked to make sure it wasn’t still signed closed at this end.

Most of the next 1.2-miles to the day use area followed the old roadbed as it descended to the beach. This section was in good shape except for a short section along a slide approximately a half mile from the day use area.

Netarts Spit and Bay.

A rerouted section of trail near the slide area.

This small stream appears to be the reason for the slide which is now being funneled over the hillside. On the far side the trail drops steeply down wet rocks next to wire covered rocks.

Looking down at the continuation of the trail on the far side of the stream.

Looking back up from the bottom. Coming down this was a lot harder than going back up due to how slick the damp rocks were.

After getting past the slide it was an easy half mile down to the day use area.

The sign of a good coastal trail is it going through a tree.

Bridge over Jackson Creek.

Jackson Creek

The parking lot at the day use area.

I took some time to read some of the interpretive signs/plaques and take a short break at one of the picnic tables before starting back.

Cape Lookout from the day use area.

I made the 2.2-mile, 800′ plus elevation gain return trip to the Cape Lookout Trailhead and decided that I would go ahead and hike down the South Trail as well. That trail started a little under 100 yards from trailhead where it split off from the Cape Trail.

Turning onto the South Trail.

Like the North Trail the South Trail loses over 800′ to reach the ocean which it does in 1.8-miles.

Spotted towhee

Good use of switchbacks keeps the trail from ever being too steep.

Halfway down the trail passes a bench with a nice view of Cape Lookout through the trees.

Camp Clark (Scouting America) below the trail to the south.

‘
Getting closer to the beach.

Self-heal

Columnar basalt on Cape Lookout.

The view south towards the sun.

When Heather and I visited in 2011 we continued a little to the south so this time I headed north toward Cape Lookout and then found a nice rock to take a seat on.

My view.

One of three bald eagles that flew over.

After resting and psyching myself up for the climb I headed back.

The trail is marked by a colorful buoys and ropes.

Today’s hike came in at 13.2-miles with approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Of course, there are plenty of shorter options available, but you could also go further by heading north along Netarts Spit or south along the beach to Sand Lake. If you do visit be prepared for muddy conditions and crowds on the Cape Trail. Having been the first car at the trailhead I didn’t see anyone until I was headed back from the end of the cape. I passed just eight people on the way back, but it wasn’t yet 9:30am when I turned onto the North Trail. I only saw three people on the that trail and then another eight on the South Trail, plus a few more on the beach itself. By the time I was ready to leave at 1:15pm the trailhead was overflowing and cars were parked along the shoulder out to Cape Lookout Road. Score another one for early starts. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cape Lookout State Park

Tags Cape Creek, cape lookout, Cape Lookout Day Use Area, Cape Lookout State park, Cape Lookout Trailhead, Cape Trail, hiking, North Trail, Oregon, South Trail, Suspension Bridge

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge – 01/19/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 22, 2026
1 Comment on Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge – 01/19/2026

I took advantage of having a day off for MLK Day to make the quick drive to Baskett Slough NWR for a short recovery hike after Saturday’s 15-mile hike at Ellendale Creek (post). Heather did not get the day off, so this was another solo outing for me and my sixth hike at the refuge. It was however my first visit during the seasonal closure period which runs from October ER 1st through March 30th. While much of the refuge is closed to protect wintering wildlife the Rich Guadagno Memorial and Inter-Tie Trails are open year-round. I parked at the Baskett Butte Trailhead planning on hiking those two trails and then hike along Coville Road to the Taverners Marsh parking area.

I arrived shortly before sunrise and headed up the Rich Guadagno Memorial Trail and detoured to the wildlife viewing platform before starting the loop.

Seasonal closure map.

Mt. Jefferson

Geese in South Slough Pond.

Heading toward the viewing platform.

Heading back to start the loop.

Here comes the sun.

I opted to hike the loop counterclockwise due to an even earlier bird having been ahead of me doing the loop counterclockwise.

Shortly after entering the trees I noticed three deer just up the hillside above the trail.

The three deer.

First deer

Second deer. The third deer was too busy munching on grass to look up.

After watching the deer for a moment I continued on getting a glimpse of Morgan Lake through the trees.

Next I spotted a bald eagle through the trees.

I could hear a number of other birds but spotting them was another thing. I was finally able to locate an acorn woodpecker though.

And a pair of starlings.

A little further along the loop I noticed another woodpecker. It was either a hairy or downy woodpecker, I didn’t get a look at the beak or face so I’m not sure which.

I turned left onto the Inter-Tie Trail when I came to that junction and followed it to the seasonal closure boundary and a bench overlooking Morgan Lake.

The white sign ahead marks the start of the seasonally closed section of trail.

Morgan Lake from the bench.

Egret hunting in a field.

Cackling geese

More geese headed for Morgan Lake.

After watching and listening to the geese on Morgan Lake I headed back and finished the loop.

Northern flicker

There were a bunch of birds in these trees by the sounds, but I only caught glimpses of them flying from tree to tree.

The end of the loop ahead.

After completing the loop I returned to the trailhead and headed down Coville Road.

Leaving the trailhead parking area.

The road is open to vehicles but why drive when I could walk the half mile to Taveners Marsh?

South Slough Pond from Coville Road.

There were a lot of birds to see as I passed along South Slough Pond.

This looks like mostly northern pintails, northern shovelers and American wigeons.

Coville Road. Notice the seasonal closure signs on either side.

Geese and northern pintails.

Baskett Butte

A mallard and an American wigeon along with geese.

Another bald eagle

American kestral

Hawk

American wigeon

An Amrican coot, bufflehead, and northern shoveler walk into a bar…..

Barn swallows

Taveners Marsh was also full of birds. Most of the ducks there were busy eating breakfast which resulted in a lot of duck butts.

Northern pintails, a northern shoveler and an American coot.

Red-winged blackbird

American coot

Northern shovelers and Merlin says the little shore birds are dunlins.

Gadwall pair

Taveners Marsh

Northern pintail

Name that duck butt.

Song sparrow

After spending a good amount of time at Taveners Marsh I headed back along Coville Road to the Baskett Butte Trailhead.

Baskett Butte from Taveners Marsh

Hawk

Western meadowlark

Mt. Jefferson and an eagle.

Juvenile bald eagle seen from the trailhead parking lot.

Another wildlife filled outing at this refuge. Today’s hike came in at just 3.6-miles and 275′ of elevation gain.

I’m waiting for the winter weather to hit, but until it does we are more than happy to take advantage and get a few extra hikes in. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Baskett Slough 2026

Tags American kestral, Bald Eagle, Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Coville Road, deer, hiking, Inter-Tie Trail, Morgan Lake, Northern Pintail, Oregon, Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail, South Slough Pond, Taveners Marsh

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Ellendale Creek – 01/17/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 21, 2026
1 Comment on Ellendale Creek – 01/17/2026

Over the last few months, a couple of people including a coworker and my cousin and Uncle mentioned a hiking option just west of Dallas, OR around Ellendale Creek. It wasn’t something that had ever hit my radar, but they all live in the Monmouth/Dallas area and suggested it might be something we’d like to check out. Since I’m always looking for new options I looked into it and found the Ellendale Creek Loop entry in AllTrails which is listed as a 4.9-mile loop gaining 987′. Full disclosure, I have a tolerate/dislike relationship with AllTrails. For me there are two things it can be useful for – locating hikes like this one and getting trail conditions. The latter use depends on how frequently a trail is used since seldom hiked trails result in seldom updated conditions. Even when a hike has frequent recent updates the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt due to people’s different interpretations of what things like “steep”, “muddy”, “buggy” etc. What I dislike about it is the lack of detailed descriptions of the route(s) and that even though community submitted hikes are vetted before being added they sometimes don’t make any sense why the route was chosen. (See our Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area post.) But I digress so back to this hike.

The brief AllTrails description mentioned an extensive network of singletrack in the area thar eventually led to the Siuslaw National Forest. With that tidbit of information I turned to CalTopo to get a better look at the roads and trails in the area with their Public Lands layer enabled. That revealed that the loop described by AllTrails spent most of the 4.9-miles on private timber land, but a section along the top of the loop passed through a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcel. That parcel shared a border with one of four Siuslaw National Forest parcels, each of which shared a corner with one of the other FS parcels. The map showed a number of roads and trails throughout the parcels allowing for a longer hike than the 4.9-mile loop. I came up with a general plan to leave the loop in the BLM parcel and explore into the Siuslaw National Forest before returning and finishing the loop. With no information on trail conditions and not knowing if any of the roads/trails that crossed into private lands would be marked private or signed no trespassing it made sense to leave my options open. The one thing I had been warned of on both AllTrails and the limited information I could find in the online mountain biking community was that none of the trails were signed.

