As we whittle down the list of hikes that we’ve yet to do within three hours of Salem we are beginning to work in more repeats. Aside from scenic beauty, one of the reasons we’ve marked hikes for revisits is a lack of views from viewpoints due to foggy/cloudy conditions. That was the case with the Adams Mountain Way Loop which we initially hiked on 4/23/2016 (post). On that outing we had stopped first at the nearby Parker Creek Falls before tackling the challenging loop. For this outing we chose a different nearby waterfall, Wildood Falls, to visit before hiking the loop.
Located on the Row River Wildwood Falls is a popular swimming hole that doesn’t involve a hike. There are Lane County parks on both sides of the river Lasells D County Park on the south side and Wildwood Falls on the north (Lane County Parking Pass required). We decided to visit from Wildwood Falls Park.
Small parking area at Wildwood Falls Park.
Reminder that outdoor recreation is not without risk.
There is a little poison oak (see lower left) along the path to the falls.
Exposed rock above the falls.
Row River above the falls.
Row River below the falls.
Pool in the rocks.
Camas
Monkeyflower
Iris
We followed a short path along the river to a viewpoint before returning to the car along the road.
The falls were scenic, but we were happy we visited early in the morning before the area got busy. There was an unfortunate amount of litter around which gave an indication of the type of crowd the swimming hole attracts.
From Wildwood Park it was a 20-minute drive to Lund Park Campground
Lund Park Campground Entrance
The loop requires a 1.2-mile walk along Brice Creek Road which can be done at the beginning or end of the hike depending on the direction you chose to hike. We tend to prefer doing road walks sooner rather than later for two reasons. First road walks tend to be less exciting than the trails. The other reason is that our early start times typically mean that there is less vehicle traffic than there would be later in the day.
In this case there was a third reason to start with the road walk and do the loop counterclockwise, the climb was less steep going up the Crawfish Trail than it would be going up the Adams Mountain Trail. Of course that meant a steeper descent, so if going downhill is hard on your knees you might choose the steeper clockwise climb.
From Lund Park Campground we headed back along Brice Creek Road the way we’d driven in past the signed Merten Flume until we reached the signed Crawfish Trail (both on our left). As road walks go this one was pretty. There were quite a few flowers along the road and numerous views of Brice Creek (post).
Valerian
Spotted coralroot with an inside-out-flower in the background.
Brice Creek
Larkspur
Columbine above Brice Creek
Largeleaf avens along Hobo Creek
Merten Flume Trail sign near Hobo Creek.
Anemones
Fairy lanterns.
Hiker symbol for the Crawfish Trail.
We turned uphill on the Crawfish Trail and began a 5.2-mile climb to the Knott Trail.
We’ve found that the Forest Service seems to sometimes round milage shown on trail signs.
Be aware that the trail is used by mountain bikers as a downhill shuttle ride so there is the possibility of having a bike barreling downhill. While there was plenty of evidence of bikes on the trail we didn’t encounter any other trail users all day. The trail crosses several forest roads, but it is well signed and easy to follow.
Trail snail
Iris
Salal
One of the corners that shows you this is a mountain bike trail.
Pacific coralroot
Rhododendron
Trail crossing a forest road.
Crossing an abandoned road.
The Crawfish Trail climbed steadily, never too steeply, but it rarely leveled out.
Abandoned car along another abandoned road, so disappointing.
Forest Road 2258
Trail continuing on the far side of FR 2258
Candysticks emerging from the forest floor.
Doing the math here gives a trail length of 5.25 miles which agrees with what our GPS units showed.
A second crossing of FR 2258.
Beyond the second crossing of FR 2258 the trail showed substantially less wear from mountain bikes.
Trillium
Trail slug
Trail bird (maybe a russet backed Swainson’s thrush?)
Beargrass that is going to bloom soon.
This was the first downed tree we’d come across, more evidence that this portion sees less bikers.
A rare level stretch as the trail passed over a wide saddle.
A second obstacle.
Violet
Adams Mountain from the other side of the saddle. The loop and in fact the Adams Mountain Way Trail do not actually go to the summit of Adams Mountain.
Red-flowering currant
Vine maple blossoms.
We took a break in this rocky section of trail which was the only place we could find where the mosquitoes weren’t too plentiful. The lower portion of the trail had been fine but as we climbed the mosquitoes became more plentiful. While we were taking our break we heard the distinctive “meep” of a pika “meep”, but we weren’t able to spot any.