I parked along the south shoulder of Reuben Boise Rd near a gated road.

I was the second car here. There was room for quite a few more along the shoulder.

I spotted this trail just behind where I’d parked but I didn’t take it because I wanted to make sure I’d read the information at the gate.

With the loop being primarily on private lands it was important to make sure it was open, didn’t require a permit, and to be aware of the landowner’s rules/regulations.

After reading up on the rules I headed down the gated gravel road which crossed an unnamed creek after 0.2-miles.

The loop was shown as beginning on the far side of the creek and I wound up missing it. It was a good example of one of my frustrations with AllTrails. I was planning on hiking the loop counterclockwise and should have turned right on a trail almost immediately after passing the creek.

The correct trail in the afternoon on my way back.

Had the hike description mentioned taking a right on a singletrack after crossing the creek I’d have been fine, but it simply said the “outer loop crosses Ellendale Creek and passes through dense forest”. Had I had cell service I would have likely been okay as I would have been able to view my location on the AllTrails map, but I didn’t have service so I checked the maps on my GPS and that I’d downloaded from CalTopo. The GPS didn’t show anything to my right and none of the maps (including the AllTrails base layer) showed a trail heading off to the right. What the maps did show was a road splitting and then a second split off of the lefthand fork. Looking ahead I could see the road splitting so I continued forward and took the right hand fork.

About 100 yards up this road I realized something was off. I was headed south instead of NW. I stopped and looked at the maps again but saw the same three roads and I know I hadn’t passed a road on my right. I happened to be standing near another trail veering off to the right and I could see on the CalTopo map a couple of trails located between the “road” I was supposed to be on and the road which I had determined I was actually on.

I decided to take this trail hoping I might find a way over to the right road, but it didn’t exactly do what CalTopo showed it doing. It dumped me back out on the road I’d been on after 0.2-miles in the forest.

I confirmed on the maps that the road I was on would eventually connect me up to the route of the loop and simply stuck to this road as it climbed steadily.

The road heading down to the left wasn’t shown on any maps which is something to be aware of anywhere recent logging has occurred.

Mt. Jefferson in the distance from the road.

Mt. Jefferson

I passed the first of just four people I’d see on the trails all day along this stretch.

The next moment of confusion came when the roadbed curved left with what appeared to be singletrack continuing straight.

Once again the maps all showed a road going straight and a “trail” veering left. Regardless of which was the road or the trail it was clear from the maps that going straight would lead me directly to the AllTrails loop. Just to be sure I checked to see if I had cell service which I now did so I pulled up AllTrails and confirmed all my suspicions. This was the first time I’d ever used my phone to actively track my location since I always have the Garmin on me. If this were something I was to do regularly I would use Gaia GPS and not AllTrails, but for today it was helpful. I headed straight on the singletrack which turned out to be a much older roadbed.

This quickly brought me to a “T” junction with the “road” that the loop followed where I turned left.

This was obviously a road too at one point, but not anytime recently.

Had I veered left instead of staying straight I would have eventually come up here from the left.

The map showed this as a 4-way road junction where the loop route turned left which is what I did.

I was now on BLM land and headed toward a crossing of Ellendale Creek.

Queen Anne’s Lace (non-native)

Salal blossom beginning to form.

As I neared Ellendale Creek two deer dashed across the road and up the forested hillside.

I took a picture but between the forest and the distance I didn’t get the deer. Shortly after resuming the hike a third deer came up from the creek and ran across the road, again before I could get a photo.

The third deer is somewhere up on that hillside.

Ellendale Creek

A tenth of a mile beyond the creek I came to a road junction where trails also headed up and downhill. Here the route of the loop was along the road to the left, but this was where I had planned to leave the loop and head into the National Forest. I stayed straight ignoring a second road on the left and began climbing.

Shortly after I started the climb I spotted a mountain biker and their pup heading in the same direction. They were taking a break and as I neared I thought for a moment I heard my name but then decided they were probably just calling to their dog. Then I heard my name again and thought that Deryl was an odd name for a dog. Another Deryl later and I realized that it was our friend Yolanda and she was trying to get my attention. She was able to provide me with some information about some of the trails in the area as we continued uphill to Rob Mill Road (Road 1924).

Robb Mill Road at the junction.

Most of the mountain bike websites mentioned starting from Robb Mill Road which is what she’d done. They were heading left on the road back toward the gate at its end and my plans had me going right so after a little more information we said goodbye and went our separate ways. I followed the fairly level gravel round along the hillside above Ellendale Creek watching for the “White Gate” on a spur road that would be on my right.

Yolanda had told me to keep an eye out for a trail veering off to the left shortly beyond the White Gate. This spur trail would lead to split where the Tree Fort and Tree House trails (shown on the CalTopo & AllTrails maps) both head south back to Robb Mill Road. Before reaching that split this spur also connected to what was shown as a road labeled Muddy Puddles on the maps right at the National Forest border. My plan was to follow Muddy Puddles west to a crossing of Canyon Creek then continue on and hook back up with Robb Mill Road.

The spur trail.

Muddy Puddles on the right. Again, this was shown as a road on the maps.

I was now in the Siuslaw National Forest and the trail was a little rough but passable with signs of occasional trail maintenance.

I’m not sure who has been out working on these trails, but they’d done some recent work.

This was the biggest tree that I saw over any trail during my hike.

The trail got pretty faint as it neared Canyon Creek. Shortly before reaching the creek I noticed an even fainter trail veering off to the right that the map showed connecting up to Robb Mill Road.

There are two trails in the above photo, the one to the right heads to Robb Mill Road.

I passed some flagging on my left that was a little earlier than where the map showed the trail crossing Canyon Creek so I ignored it and continued on reaching the creek a short distance later.

Remains of a little footbridge on Cayon Creek.

Based on the map the trail bent around after crossing the creek and climbed a little over 100′ to Robb Mill Road. I nearly lost the tread completely on the far side of the creek and used my phone to stick to the track. The tread became clearer near what I determined to be the current creek crossing which the orange flagging I’d passed had been for.

The new route of the trail across Canyon Creek.

Robb Mill Road.

This had become a choose your own adventure hike at this point so I paused on the road to plot the next leg of my hike. Turning left on the road would simply head me back toward where I’d left the road near the White Gate and a right would lead me out of the National Forest for a bit before reentering another parcel further south. My other option was to cross the road sticking to singletrack and climbing to a ridge on what the maps show as the Burma Trail. If I chose the right combination of trails and roads I would eventually connect back up with Robb Mill Road near the southern end of that second National Forest parcel. That was the plan I settled on and across the Robb Mill Road I went.

Burma gained over 500′ from Robb Mill Road over the next 1.25-miles.

The trail leveled out a bit a couple of times along a ridge before dipping down twice to saddles.

About a half mile from the road the trail made a “corner crossing” between the two Forest Service Parcels.

Forest Service boundary sign.

Nearing the high point of the trail which also ran along the border of a clear cut.

The trail began descending from its high point and I came to a fork. It didn’t matter which way I went as the two forks rejoined in a tenth of a mile according to the maps so I forked right.

The forks rejoining.

My biggest mistake of the day came shortly after the forks rejoined. I’d noticed that I would be coming to another fork and the lefthand fork led to Robb Mill Road while the right looped around to the west to join Burma Road.

Despite the left fork being the used trail my ability to tell my left from my right malfunctioned and I forked right. I quickly found myself struggling through a mess of downed trees.

At the second pile of blowdown I did a map check and realized what I’d done. Fortunately I had only gone a tenth of a mile down this trail, but unfortunately I had to go back through the blowdown.

At least it was a little clearer after I’d removed a few limbs during my first pass.

I turned onto the correct fork and followed it somewhat steeply downhill a third of a mile to Robb Mill Road.

Unnamed creek crossing just before reaching the road.

Robb Mill Road through the trees.

Since I hadn’t had an exact route planned I had set a three-hour turnaround time which was 10:45am. It was 10:35am when I arrived at Robb Mill Road which was close to my turnaround time and the road provided an opportunity to make a loop back without having to climb back up to the high point. That was assuming none of the private land was off-limits, which they were not on this day. I turned left on the road and followed it back 2.1-miles to where the Burma Trail had crossed it.

Markes at the boundary of the National Forest.

There were a couple of logging roads that weren’t shown on any maps, so I used my phone quite a bit to make sure I was still on Robb Mill Road.

Views opened up as the road passed through previously logged areas.

Madrone

Mt. Hood straight ahead with Mt. Jefferson visible in the gap on the right. In addition to Hood and Jefferson Three Fingered Jack and the Three Sisters were also visible.

Mt. Hood

Back in the Siuslaw National Forest.

Arriving at the Burma Trail junction.

In hindsight I should have stayed straight on the road and followed it all the way back, but instead I dropped down on the trail and descended to Canyon Creek.

If I hadn’t come up here earlier I don’t know that I would have seen the path down.

I didn’t want to follow the exact same route back so after crossing Canyon Creek I took the faint trail I’d passed on my way up and followed it 0.2-miles to Robb Mill Road.

I turned right onto the road and followed it 1.4-miles to where I’d left the road in the morning.

Gate at the national forest boundary.

I turned onto the spur trail again but forked left at the Muddy Puddles junction then forked right at the next “Y” onto the Tree Fort Trail.

Left is Tree House and right is Tree Fort.

This was a totally unnecessary detour simply to check out some additional trails. I followed Tree Fort for 0.7-miles then made a hard left at a three-way junction onto Tree House.

Mary’s Peak (post) in the distance.

A little patch of snow on Mary’s Peak.

After 0.4-miles I arrived at the above three-way junction. Tree Fort followed an old logging road headed left while singletrack continued downhill to, you guessed it, Robb Mill Road.

Orange peel fungus.

Junction with Tree House (on the left).

I followed Tree House for half a mile to yet another three-way junction.

Had I taken Tree House instead of Tree Fort I would have arrived here in just a tenth of a mile instead of 1.1-miles. I turned right then forked left when this trail split and in two tenths of a mile found myself at Robb Mill Road near where I had said goodbye to Yolanda earlier.

I stayed left but either path would have dropped me down to Robb Mill Road.

Instead of following the road down I crossed over and picked up the continuation of the trail.

In another third of a mile I was back on the AllTrails Ellendale Creek Loop.

I was kind of tired of road walking so when I saw that there was trail parallel to the road that the loop followed, I decided to try it.

This turned out to be a mistake as the trail dropped steeply into then out of a depression. It was so steep and slick that I had to slide down.

I climbed up the far side which was slightly less steep then bushwacked 100′ over to the road.

I followed the road downhill 2.3-miles to complete the loop.

Road 1906 was the number.

More views of the Cascade Mountains.

The Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson beyond the Willamette Valley.

Ellendale Creek

Arriving back at the road junction where I started my loop.

There were quite a few cars at the trailhead when I got back at 1:20pm. Despite the number of cars, I only saw four people on the trails. My convoluted route came to 15.1-miles with approximately 1800′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Blue represent the area covered by AllTrails with the orange being my addition.

Here is the track on the CalTopo map showing the National Forest (green) and BLM (orange).

This is truly a choose your own adventure area and offers a lot of options as long as access is allowed. Watch for active logging operations and seasonal fire closures, but otherwise this was a great place to get some trail miles in less than 30-minutes from Salem. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Ellendale Creek

Tags Burma, Canyon Creek, coast range, Dallas OR, Ellendale Creek, Ellendale Creek Loop, hiking, Muddy Puddles, Oregon, Reuben Boise Road, Robb Mill Road, siuslaw national forest, Tree Fort, Tree House

Hiking SW Washington Washington

Klickitat Mineral Springs – 01/10/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 12, 2026
2 Comments on Klickitat Mineral Springs – 01/10/2026

For our first hike of 2026 we chose a section of the 31-mile-long Klickitat Trail in Washington. This was our third hike on the converted railroad with our first coming in 2014 (post) and our most recent in 2022 (post). In 2014 we started from the Harms Road Trailhead and hiked west along Swale Creek for nearly four miles before turning around. In 2022 we hiked from the Lyle Trailhead at the western end of the trail and hiked NE along the Klickitat River for almost 6.5-miles before turning around. The former hike is one of William L. Sullivan’s featured hikes in his 100 Hike guidebook series for Northwestern Oregon & Southwestern Washington while the latter hike is featured in Matt Reeder’s “PDX Hiking 365” 1st edition. Reeder included today’s hike in “PDX Hiking 365” as well which, similar to what we did with Sullivan’s books (post), we are working on hiking at least part of each of those featured hikes. Entering 2026 there were just 3 of the 120 featured hikes left on that to-do list.

Reeder describes a 5.2-mile out-and-back hike beginning at the Wahkiacus Trailhead west along the Klickitat River to the site of a missing trestle which separates the eastern section of the Klickitat Trail from the western portion. With a nearly two-and-a-half-hour drive time from Salem a 5.2-mile hike is a little short to make the drive worthwhile, so our plan was to start with Reeder’s hike and then head out along the trail in the opposite direction from the trailhead and hike along Swale Creek for about an hour-and-a-half before heading back to the car.

We were the first car at the trailhead, but not the first person on the trail as a fisherman passed by while we were getting ready to set off.

It was a frosty morning with the temperature right at freezing when we arrived just after 7:30am.

The trail joined the river after a short distance and near the one-mile mark passed the site of a former water-bottling plant that tried to capitalize on carbonated springs along the river.

The trail continues along the river passing the only remaining building from the bottling operations on the far bank.

The trail mainly sticks close to the river beyond the springs before arriving at a picnic table at the missing trestle.

Bald eagle and a power line.

No flowers yet but there were a few mushrooms.

The Klickitat River at the missing trestle with the unincorporated community of Klickitat on the far side.

We returned the way we’d come and were back at the trailhead a little before 10am. We set 11:30am as our turnaround time for the next leg of our hike and crossed Schilling Road to continue along the Klickitat Trail

While the section of trail from the trailhead to the missing trestle had been located in the Mineral Springs Wildlife Area the trail going in the other direction passes through private land. The trail itself has been designated a State Park but due to the surrounding private land it is important to stay on the trail and respect the private landowners’ rights. We followed the wide trail along Swale Creek and through mixed forests coming to a bridge over a small unnamed creek after roughly three-quarters of a mile.

Heading into Swale Canyon.

Swale Creek

Coming up on the bridge.

The unnamed creek.

A long straight stretch followed the bridge and we passed a few homes before arriving at a road crossing approximately 2-miles from the trailhead.

Picnic table below a private property sign.

The road crossing.

Beyond the road crossing the trail began to turn toward the south as it continued into the canyon. Just under a mile from the road crossing we came to another bridge, this time spanning Swale Creek.

Swale Creek

It was 11am when we arrived at the bridge over Swale Creek and Heather decided that this was a good turn around point for her. We decided that I would continue for another half an hour while she headed back to the car. After crossing Swale Creek I passed another homesite, the last one for the day, and continued south through the canyon. The views really opened up, and some blue sky appeared making this the most scenic portion of the days outing.

No bridge for this unnamed stream crossing.

Looking back after crossing the stream, mostly dry footed.

Mercury station wagon.

At exactly 11:30am I arrived at another bridge over Swale Creek where I paused for a moment before heading back.

The trail continuing on along Swale Creek.

Getting ready to start back.

Swale Creek from the bridge.

This bridge was 1.5-miles from the other bridge over Swale Creek where Heather had turned around making it approximately 4.25-miles from the trailhead. I headed back the way I’d come passing a single bike rider and a couple hiking before arriving back at the car.

Squirrel

The trailhead in sight.

My hike came to 13.2-miles with roughly 450′ of very gradual elevation gain (Hether’s was 10.2 with 400′.)

Here is a look at our tracks from our three hikes along the Klickitat Trail, plus our nearby Stacker Butte hike (post).