After resting we continued the climb, quickly arriving at a crossing of Forest Road 2234.
Trail sign just before FR 2234.
The trail continuing on the other side of FR 2234.
This section of the Crawfish Trail showed virtually no sign of bike usage.
Sourgrass
Small bridge over the dry bed of Crawfish Creek.
Second small footbridge over Crawfish Creek which had a little water flowing now.
We believe this is what is left of the Crawfish Shelter.
Vanilla leaf and bleeding heart.
The trail climbed steeply out of the creek drainage to a saddle to the Knott Trail junction. We were a little suprised at the extent of visible fire damage up on the ridge.
I had known that the 2024 Lane 1 Fires, which consisted of the Clark 900, Puddin, Adam Mountain, Mineral, Quartz, and Jack Saddle fires that merged and were combined as the Adam Mountain Fire along with Lane 1, had reached small portions of the Knott Trail. What I didn’t know was that the ridge the Knott Trail follows had been used to create a fire break.
Looking up the hillside to the left at the saddle. This was the direction we needed to go.
Looking right from the saddle. The Knott Trail heads up the ridge in this direction to pass over Adams Mountain before ending at FR 2234.
This was the sign at the trail junction at the saddle in 2016. There was no signage at all now.
We attempted take another break at this saddle and gather our bearings, but the mosquitoes were fierce here for some reason, so we simply began trudging straight up the fire break.
Fairview Peak and Bohemia Mountain (post).
What the hillside looked like in 2016 (sans view).
Lookout tower on Fairview Peak.
Snowy peaks in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness to the SE.
It was sad to see the fire break on the one hand, but it had been successful as the forest on the other side was spared.
Looking across the saddle at Adams Mountain and the fire break.
Mount June (post) to the north.
Checkerspot
We were able to take a bit of a break at the highpoint of the trail (just over 4900′). We couldn’t tell if any of the former trail tread remained. The trail had switchbacked up and down the hillside on either side prior to the fire. We decided to just head straight down the fire break.
The very top of Diamond Peak.
Evidence of the effectiveness of the fire break.
Elephant Peak in the center with North Fairview Mountain, and Fairview Peaks to the right.
Flagging for the Knott Trail. The trail heading into the unburned trees here was obvious, but it hadn’t been so higher up. From here the fire break followed the old trail alignment for a short distance.
This road was not here in 2016 but was instead part of the Knott Trail. The trail (now road) heads toward spur off FR 2234 which they must have used to create this extension to bring in the equipment in to build the fire break.
The fire break continuing straight downhill from the road extension.
We opted to continue down the fire break instead of following the former trail alignment.
The Knott Trail emerging from the forest to cross the fire break. Had we followed the new road extension this is where we theoretically would have come out.
The Knott Trail on the other side of the fire break entering burned forest.
After a descent of a little over 3/4 of a mile we arrived at another saddle where we began looking for the Adams Mountain Way Trail junction
Here again the trail signs were gone, but there was some orange flagging on a pile of slash marking the location of the Adams Mountain Way Trail.
The tread was faint on the far side of the slash, and there had been no apparent effort to clear a path to it. We scrambled over the debris and picked up the trail.
The Adams Mountain Way Trail.
Looking back toward the fire break.
The tread quickly improved and for 3/4 of a mile we followed a ridge up and down and then it grew increasingly steep, eventually reaching a junction with the Marten Flume Trail after 3.3-miles.
The trail climbed briefly to pass through this small beargrass meadow along the ridge. It didn’t appear any would be blooming this year.
Elephant Mountain peaking up from behind a ridge.
Rhododendron
One of only a handful of lupine we saw. This was the closest to blooming of any of them.
Beargrass with some blossoms and an insect.
We paused at this unsigned trail on the left. It appears to be a use trail down to nearby FR 2258 based on maps.
This was the first time we’ve run across a white rhododendron in the wild.
Starflower
Northwestern twayblade
Abandoned road crossing.
By this point this snail may have been moving faster than we were.
Vanilla leaf
Still a long way down.
Oregon grape
This was the second “use road” sign we’d seen which seemed misleading. We usually see wording along the lines of “trail crosses road”.
Narrow section of the ridge.
Marten Flume Trail junction.