This was a pretty good time to visit. It was too early for any of the spring flowers, but it was also too early for any rattlesnakes, and we also did not notice any ticks. Hopefully this was just the first of many great hikes for 2026. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Klickitat Mineral Springs

Tags hiking, Klickitat Mineral Springs, Klickitat Rail Trail, klickitat river, Klickitat Trail, Swale Canyon, Swale Creek, Wahkiacus Trailhead, Washington

Hiking Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2025 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 1, 2026
2 Comments on The Hikes of 2025 – A Look Back

2025 was the first time in several years where we weren’t focused on achieving a specific hiking goal. It also marked the first year in which I had significantly more vacation time than Heather. We also adjusted our off-season modus operandi from “one hike a month” to “at least one hike a month and more if the weather cooperates”. These factors along with some medical restrictions resulted in a very different set of hikes in 2025 than previous years. For the first time since 2014 we didn’t spend any time backpacking, spent minimal time hiking in either Eastern or Southern Oregon, and for only the second time since 2012 failed to hike at an elevation above 8000′. In fact, it was the first year in which the average highest elevation of our outings came in under 3000′ at 2947′.

One thing that did not change was our focus on visiting new trails or, in the case of areas we’d visited before, new sections of trail. Together, Heather and I spent 46 days exploring trails, and I headed out on an additional 20 days. The 66 days for me marked the most days hiking in a calendar year topping the previous high of 64 in 2017. With multiple stops on several of the days the number of trailheads I started off from was 98 (75 for Heather). Fifty-eight of those ninety-eight stops, and twenty-eight of the days were entirely new. The only hike that was 100% on trails previously hiked was to celebrate our friend’s birthday with a hike to Dimple Hill in the McDonald-Dunn Forest. The hikes on our 46 days together came to 402.8 miles with another 245 miles on my 20 solo hikes resulting 647.8 miles for me in 2025. Of those miles 440.6 were new. Our shortest hike was just 0.9-miles when we stopped to check out McCredie Hot Springs on the way home from Bend in October, and my longest was the 17.8-mile Obsidian Loop in the Three Sisters Wilderness in July.

As far as where we spent our time the Central Cascades were at the top followed by the Oregon Coast & Coast Range, NW Oregon, and Washington. The hikes in Washington were one of the reasons for the low number of hikes in Eastern and Southern Oregon. Our two vacations were spent at National Parks in that state, Olympic and Mt. Rainier.

Locations of the trailheads we started from in 2025. (There are 96 THs since we hiked multiple trails on a number of days.)

Our northernmost hike this year, Ozette Triangle in Olympic National Park, was also the furthest north we’d ever hiked. This was also the furthest west we would be all year.

Looking north from the most northerly location we’ve been.

Our southernmost hike was on the Cow Creek Trail SE of Roseburg, OR in the Umpqua National Forest.

Downed trees that marked my turn around point, and southernmost point, on the Cow Creek Trail.

Not surprisingly our easternmost hike was our sole hike in Eastern Oregon in the BLM’s Criterion Tract.

Roughly the furthest point east we reached this year.

The 2025 wildfire season was comparatively tame to the last few years however there were still more than 1,100 fires from early June to mid-October. According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal over 700 of those fires were human caused which is disappointing as these are by and large avoidable.
While none of the fires directly impacted our plans this year, sadly 200 homes and structures were lost this past year and several trails we’d previously hiked were burned.

On a more positive note, we once again were blessed to be able to see and experience so many beautiful places. So many in fact that in addition to our usual wildlife and wildflower galleries we’re adding one for the waterfalls we saw in 2025.

January – Driftwood Beach, OR

February – Clackamas River from Milo McIver State Park, OR

March – Catherine Creek/Coyote Wall, WA (This area burned in July 2025 in the Burdoin Fire.)

April – Devil’s Lake Fork, Tillamook State Forest, OR

April – Basket Slough Wildlife Refuge, OR

May – Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, OR

May – Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Devil’s Punchbowl, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Little Badger Trail, Mt. Hood National Forest, OR

May – Deschutes River, BLM Criterion Tract, OR

June – Blue Lake, Hampton Family Forests (Private Timberland), OR

June – Fivemile Butte Lookout, Mt. Hood National Forest, OR

June – Champoeg State Park, OR

June – Clearwater River, Umpqua National Forest, OR

Elk Camp Shelter, Willamette National Forest, OR

July – Mt. Hood, OR

July – Bays Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

July – Three Sisters Wilderness, OR

July – Craig Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

July – Big Lake, Willamette National Forest, OR

August – Walupt Lake, Goat Rocks Wilderness, OR

August – Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Mt. Freemont Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Snow Lake, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Naches Peak Loop, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Lava Canyon Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

September – Zigzag Canyon, Mt. Hood Wilderness, OR

September – Twin Rocks, Rockaway Beach, OR

September – Three Sisters Wilderness, OR

September – Duffy Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

September – Fuji Mountain, Willamette National Forest, OR

September – Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

September – Charlton Lake, Deschutes National Forest, OR

October – Head of Jack Creek, Deschutes National Forest, OR

October – Nehalem River, Nehalem, OR

October – Silver Falls State Park, OR

October – Maxwell Butte, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

October – Willamette Mission State Park, OR

November – Silver Falls State Park, OR

November – Clear Lake, Willamette National Forest, OR

December – Little Rock Creek, Santiam State Forest, OR

Looking ahead to 2026 there are still trails we’ve yet to explore and many that we’d be more than happy to revisit. We’re looking forward to continuing the journey for as long as we are able. Happy Trails and have a wonderful New Year!

Tags adventure, champoeg state park, Goat Rocks Wilderness, hiking, Milo McIver State Park, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, mt. rainier national park, nature, Olympic National Park, Oregon, Silver Falls State Park, Three Sisters Wilderness, travel, Washington, Willamette mission State Park

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report

Monument Peak Loop – 12/13/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 15, 2025
No Comments on Monument Peak Loop – 12/13/2025

It had been a couple of weeks since we’d had a chance to hit the trails, but a favorable forecast gave me an opportunity to check out the Monument Peak Trail system in the Santiam State Forest just south of Gates, OR. Heather would not be joining me on this outing as she had some Christmas preparations to attend to.

There isn’t a lot of information online about the trail system. Oregon.gov has a pdf trail map and the Statesman Journal recently featured the area in a story, but outside of that not much came up in searches. The trails are shown on both CalTopo and Gaia GPS. Interestingly both of these mapping apps showed the various trail names while the trail names on the current Oregon Department of Forestry pdf rarely lined up with the trail signs on the ground. On the other hand, the ODF’s Santiam Horse Camp Brochure does contain a map with all the trail names, however it does not show the most recent addition, the Bobcat Trail at all. Regardless of the trail names the locations of the trails shown were correct on all of the maps.

There are two official trailheads serving the area, Santiam Horse Camp and the Monument Peak Trailhead. The road to the horse camp is closed seasonally from November through April so that left the Monument Peak Trailhead for my starting point. (It’s possible to start at several of the road crossings by parking along the shoulder of either Monument Peak or Mad Creek Roads.)

I was the first car at the trailhead.

The trail map at the trailhead matched the online pdf.

My plan was to take the 1.1-mile Magic Trail (Monument Peak Trail on the signboard map) up to the Monument Peak Loop and start the loop in a counterclockwise direction. Instead of simply hiking the loop though I intended to do a figure eight by cutting across the loop on the Bobcat Trail then looping back around to that trail in a clockwise direction. I would then re-hike the Bobcat Trail and turn left to complete the Monument Peak Loop creating the figure 8. While this would add 3.6-miles and a several hundred feet of elevation gain I wanted to take the opportunity to check out as much of the trails as possible.

The Magic Trail began along an unnamed creek before switching back uphill through forest affected by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire.

The trail crossed two gravel roads before ending at the Monument Peak Loop Trail.

The second road crossing.

Trail signs at the junction with the Monument Peak Loop.

Here the trail sign agreed with the signboard map calling this the Monument Peak Loop. It is also referred to as the Wild Boar Trail on the older ODF map. I headed right here toward the Santiam Horse Camp.

There was a lot of recent and/or future logging activity in the area, partly a result of the fire.

A lone bleeding-heart blossom.

It was a half mile from the Magic Trail junction to the horse camp. As I neared the horse camp the trail arrived at the edge of a clearcut that provided views across the Santiam River Canyon.

Looking west toward Salem and the Willamette Valley which was covered by low lying clouds. The Coast Range is visible on the far side of the clouds.

The city of Gates in the shadow below. The aftermath of the Beachie Creek Fire is on full display on the opposite side.

The high peak at the center (behind the lone snag) is Rocky Top (post) and high peak near the right side is Sardine Mountain (post).

One of the corrals at the horse camp.

The horse camp opened in 2006 and the trails developed with equestrian use in mind however they are open to all non-motorized use.

I passed by the horse camp and continued along the loop. The trail gradually climbed for 2.3-miles to the unsigned junction with the Bobcat Trail. Along the way the trail passed the historic Quartzville Trail which I haven’t been able to find much about online other than Judge John B. Waldo, Oregon’s first Supreme Court justice, used the route to travel from Gates to presumably the Quartzville district where mining activity was prevalent.

Hawk in the shadows.

There were a few obstacles on this side of the loop, but all were easy to navigate.

A bit of forest that was spared from the 2020 fire.

Market at the site of the historic trail.

The trail joined an old roadbed for a portion of this section.

The trail sign at this road junction was hidden behind the downed tree. The loop continues to the left here.

At the next road junction the trail went right.

The trail leaving the roadbed. The post on the left names this the Radio Flyer Trail while the trail sign on the right says Monument Peak Loop. At this point the trail had left the fire scar and now continued through nice second growth forest.

Flooded trail from the atmospheric river that passed over the PNW at the beginning of the week.

Just before reaching Wagon Road, I came to the unsigned Bobcat Trail forking off to the left.

Wagon Road from the junction. You can see the back end of a mushroom hunter’s car that was parked along the shoulder.

I turned left onto the Bobcat Trail which provided a mostly downhill break from the steady climb I had been doing since starting my hike.

Rhododendron

I encountered the first major obstacle of my hike on this trail; a good-sized tree had fallen along the trail on a slight downhill. I wound up walking on top of the tree for a bit to get around some of the larger limbs then spent some time clearing some of the broken branches from the trail before continuing on.

Coming up on Monument Peak Road.

The Bobcat Trail continuing on the other side of the road.

The Bobcat Trail dropped down to Mad Creek Road which I had to cross and then follow road MC100 for a little over 100′ to find the continuation of the trail.

Mad Creek Road is running left to right with MC100 straight ahead.

I had to walk down MC100 a bit to pick up the continuation of the trail.

There was a lot of target shooting happening just up Mad Creek Road which prompted me to speed up a bit as I continued on the final half mile to the junction with the Monument Peak Loop.

Back in the fire scar.

Dropping down to the trail junction.

Looking back at the Bobcat Trail.

I turned right at the junction and headed toward the gunfire. While I was fairly certain they were using an appropriate gravel pit I was a little more comfortable now that I was well below the road in a bit of a canyon. Below the trail Mad Creek was occasionally visible.

The trail turned away from Mad Creek near one of its tributaries which had a nice little waterfall boosted by the recent rains.

The trail climbed out of the canyon and crossed Mad Creek Road near the gravel pit where I could see the target shooters.

The maps all showed two road crossings along this section, Mad Creek Road and MP 800, before arriving at Monument Peak Road. That being said I crossed at least four roads and a fire break in the 1.3-miles to Monument Peak Road.

I’m not sure if this is MP800 or if it was the next one.

The fire break.

Woodpecker

Another road that isn’t on any of the maps to the right with Coyote Rock on the far side. (I assume this is Coyote Rock as this section of trail is also known as the Coyote Rock Trail.)

Coyote Rock

The trail crossing the mystery road.

The trail then made a steep descent below Coyote Rock to Monument Peak Road.

The trail is to the right here. The road straight ahead is also not shown on the maps.

After crossing Monument Peak Road the trail descended another half mile descent to Wagon Road where I had turned onto the Bobcat Trail earlier.

Another woodpecker

Arriving at Wagon Road. You can see a trail sign through the trees to the left. The mushroom hunter was here at his car, and we spoke for a moment before I continued on.

I turned onto the Bobcat Trail for the second time and followed it back to the Monument Peak Loop, this time without the sound of gunfire. This time I went left at the junction.

This portion, the Rhody Ridge Trail, of the loop began with a climb up what I assume is Rhody Ridge after crossing a gravel road.

This section had the most and trickiest blowdown of the day. I didn’t take pictures of most of it as I was too busy trying to figure out how to get over, through or around it.

After passing over the top of the ridge the trail switched back down the far side before crossing another gravel road.

Blowdown just before the gravel road. It would have been easier had I simply turned left at the first road crossing and followed the roads around the ridge to this point, but I had no way of knowing how bad the conditions were on the trail.

The trail continued through the burned forest before rejoining the gravel road for a short stretch.

Turky tails

At a point the trail veered left leaving the road. This section was also called the Pine Trail.

Signs for the Pine Trail at the end of a gravel road.

Approaching an old clearcut.

Rough-skinned newt crossing

More blowdown in the clearcut.

I was shocked to find some frost/ice here given my car had shown the temperature as 46 degrees Fahrenheit when I’d arrived at 7:45am. It certainly didn’t feel cold enough for anything to be frozen.

The Pine Trail section ending at MP400.

I turned left onto road MP400 and followed it for 0.7-miles to Monument Peak Road.

Little Rock Creek

Trail signs at the junction with Monument Peak Road.

I turned right onto Monument Peak Road for a little over 100′ then picked up the continuation of the loop.

There were vehicles parked in a turnout across the road here and I’d seen both hikers and cyclist heading up Monument Peak Road from MP400.

I followed this section of trail (Wild Boar) three quarters of a mile to complete the loop. This section was through a clearcut which allowed for some views.

Daisies

Rocky Top over the trees.

It was a bit of a climb to get back up to the junction.

The trail intersected an old logging road where I turned right along a wall of rock.

Rocky Top and Sardine Mountain up the Santiam Canyon.

Looking back along the old logging road.

Thistle

Sign post at the Magic Trail junction ahead.

I turned right onto the Magic Mile Trail and shuffled my way back to the trailhead. My feet and legs had apparently gotten soft during the couple of weeks off from hiking.

Stellar’s jay

Today’s hike wound up showing 14.5-miles on the GPS. Cumulative Elevation Gain was in the 3000′ range.

I would have saved myself 3.6 miles and at least 700′ of elevation gain by just doing the loop and skipping the Bobcat Trail. Starting at the horse camp when it is open would reduce the distance by another 2.2 miles. All that to say that there are options for shorter outings than what I wound up doing. While the area doesn’t have any major features that tend to draw crowds it was an enjoyable hike with just enough variety to keep things interesting. Given the relatively low elevation it is another nice option for the winter and early spring months when higher elevation trails are not yet accessible. Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Flickr: Monument Peak Loop

Tags Coyote Rock, hiking, Little Rock Creek, Mad Creek, Magic Trail, Monument Peak Loop, Monument Peak Trailhead, Oregon, Pine Trail, Rabbit Hole Trail, Radio Flyer, Rhody Ridge Trail, Santiam Horse Camp, santiam state forest, Wild Boar Trail

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Washington Area Oregon Trip report

McKenzie River Trail – Clear Lake to Carmen Reservoir – 11/22/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 24, 2025
No Comments on McKenzie River Trail – Clear Lake to Carmen Reservoir – 11/22/2025

A bluebird day forecast in the mountains on a day off equaled a trip to the northern end of the McKenzie River Trail at the Upper McKenzie River Trailhead for a hike past Clear Lake, Sahalie Falls, Koosah Falls and Carmen Reservoir. While we’d visited each of those sites previously this hike would include two sections of the McKenzie River Trail that we had not hiked before.

We left the Willamette Valley fog behind and arrived at the trailhead a little after 7am and were greeted with clear skies and freezing temperatures.

Two trails leave from this trailhead, the Old Santiam Wagon Road which we’d hiked in 2023 (post) and the McKenzie River Trail. The McKenzie River Trail starts to the right of a large signboard and immediately crosses the bed of Fish Lake Creek which is dry most of the year.

Spring snowmelt fills Fish Lake (post) but the porous lava beneath the lake drains it by Summer.

The trail passed through the forest between Highway 126 and Fish Lake Creek for a mile to a junction with the Clear Lake Trail.

The trail crossed Eno Road at the 0.2-mile mark.

At the junction with McKenzie River Trail turns left and recrosses Fish Lake Creek with the Clear Lake Trail continuing straight allowing for a loop around Clear Lake.

We had decided to stick to the McKenzie River Trail and pass around the eastern side of the lake first and return on western side. The primary reason was that there is a view of several Cascade mountains from the Clear Lake Trail, but with the Sun having just risen it would have been behind the mountains. By saving the views for the return trip the Sun would be almost directly overhead allowing for a better view of the snowy peaks.

The second footbridge over Fish Lake Creek.

It wasn’t long after crossing the footbridge that we got our first views of Clear Lake.

There were dozens of ducks on the lake including buffleheads, common mergansers, and Barrow’s goldeneyes.