For some reason I completely forgot that we’d used the Marten Flume Trail to get back to Brice Creek Road in 2016 so instead of simply continuing down the Adams Mountain Way Trail I turned onto the Marten Flume Trail again. (Heather had decided to skip this slightly longer detour regardless of whether or not we’d hiked it before.) This trail was quite overgrown but after a short detour past the correct trail I was able to complete the short loop and wound up arriving at Brice Creek Road just as Heather was arriving at the car. (The car and Lund Park CG is visible from the Marten Flume Trail.
Rough tread on the Marten Flume Trail.
I should have veered right here. The original trail continued further upstream but is now overgrown and covered in downed trees.
It was about here that I realized I should have gone right.
Steep drop down to Hobo Creek.
Hobo Creek crossing.
New trail alignment heading uphill from Hobo Creek.
Steps cut into a downed tree.
Hobo Creek
Popping out onto Brice Creek Road.
Heather’s view of Brice Creek Road from the Adams Mountain Way Trail.
Heather could also see the entrance to the Lund Park Campground when she popped out onto Brice Creek Road.
My loop came to 11.5-miles with 3200+ of elevation gain. Heather saved three or four tenths of a mile by skipping the Marten Flume Trail.
Dotted line is the current loop. Green is our track from 2016 and red is a part of our Brice Creek Hike in 2014.
It was nice to be able to re-hike this loop and get the views we missed on our first visit, and it was interesting to see the fire break up close. This is a challenging hike that lacks any big wow moments other than “Wow this is steep!”, but the forest is nice and the trails, at least on both our visits, aren’t busy. If nothing else, it offers a good early season training hike. Happy Trails!
The Tygh Creek Trail across FR 27 from the Tygh Creek Trailhead.
The only two trees down that needed to be climbed under/over.
Tygh Creek
Distance + low light + moving animal = blurry photo.
The skunk had been at the far end of this section of trail which was lined with lupine.
The little stinker had a pretty cute face.
The trail is to the right in this photo.
Paintbrush, balsamroot, and a strawberry blossom.
Ball Point
Rough eyelashweed
When a trail looks steep in a photo that tells you something.
More paintbrush and balsamroot.
Townsend’s solitaire
Buckwheat
My goal, the turn around point, was up on the crest of that ridge ahead.
Lupine, balsamroot, and a death camas.
Dogwood tree among the ponderosa pines.
Mahala mat
Getting close to the ridge and still steep.
The trail got less steep near the ridge.
Gordon Butte to the right. Broken Top, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Jefferson would also have been visible if not for the clouds.
Level trail on the ridge!
Looking ahead at the trees atop the “small” ridge.
Sandwort
Oregon sunshine
Wildflowers on the “small” ridge.
Almost to the crest.
The clouds here are hiding Mt. Hood which should be visible behind the ridge. What is visible is Flag Point (
Looking toward Mt. Jefferson.
Parts of Mt. Jefferson peeking out through the clouds.
I’d seen a couple whitestem frasera going up but coming down I realized just how many there actually were, although none of the plants were quite blooming yet.
Groundsel
Broken Top and some of the Three Sisters were visible on the way down.
Tam McArthur Rim (
I missed this whole patch of silvercrown earlier.
Pine Hollow Reservoir and Central Oregon.
Elkhorn clarkia aka ragged robin.
Threadleaf phacelia
Paintbrush with Ball Point in the background.
Vetch
Penstemon
Bastard toadflax
Back in the forest near Tygh Creek.
Tygh Creek
Squirrel
Starflower
Coral fungus
The trailhead in sight.
The Tygh Creek track along with a portion of Saturday’s hike on the School Canyon Trail at the bottom.
Phacelia
Fleabane
Thistle
Madia
Fiddleneck and lupine
The first of several deer we spotted during the day.
The distinctive cliffs behind the lupine are across the river from the parking area so we were almost always able to tell where we had parked.
This jeep track would veer to the left to pass between the smaller hills and cliffs ahead.
Western meadowlarks could be heard throughout the hike.
The view south.
Desert yellow fleabane
The view west.
Mt. Hood peaking over the canyon rim to the NW.
Mt. Hood
Butterfly on yarrow
Grasses and wildflowers added color to the landscape.
The route became very faint at times.
Balsamroot
Looking back at the route so far.
View from the trail after passing between the hills and cliffs.
An old fence.
Mt. Hood and Lookout Mountain (
Buckwheat
Rough eyelashweed
Paintbrush
Another stretch of faint tread.
It was often easier to see the road ahead than below our feet.
Balsamroot and lupine
Grand collomia and lupine.
Spreading dogbane
Digging in.
Small water trough (empty).
View from the water trough.
Haven’t identified this bird yet.
Looking back at the route again.
Mt. Hood again.
Ochre ringlet. There were hundreds of butterflies.
Looking at the climb ahead. At this point most of the rest of the hike would be in direct sunlight, and it was already getting warm.
Buck
Buck number two.
We had to get pretty high up before we could see Washington’s Mt. Adams and even once it was in view the lighting made it hard to make out.
Mt. Adams
The newer barbed wire fence at the public land boundary. This is around 3.5-miles from the parking area.
Hawksbeard
The fence went up and down steeply so that meant we got to as well.
Crow
Fritillary
Cattle trail
Western kingbirds
A milkvetch
Another butterfly on balsamroot.
Stag Point is the high triangular point along the plateau in the foreground.
Zoom in on Stag Point. (The lone post on top gives it away.)
First and only brief view of the top of Mt. Jefferson.
Mt. Jefferson
The newer fence turned left at the corner.
Onion
This rocky gully was a little tricky to cross.
Checkerspot
Old stone structure along the fence.
Western meadowlark
Lark sparrow
Probably cattle bones.
Checkerspot on fiddleneck.
Balsamroot and Mt. Hood from the road.
Phlox
Indra swallowtail
Checkerspot
Another checkerspot
A blue or copper of some sort.
Oregon sunshine
Skipper
Colorful rocks
Looking back up along the switchback section.
Gate along the road at the end of the switchbacks.
Allumroot
Cusick’s sunflowers and desert yellow fleabane.
Cusick’s sunflowers
Looking back up the road toward the snake.
The still coiled snake to the right of the track.
The fainter jeep track split off here to the right. It’s really hard to see it in the photo but was a little more obvious in person.
The goal was to aim for the knoll ahead then find two junipers that were relatively close together and descend between them.
Looking back up from the jeep track.
The view upriver with a private house.
Going between the two junipers.
Looking back up at the two junipers.
It’s a checkerboard of public and private land along the road. While this portion of the road is open to hikers, public fishing along the riverbank is limited to the public land portions. No trespassing signs line the road in the private sections.
Heather spotted this rattlesnake off the side of the road. We couldn’t tell if it was still alive and didn’t really want to find out.
One of the few bits of shade along the road walk.
Probably some sort of flycatcher.
There were a lot of osprey along the river.
There were also quite a few Bullock’s orioles.
Mock orange along the river.
Mallard
Bindweed
Another unknown bird and an angler in the river.
Cliff swallow
Dove
More osprey
Portland Deschutes Club Gatekeepers House
Geese
Common merganser
Yarrow covered hillside.
Rock formations above the road.
The distinctive cliffs on the opposite side of the river from the parking area.
Arriving back at the parking area.
Yellow is our track from 2023.
We headed off through the trees here.
Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (
Gordon Butte in the foreground.
Balsamroot and oak trees.
Buckwheat and balsamroot
Whitestem frasera with Mt. Jefferson in the background.
Rough eyelashweed
Paintbrush
We picked up a faint path, not sure if it was a game or use trail.
Lupine and ponderosa pines.
The trailhead is on the opposite side of FR 2710 from the trail.
Sign at the start of the Little Badger Trail.
Badger Creek Wilderness sign next to Little Badger Creek.
Groundsel
Woodland stars
Little Badger Creek
Fairy slipper
American vetch
Bastard toadflax
Duskywing on sagebrush false dandelion.
Balsamroot
Bee coming in for a landing on phacelia.
Sticky cinquefoil
Western wood-pewee
Madia
Brown elfin (and another pollinator) on Oregon sunshine.
Starflower
Mahala mat along the trail.
Duskywing on blue-eyed Mary
Largeleaf sandwort along the trail.
Skunk cabbage
Red-flowering currant
Duskywing on arnica
Silvercrown
Oregon grape
Last of the trillium.
Plumed solomonseal
What’s left of the cabin.
Little Badger Creek at the cabin site.
Anemone
There was a short climb before reaching the spur trail.
Spur trail to the mine.
The old mine. We did not go in as wildlife do sometimes use it for shelter.
Ballhead waterleaf near the mine.
Western tanager
A stand of oaks ahead.
Balsamroot along the trail.
Paintbrush
Buckwheat
Juniper trees
Threadleaf phacelia
Signpost ahead for the trail junction.
Wildflowers along the trail.