The ripples in the lake are the ducks moving away from the annoying hikers.

Barrow’s goldeneye

Common mergansers

The Clear Lake Resort across from the trail.

A half mile from the junction the trail passes Great Spring which is the primary source of Clear Lake and the McKenzie River.

Beyond the spring the trail continued around the lake passing through frosty lava flows and small sections of forest for another 1.8-miles before reaching a junction with the other end of the Clear Lake Trail.

The boat ramp at the resort.

There were quite a few American dippers (ouzels) along the shore of the lake.

Buffleheads

A section of the trail is paved near the Coldwater Cove Campground.

The trail crosses the campground boat ramp.

Looking back across the lake we could see several of the Old Cascades peaking up over the trees.

Crescent Mountain (post) and The Three Pyramids (post)

Another ouzel

The southern end of the Clear Lake Trail.

We stayed on the McKenzie River Trail which crossed FR 770 after 0.4-miles then Highway 126 before arriving at a junction with the Waterfalls Trail 0.7-miles from the Clear Lake Trail junction.

Witch’s butter

FR 770 provides access to the Coldwater Cove Campground.

The trail crossing Highway 126. We were lucky there was not much traffic to deal with on either dash across today.

After crossing the highway the trail joined the McKenzie River.

The junction with the Waterfalls Trail.

We decided to leave the McKenzie River Trail here and take the Waterfalls Trail down to Carmen Reservoir and then return via the McKenzie River Trail. It was a little over a third of a mile from the junction to an overlook above Sahalie Falls.

Sahalie Falls

McKenzie River below Sahalie Falls.

McKenzie River above Sahalie Falls.

A tenth of a mile further down the trail is a second viewpoint with a direct view of the falls.

We continued past this viewpoint another half mile to the top of Koosah Falls.

Ouzel

This unnamed waterfall was off the trail a bit and hard to get a good view of from this side of the river.

View from above Koosah Falls.

There were two viewpoints for Koosah Falls along the trail.

The second viewpoint.

From the second Koosah Falls viewpoint it was another third of a mile to Carmen Reservoir where we turned right on FR 750 for a tenth of a mile to the Carmen Reservoir Trailhead.

The FR 750 bridge over the McKenzie River.

Carmen Reservoir

Walking along FR 750 toward the McKenzie River Trail.

We took a short break on a bench at the trailhead then followed pointers for the McKenzie River Trail.

After a short climb we turned right onto the McKenzie River Trail and in 0.2-miles came to a series of views of Koosah Falls.

Coral fungus

The trail initially climbed gradually from Koosah Falls before steepening as it neared Sahalie Falls.

McKenzie River above Koosah Falls.

The unnamed waterfall.

It was a little tricky to find the right use path that led to this view of the unnamed waterfall and it required scrambling between some wet logs and mossy rocks.

As the trail steepened a use trail forked off to the right which led to a direct view of Sahalie Falls.

Looking back along the use trail. It was a sketchy in spots, especially with how wet everything was.

To get a view of the falls I had to scramble over these rocks.

We continued on past Sahlie Falls to the footbridge over the river and the junction with the Waterfalls Trail.

The McKenzie River from the footbridge.

From the junction we returned to the Clear Lake Trail junction and turned onto that trail to finish the loop around the lake.

Turning onto the Clear Lake Trail.

The Clear Lake Trail crossed the McKenzie River at the outlet of Clear Lake then traversed a forested hillside above the lake for a mile to the Clear Lake Day Use Area.

Clear Lake from the bridge.

Sand Mountain (post) with some snow patches across the lake.

The Sand Mountain lookout tower on the summit to the right.

Mt. Washington across the lake.

The top of Mt. Washington.

The top of North Sister with a bit of Middle Sister to far right.

Picnic shelter at the day use area.

We briefly lost the trail here as there wasn’t any obvious signage near the resort.

Cafe and boat rentals.

We wound up following a pointer for restrooms instead of following the trail along the shore of the lake and had to cut down through the cabins to rejoin the actual trail.

Back on the official Trail.

We followed the Clear Lake trail as it bowed out and around the Ikenick Creek arm of Clear Lake.

More Barrow’s goldeneyes.

Footbridge over Ikenick Creek.

After crossing Ikenick Creek the trail returned to Clear Lake and arrived at a bench with a view across the lake of the Three Sisters.

Scott Mountain (post) across the lake.

Tree trunk in Clear Lake.

The Three Sisters

North, Middle, and South Sister

After taking in the view of the Three Sisters we completed the loop and returned to the car stopping often along the way to take photos of the numerous mushrooms that lined the trail.

While the temperatures had risen into the 40’s by the time we got back to the trailhead there was still plenty of ice and frost left on the ground.

The GPS put our hike at 11.7-miles with approximately 1000′ of cumulative elevation gain. For shorter hikes either of the loops that we did during this outing are worthy options.

This was a great hike with a lot of variety. Lakes, waterfalls, mountain views, lava fields, mossy green forest and some wildlife. The lack of leaves on the bushes and trees around the lake provided a little better viewing experience than we’d had on our first visit to Clear Lake and the cold temperatures reduced the crowds around the waterfalls. With the additional sections of the McKenzie River Trail completed we now only have about 1.5 of the 26.5-mile trail left to hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: McKenzie River Trail – Clear Lake to Carmen Res.

Tags Barrow's Goldeneye, Carmen Reservoir, Carmen Reservoir Trailhead, Clear Lake, Clear Lake Day Use Area, Clear Lake Trail, Coldwater Cove Campground, Great Spring, hiking, Koosah Falls, McKenzie River Trail, Oregon, Sahalie Falls, Upper McKenzie River Trailhead

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Racket Ridge-Roemer’s Meadow Loop (Silver Falls S.P.) – 11/11/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 13, 2025
No Comments on Racket Ridge-Roemer’s Meadow Loop (Silver Falls S.P.) – 11/11/2025

After missing out on some nice weather due to an illness more good weather on Veterans Day offered me an opportunity to hit the trails. Heather unfortunately didn’t get this holiday off, so it was another solo outing for me.

I decided to head back to Silver Falls State Park and check out three more of the backcountry trails that I had yet to hike. These were the Racket Ridge, Racket Ridge Connector, and Roemer’s Meadow trails. I had two options for trailheads, Howard Creek or North Falls. The Howard Creek Trailhead provided the shortest access to these three trails, but I would need to use a horse ford to cross the South Fork Silver Creek to do so. Starting at the North Falls Trailhead eliminated the need to ford any creeks, but it would add 2.4-miles to my planned route as I would need to use a 1.2-mile section of the Perimeter Trail to reach the Roemer’s Meadow Trail.

I chose the longer, drier, route and parked at the North Falls Trailhead.

I crossed the North Fork Silver Creek using the footbridge near the signboard then turned left passing under Highway 214 to reach a junction with the Perimeter Trail.

I hiked the Perimeter Trail back in 2022 and had passed the upper terminus of both the Roemer’s Meadow and Racket Ridge Trails on that big loop. From the junction it was a 1.1-mile climb to the Roemer’s Meadow Trail and another 1.9 to the Racket Ridge Trail. My plan was to go all the way to the Racket Ridge Trail and follow it downhill to its junction with the Roemer’s Meadow Trail. Before taking the Roemer’s Meadow Trail back up to the Perimeter Trail, I would continue on the Racket Ridge Trail to the Racket Ridge Connector Trail and then follow that trail 0.6-miles to the Nature Trail then turn around.

The Perimeter Trail was in good shape and as is always the case the Silver Falls Backcountry was beautiful.

The Roemer’s Meadow Trail junction. The Perimeter Trail turns to the left here.

The Moon above the treetops.

No flowers this late in the year, but there were plenty of mushrooms.

Arriving at the junction with the Racket Ridge Trail.

Map at the Racket Ridge junction.

I turned right onto the Racket Ridge Trail and followed it downhill 2.2-miles to the Roemer’s Meadow Trail.

A few of the deciduous trees still had their leaves.

Ruffed grouse

Coral fungus

The trail briefly followed this road.

The junction with the Roemer’s Meadow Trail which is to the right.

South Fork Silver Creek next to the Racket Ridge Trail.

Shortly before I reached the Racket Ridge Connector Trail, I ran into a doe coming up the trail toward me.