The spur trail on the left to the Helispot.
Penstemon
Pine Hollow Reservoir in Central Oregon.
Woodland star
This was the most significant obstacle we had to navigate on the entire loop.
Yarrow
A dogwood on top of the rocks and penstemon below.
First view of Ball Point.
Penstemon
From the ridge we could faintly make out Broken Top and the Three Sisters.
The Three Sisters on the right and Broken Top with Tam McArthur Rim (
Pen Point across the Tygh Creek Valley.
Passing through the 2009 Ball Point Fire scar.
Pen Point toward the center and the taller Hootnanny Point to the right.
Death camas
View east as we came around Ball Point.
Desert yellow fleabane.
Prairie smoke aka Old Man’s Whiskers
Heather coming down the ridge.
I think this is a western racer.
Looking up at the ridge.
A clarkia
Lewis’ woodpecker
Lizard
On last view of Mt. Jefferson
Ball Point
Butterfly on whitestem frasera
Signs at the trailhead.
Orange is the road + cross country portion.
There were a couple of downed trees and at least one spot where part of the tread had given way on the hillside. A bigger issue was the broken glass and other garbage left by mouth breathers that was littered about.
It was just over a third of a mile to the falls.
Beaver Creek below the falls.
Trail snail
Fringecup
Starflower
Fairy lanterns
Scouler’s corydalis
Bleeding heart
False lily of the valley
Highway 30 crossing.
Sign along the section of trail between the highway and the fish hatchery.
Trail pointer on the shelter at the fish hatchery.
Youth-on-age
Numbering on a tree for the interpretive trails.
Bigfoot off the Gnat Creek Trail.
Trillium
Huckleberry blossoms and a downed tree along the Gnat Creek Trail.
Scouler’s corydalis along the trail.
The start of the short loop.
One of two benches along the loop.
Gnat Creek from the bench.
The backside of the loop was a little overgrown.
Star-flowered Solomonseal
We mostly stayed right at junctions to keep along the creek.
Barrier Falls
Unnamed waterfall near the hatchery trailhead.
Mill Creek from the bridge.
Stellar’s jay
Chipmunk
Loon Lake
The lake was formed by a landslide. The boulders in the Mill Creek picture above were part of that landslide.
Trillium
This was our first hike in the Elliott State Forest and possibly only hike given the forest webpage states under “There are no established trails, restrooms, or trash receptacles.”
Fairy lanterns
Given that the unnamed stream that feeds the waterfall appears to start just a bit further uphill I suspect it doesn’t often have much of a flow, but it was a decent waterfall in a lovely setting.
A very short path led down to the waterfall.
Camp Creek Falls. The rock here is sandstone which creates the 31′ stairstep cascade.
Snail
Before reaching Highway 38 I had to pull over to get a couple of photos of an elk herd.
Camas
Not sure why this was lying on the side of the trail away from the trailhead, but it provides information on the seasonal allowed usage of the units.
Geese
Roses
Channel along the dikes.
Rough-skinned newt
Slug
Snail
Made it out.
Bench along Coyote Creek
I should have gone this direction. The presence of the bench should have tipped me off.
Overgrown but in the right spot.
The orange section is where I turned right instead of left as I should have. I estimate that going the correct way would have added approximately 0.75-miles. I don’t know what type of condition the other section of trail through the woods is in.
Road to Fisher Butte,
Camas
Bird viewing platfrom.
Red-winged blackbird
Bullfrog. They were everywhere and continuously startled us when they would make a loud “alarm” sound before jumping into the water.
We turned left at the platform onto this dike.
Sparrow
Blue-winged teals. This was the first time seeing this species during Wildlife Week. We had seen a couple of these ducks back in 2021 at Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon (
Another big field of camas.
Fisher Butte at the end of another dike.
Geese in formation.
Checkerbloom
Blue sky, a far cry from the low clouds and showers we’d driven through in the Eugene area earlier in the morning.
Geese and cinnamon teals.
I needed a more powerful camera to make out the various ducks and other birds we were seeing in the distance.
There were a number of great blue herons hunting in the wetlands.
Another viewing platfrom.
Looking toward the Royal Avenue Unit.
Pelicans. Another species that I hadn’t seen at any other wildlife area this week.
Purple martin
One of at least a half dozen American bitterns that we saw in flight. We were unable to spot any before or after they were in flight.
Swallows in flight
There was a lot happening in this part of the unit.
White pelicans and a mute swan (non-native)
Geese
Another first this week – greater white fronted geese. It’s a blurry photo but it was the best I could do given their distance.
Goose passing the swan.
Same goose passing a pelican.
Northern shoveler
Hawk
Another large group of various ducks and other birds.
Bald eagles
Two types of camas
Heading back to the trailhead along the side of Fisher Butte.
Flax
The final stretch of Wildlife Week.
All trails are open from February 1st through September 30th, then from October 1st through November 30th the final 1.3-mile stretch to the right (south) is closed, and there is no hiking allowed during hunting season from December 1st to January 31st.
Geese
Osprey
Killdeer
Meadow checker-mallow
Wood ducks
Northern shovelers
Ducks, geese, and a heron.
Scrunched heron
Stretched heron (same heron)
Sparrow
A different heron and a duck.
Yep, it’s a nutria.
Spotted sandpiper
One of several benches located along the dikes.
American coot
Gadwall
Dove
Crow
American kestrel
Swallow
Cinnamon teals having a disagreement.
End of the trail to the south.
View from the end of the trail.
Wood ducks
Robin
Short billed dowitchers
Green winged teal
Hooded merganser and a gadwall
Ring-necked ducks
Heading to the left (NNE) now.
Red-winged blackbird
Egrets, herons, and ducks.
Great blue heron and egret
Cinnamon teal and northern shoveler
Hooded mergansers and a cinnamon teal
Northern shovelers and a northern pintail on the right.
California quail
End of the trail in this direction.
My 3.3-mile track with minimal elevation gain.
Swallow
Osprey
Killdeer
American coot
Mallard
Anna’s hummingbird
A bit of the pink on it’s throat.
Ring-necked ducks
Bald eagle
Gadwalls
Song sparrow
Purple martins
Pied billed grebe
Mallard and ducklings
Mallards
Fringecup
Rabbit
Sandpipers
Ground squirrel
American goldfinch. I’d seen a number of these this week but had only managed a picture of the back of one at Finley Wildlife Refuge.
The orange track is a portion of the Wetland Trail that I had not previously hiked.
Mt. Hood from the Wetlands Trail.
I spotted a couple of deer shortly after setting out.
I believe this is a savannah sparrow.
Geese families
Killdeer
It was just under 40 degrees Fahrenheit when I started, but the forecast called for temperatures to reach 80 by the afternoon.
Geese, goslings, and goose eggs.
Sandpiper
Not sure what type of fish this is but they were thrashing about near the shoreline, and I had seen similar behavior the day before in McFadden Marsh at Finley NWR.
Duck and ducklings
Sleeping nutria
Purple martins and a swallow (bottom left).
Egrets and a great blue heron.
Closer look at the egrets and heron.
Robin
Mallard
Sandpipers
Riverside Trail
Tualatin River
Song sparrow
Inside-out flower
The Ridgetop Trail to the left. There is a bench and railed overlook but the view is blocked by trees. If there hadn’t been any leaves there may have been a view but today there wasn’t.
The only trillium I saw with any petals left.
Bleeding heart
Northern flicker
I spotted an American kestrel in this snag. I had been hoping to see one during this week’s hikes.
American kestrel
Crow
Northern shoveler
Wildflowers near the trailhead.
Lupine, plectritis, checkerbloom, and golden paintbrush.
This route came to 4.4-miles and just 35′ of elevation gain.
Camas
Larkspur
Not a native wildflower but pretty.
Columbine
Rabbit
The look on their faces seems to indicate they were not expecting to see me there.
Going back the other way.
Karaoke
Helpful maps and/or pointers are located at trail junctions.
Swallow
Swallows
Cinnamon Teal
Ring-necked ducks
Purple martins
Canada geese
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Trail passing Oak Island Marsh.
Crow harassing an osprey over Oak Island Marsh.
I thought flamingos were pink.
American coot in NW Pond.
Another napping nutria.
Robin
Gadwall
Egrets at Wapato Marsh.
Great blue heron in Pintail Pond.
Lupine along the trail.
Green winged teal
Heading toward Salamander Slough.
Two turtles and a mallard.
Long billed dowitcher
Cabbage white?
Checkerbloom along the Coyote Hill Trail.
Common yellowthroat
Savannah sparrow
Spotted towhee
Tualatin River
Deer crossing Pintail Pond. I think these are the same three I saw earlier.
I’ve been spotted.
Rabbit on the left along the River Trail.