This was clearly the doe’s trail. She was not in the least concerned by my presence and she nibbled on leaves as she continued toward me. In an attempt to stick to Leave No Trace Principles I backed up a little and she just kept coming. Luckily the road that I had crossed was still nearby so in the end I cut up through some brush and stood on the road as she passed by on the trail.

Back on the trail I quickly came to the ford which was at the junction with the Racket Ridge Connector Trail.

I followed the Racket Ridge Connector to the South Falls Campground and its junction with the Nature Trail.

Another road crossing.

The trail followed along the road to cross the South Fork Silver Creek.

Trail pointer at the junction.

I had been at this junction three previous times, most recently in October during my Howard Creek Loop hike (post) making it a good spot to turn around.

I returned to the Roemer’s Meadow/Racket Ridge Trail junction and turned onto the Roemer’s Meadow Trail which immediately crossed a road.

Roemer’s Meadow Trail straight ahead.

After a brief climb the trail arrived at Roemer’s Meadow which it skirted before reentering the forest.

This was another nice trail with a couple of steeper sections which utilized switchbacks to climb those portions.

The trail made several access road crossings.

Arriving back at the Perimeter Trail.

I turned left onto the Perimeter Trail and followed it back down to the junction near Highway 214.

Since it was still before 11am when I arrived back at the junction I decided to visit Upper North Falls and turned right. It was 0.3-miles to the falls.

Upper North Falls

After visiting the falls I headed back toward the trailhead, but it was still before 11am when I was passing by so I decided I should visit North Falls as well. I passed the footbridge and headed for the junction of the Rim and Canyon Trails. On my way to that junction I decided why not just do the three-mile loop using the Rim, Winter Falls, and Canyon Trails. I took the Rim Trail just over a mile to the Winter Falls Trailhead.

Pointer at the Winter Falls Trailhead.

I took the Winter Falls Trail down to Winter Falls which was flowing nicely.

These falls all but dry up during the summer months.

I followed the Winter Falls Trail across the North Fork Silver Creek then turned right on the Canyon Trail.

It was 0.3-miles to Twin Falls then a little over a mile back to the trailhead.

Twin Falls

North Falls

From behind North Falls.

Cars parked at the trailhead ahead on the left.

This wound up being a 14-mile hike with approximately 2000′ of elevation gain. Had I skipped the waterfalls it would have been closer to 10.5-miles with a little over 1600′ of elevation gain.

During my time in the backcountry I only saw two mountain bikers. (Twice since they were riding the Racket Ridge/Roemer’s Meadow Loop in the opposite direction I was hiking.) There were quite a few more people on the waterfall trails but it didn’t feel too crowded. Now that I’ve added the Racket Ridge, Racket Ridge Connector, and Roemer’s Meadow trails to those that I’ve hiked in the park the only trails that I haven’t hiked is the downhill only upper section of the Catamount Trail, half of the Newt Loop, and parts of the paved Bike Path. Given the park is only 45-minutes from Salem I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to check those sections of trail off at some point down the road. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Racket Ridge/Roemer’s Meadow Loop

Tags Canyon Trail, hiking, North Falls, North Fork Silver Creek, Oregon, Perimeter Trail, Racket Ridge Connector, Racket Ridge Trail, Rim Trail, Roemer's Meadow, Roemer's Meadow Trail, Salem, Silver Falls State Park, South Fork Silver Creek, Twin Falls, Upper North Falls, Winter Falls, Winter Falls Trail

Hiking Oregon Salem/Albany Trip report Willamette Valley

Willamette Mission S.P. Equestrian Trails – 11/02/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 4, 2025
No Comments on Willamette Mission S.P. Equestrian Trails – 11/02/2025

A storm system moved through Oregon a week ago followed by a few nice days and then another round of rain on Saturday. This was a much weaker system, and it had moved on by Sunday morning. I had few free hours at the beginning of the morning which was boosted by falling back an hour for Daylight Savings. Heather was walking with her friend Elizabeth so I would be on my own. I decided to head back to Willamette Mission State Park for the second time this year (9/1/25) and check out some of the equestrian trails.

With Daylight Savings moving Sunrise back up to 6:52am I was able to make the 25-minute drive and be there when it opened at 7am. I parked at the equestrian trailhead.

While there was no rain in the forecast patchy fog was, but it was supposed to burn off around 9am. I picked up the dirt equestrian trail from the trailhead and followed it across the paved bike path.

The route I’d planned would be a little over six miles with less than a half mile of that being on sections of trail that we’d hiked before. I followed the equestrian trail for a half mile before arriving at a signed junction.

It won’t be long and some of the trail in the park will be closed due to seasonal flooding.

Right after I took this picture a deer dashed out of the brush on the left, ran across the trail and vanished before I could take another photo.

I went left at this junction which was labeled “H North Loop Start” on the signboard map.

This 0.4-mile section of trail wound through the woods before arriving at a 4-way junction.

I turned right onto the paved path at this junction and followed it for a tenth of a mile to a 3-way junction.

I turned left at the 3-way junction and continued on the paved bike path for 0.6-miles. There was some blue-sky on my right and fog to my left.

American kestrel in the fog.

I left the paved path here and veered right to rejoin the equestrian trails and stayed right at the junction for just under a quarter mile to a junction with the South Hill Trail.

This section of trail crosses this high-water channel coming off of Windsor Island Slough meaning the south loops are sometimes cut off from the rest of the park.

The path passes close to the slough, but it was hard to see with the dense fog. There was a great blue heron on the far side, but the fog made it virtually impossible to photograph.

The South Hill Trail to the left.

I stayed straight saving the South Hill Trail for my loop back and continued another 0.4-miles to another junction.

I turned right at this junction in order to make the widest loop possible. The trail passed through an open bottomland then curved left at a pointer to pass through a short section of forest before making a brief climb to the edge of a filbert grove.

Northern flicker

The trail turned right here following a roadbed around the filbert trees.

This post is “L” on the park map.

A coyote trotted across the road in front of me but disappeared in the trees before I got the camera up.

At the far end of the trees was the “M” signpost.

I turned left continuing around the filberts until I came to post “N”.

Quail

At “N” the trail made a ninety-degree turn to the right along a barren field.

Looking back at the “N” post.

This was the least obvious section of trail over the whole hike.

The “patchy” fog was not letting up.

A covey of quail.

After passing post “O” the trail curved along Goose Lake which I detoured down to when the opportunity presented itself.

Goose Lake

There were a lot of birds around the lake including a couple of ducks, but with all the fog it was hard to get any photos.

Stellar’s jay

After checking out the lake I continued around the field until reaching post “P” at a junction.

Doves

I turned right at post “P” which put me on the South Hill Trail which led through the woods for almost a mile to complete the loop.

Squirrel

This little buck was slowly walking up the trail in front of me for a while before deciding to duck into the brush.

These were some cool mushrooms.

Completing the loop.

I turned right and recrossed the high-water channel then veered right on a narrow path that led me back to the paved bike path.

Starlings

I turned right on the bike path for a few steps then veered left onto the continuation of the equestrian trail.

I followed this section of the equestrian trail for 0.6-miles to the 4-way junction where I’d turned right onto the paved path earlier in the morning.

American kestrel

I turned right onto the paved path and followed it three-quarters of a mile back to the equestrian trailhead.

Self-heal

Two tenths of a mile after turning right I passed a junction with the bike path I had just crossed a little earlier.

The fence along the parking area just ahead.

My hike came in at 6.3-miles with minimal elevation gain.

The dotted line is today’s track. Dark blue is our 2019 track and the track to the left is from our Spring Valley Greenway hike in 2022.

This was a nice little outing despite the fog and some muddy tread. Hopefully it will be a little clearer next time I visit but I did get to see quite a bit of wildlife so I can’t complain. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Willamette Mission Equestrian Trails

Tags Equestrian Trailhead, Goose Lake, hiking, Oregon, South Hill Trail, Willamette mission State Park, Willamette Valley, Windsor Island Slough

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Maxwell Butte & Lava Lakes Trails – 10/18/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 20, 2025
No Comments on Maxwell Butte & Lava Lakes Trails – 10/18/2025

I had been looking for a good time to check out the Lava Lakes Trail since my hike to Duffy Lake in September (post). That opportunity presented itself when Heather decided she wasn’t quite feeling up to an outing. A quick check of the forecast showed mostly sunny skies with temperatures close to freezing in the morning and gradually increasing to the mid 50s.

My plan was to take the Maxwell Butte Trail to the Lava Lakes Trail then follow that trail to the Duffy Lake Trail and visit Duffy Lake for the second time this year. If I felt up to it on the way back, I would detour up Maxwell Butte before returning to the car.

We have hiked up Maxwell Butte twice in the past (2015) & (2019) and both times had parked near the restrooms at the Maxwell Butte Sno-Park. With the current government shutdown I wouldn’t be utilizing those facilities so this time I drove the extra 0.5-miles to the Maxwell Butte Trailhead.

This is one of the trailheads that requires a Central Cascades Wilderness Day Use Permit however they are only required between June 15th and October 15th meaning shutdown or not I didn’t need one today.

It was 2.2-miles of gradual climbing from the trailhead to the junction with the Lava Lakes Trail.

There are a couple of signed junctions with Nordic Trails in the first 1.2-miles before the trail enters the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

The first junction was at the half mile mark. The nordic trail is the one to the right.

The Maxwell Butte Trail also has nordic markers.

At the 1.2-mile mark a nordic trail crosses the Maxwell Butte Trail. This trail is part of a 7.3-mile loop that passes two snow shelters.

The Cascades got their first significant snow the previous weekend and I started seeing some small remaining patches around 4800′ in elevation.

Frosty leaves

This hawk seemed a little irritated with my presence.

Signpost at the Lava Lakes/Maxwell Butte Trail junction.

I stayed left at the junction on what was now the Lava Lakes Trail. I took a brief detour to see Twin Lakes near the junction before continuing on.

The Lava Lakes Trail extends 2.8-miles between the Maxwell Butte and Duffy Lake Trail. The trail was in good shape and relatively level all things considered.

A little under a half mile from the junction the trail passed near Train Lake which wasn’t really visible from the trail, but a very short use trail brought me to a campsite on the rocks above the lake.

The top of Maxwell Butte was visible over the trees on the far side of Train Lake.

Train Lake

I started encountering more snow beyond Train Lake, but it was only about an inch or two deep at most.

Both trails had a few small logs down that were easily stepped over or around.

A kitty had used the trail at some point.

Just under 2-miles from the junction the trail passed a small pond/lake at the base of a talus slope.

While I was checking out the body of water I was also keeping an eye out for pikas which eventually paid off.

After passing the pond the trail began to descend toward the Duffy Lake Trail.

Coral fungus

As I neared the Duffy Lake Trail I came to what appeared to be an old junction.

Note the pieces of trail sign on the tree.

There had not been any other trail junctions on any of the maps I had looked at during my planning, and there was clear tread straight ahead, so I continued straight here. Had I stopped to check the GPS I would have seen that the trail as shown on the map made a hard left here and I would have reached the Duffy Lake Trail in 100 yards. Instead I wound up in some meadows along channels of the North Santiam River.

Duffy Butte rising above the trees.

I spotted a blaze in a tree next to some trail tread so I headed in that direction.

That led me to another meadow where I completely lost any sign of trail. I finally checked my GPS and realized what had happened. I had gone two tenths of a mile toward Duffy Lake through Duffy Prairie and was now only about 100′ from the Duffy Lake Trail, so I simply crossed the dry riverbed and popped onto the trail and headed right.

Duffy Lake Trail

Less than a tenth of a mile later I was at the junction with the Duffy, Blue, and Santiam Lakes Trails.

At the junction I turned left toward Duffy Lake to the day use area I’d stopped at in September.

Duffy Butte

Duffy Lake

After a brief stay at Duffy Lake I headed back along the Duffy Lake Trail. It was 0.3-miles to the actual junction with the Lava Lakes Trail.

I turned left at the junction, crossed the North Santiam River (bed), and came to the junction where I’d gone straight earlier.

The riverbed was still dry despite the recent rain and snow.

Approaching the junction. I could see why I had missed the tread; there were a couple of downed trees laying along it and blocking the view coming from the direction that I had.

I turned right and made the 2.8-mile hike back to the Maxwell Butte Trail junction. I scanned for pikas as I passed the talus slope and stopped again briefly at Train Lake, but it was a pretty uneventful return. The forest was beautiful, one of the few trails left in the wilderness that doesn’t pass through any recent fire scars. (The Cal Topo fire history layer shows no fires on the 1900-present layer.)

There were a few snags around the talus slope but also many tall green trees.

With the Sun higher up Train Lake was a greener color now.

Back at the Maxwell Butte Trail junction just after 10:30am.

It was such a gorgeous day that I couldn’t skip a side trip up Maxwell Butte so I turned left at the junction and passed Twin Lakes on the other side.

It isn’t easy to make out in the photo but the snowy top of Mt. Jefferson was visible in the distance over Twin Lakes.

While there had been snow on the Lava Lakes Trail there were more clear sections than snowy. That wasn’t the case with the Maxwell Butte Trail beyond Twin Lakes. It still wasn’t deep but it made the going a little slower.

Deer print

As the trail neared Maxwell Butte the forest thinned out which also lessened the amount of snow covering it.

With less trees and more elevation I began getting views to the south of several Cascade peaks.

Mt. Washington partially behind the tree on the left. Broken Top is visible between the flank of Mt. Washington and the North Sister. Middle and South Sister are to the right.

Maxwell Butte looming above the trail.

Flat topped Hayrick Butte and Hoodoo Butte in front of the above-mentioned peaks. To the right of the Three Sisters is The Husband (with snow). To the right of that in the distance is Substitute Point (post) and Proxy Point. The hump with a little snow on it closer to the right is Scott Mountain (post).

Diamond Peak (post) in the distance behind Sand Mountain and the Sand Mountain Lookout (post).

The trail eventually begins a series of switchbacks to reach the former lookout site atop Maxwell Butte.

A better look at Tam McArthur Rim (post) and Broken Top behind Mt. Washington.

Black Butte (post) to the east.

Zoomed in on Black Butte.

There wasn’t a lot of snow along the switchbacks but there were a few drifts like this. I had my micro-spikes with me just in case, but someone had already been through to create steps, so I never actually felt the need to put them on.

Snow in the crater on Maxwell Butte.

Almost to the summit.

Mt. Jefferson from the former lookout site.

It was about 20-minutes before Noon when I reached the summit which was almost 2 hours later than it had been on our last visit. I was hoping that the later arrival would improve the view by allowing the Sun to be more directly overhead and that was indeed the case. (Our first visit doesn’t count because we were socked in by clouds that day.)

With the recent snow it was a lot easier to make out Mt. Hood to the left of Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack and Black Butte

Mt. Hood with Bear Point (post) and Dinah-Mo Peak along the ridge in front.

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack

The view south.

Black Crater (post) to the left of Broken Top, Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters.

I took a break on a rock outcrop overlooking the wilderness and looked for the various lakes we’ve visited over time.

Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Three Fingered Jack along with several lakes in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

Santiam Lake (post)

Upper (closer) and Lower Berley Lakes (post)

I could just see a little of Craig Lake (post) ontop of this plateau.

Mowich Lake and Red Butte.

After having a snack and resting my feet I tagged the actual summit and then headed back down.

The summit view.

Heading down.

The clouds were showing their hand that a change in the weather was coming. Another wet system would be moving in overnight.

I ran into the first other hikers, a couple and a dog, that I’d seen all day while I was taking a picture of some ferns that had turned color.

Passing Twin Lakes again.

Huckleberry bushes along the Maxwell Butte Trail.

Vine maple leaves turning color.

A varied thrush. For those of you who regularly read our trip reports you know this is my nemesis as far as photos go. For me this is a pretty good one as I can tell what kind of a bird I was trying to photograph.

Back at the trailhead.

I saw one other hiker, and her dog, after the couple and that was it. There had been people camped at Duffy Lake, but I only heard them and saw the tents in the distance. I had expected to at least see a hunter or two given it was rifle season for deer, but I’m not complaining. I was anticipating 15.6-miles and my GPS showed 15.7 which made sense given the handful of detours to get a view of the lakes. Total elevation gain was approximately 3100′.

This was a really enjoyable hike. The forest was great, and the handful of lakes and ponds provided some additional attractions. The view from Maxwell Butte was excellent as well and I did not regret adding the extra distance and elevation to my day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lava Lakes Trail

Tags Duffy Lake, Duffy Lake Trail, Duffy Prairie, hiking, Lava Lakes Trail, maxwell butte, maxwell butte sno-park, Maxwell Butte Trail, Maxwell Butte Trailhead, Oregon, Train Lake, Twin Lakes