Salmonberry
Western meadowrue
Wild rose
Stairs leading to the trail on the River Trail.
The orange loop is the Mill Hill Loop.
The orange section on the right is my detour with the solid cyan representing the 2024 route. (Other colored lines are from the other previous visits.)
Rabbit
Sunrise view
Mt. Jefferson
I hadn’t gotten very far before I spotted a couple of elk ahead.
Coyote
I stopped here not wanting to get any closer and waited to see what the elk would do.
The lead bull here seemed to have a leadership role because once he emerged and headed across the field the herd followed and then circled up.
On my 2024 hike I had turned left here on the track at the edge of the photo, but with the elk out there I stayed straight(ish) along the tree line. Apparently that is part of the Prairie Extension Trail, but it was a more obvious path and there was an equally obvious path that angled off the extension trail back to the main Prairie Trail.
It was a wet muddy hike this time of year.
Camas and buttercups
McFadden Marsh sending up a light fog.
Wood ducks
Northern shoveler
Mallards, a green winged teal, a cinnamon teal, and a wood duck.
Ruddy duck
I’m sure it’s a nutria, it’s almost always a nutria.
Cinnamon teals
Female wood duck
Bald eagles on the far side of the marsh.
Blackbird
Buffleheads
Great blue heron
Green winged teals and American wigeons
Dove
Marsh wren
Heron hanging out near the Mcfadden Marsh blind.
Egrets and ducks
Egrets
Robin
There were actually two bitterns.
Their camo is so good.
American coot
Swallows
Pied billed grebe
Ring-necked duck
Cinnamon teals
Manroot and the Cheadle Barn
California scrub jay
Bittern flying over the Cheadle Barn Pond with Pigeon Butte in the background.
Iris and golden paintbrush on the side of Pigeon Butte.
Golden paintbrush and I guess the beetle counts as wildlife.
Savanah sparrow near the Finger Ponds.
Geese in a field near the Finger Ponds.
Turkey vulture
Goose and goslings in Cabell Marsh.
Great blue heron at Cabell Marsh.
American goldfinch near Cabell Marsh.
California quail near Cattail Pond.
Pied billed grebe at Cattail Pond.
Camas along the Cattail Pond Trail.
Pacific waterleaf along the Beaver Pond Trail.
Checker lily along the Beaver Pond Trail.
Fairy lanterns along the Beaver Pond Trail.
Giant white wake-robin along the Beaver Pond Trail.
Bullfrogs and blackbirds were all I saw at the Beaver Pond.
Turkeys along the Beaver Pond Trail near Park Headquarters.
The start and end of the Mill Hill Loop.
Yellow violets in the midst of invasive herb robert.
Bleeding heart
Gray squirrel
Star flower
Spotted coralroot
I’d once spotted a turtle on this log in a pond below the Mill Hill Loop so I took a picture hoping for another one. Instead I got a bullfrog.
Mallards in the same pond.
Solomonseal
Tolmie’s mariposa lily
The forest is pretty along the Mill Hill Loop.
Poet’s shooting star
Small-flowered woodland-star
The end and start of the Mill Hill Loop.
Tough-leaved iris
There were a bunch of bullfrogs sunning at the little pond along the Woodpecker Loop.
Lomatium on the Woodpecker Loop.
Woodpecker Loop Overlook. I took a break on the bench here and changed into dry socks after having a snack.
This northern harrier was putting on an aerial display while I took my break.
Wildflowers along Bald Hill.
Wild rose
Checkerbloom
Tough-leaved iris and golden paintbrush
More turkeys along Finley Refuge Road.
Cabell Barn across from the entrance road to the Cabell Marsh Trail.
Honeybee swarm along the road to the Cabell Marsh Trail. It looks a little like a heart.
This end of Cabell Marsh was practically deserted. My guess was that there was plenty of water right now in less visited areas, so the birds were avoiding this area for now.
You can almost always count on a coot though.
Cormorants out on a log in the middle of the marsh.
Homer Campbell Boardwalk
Wood ducks. These might have been the first significant wildlife I’d seen from the boardwalk. It’s a really neat trail I just rarely see any wildlife from it (with the exception of the shelter).
Turkey vulture flying over Turtle Flats.
Turtles at Turtle Flats!
You can actually see some of the route I explored on the left side between Parvipes Marsh and the butte and at the bottom of the picture wrapping around the butte.
Manroot
Camas
Plectritis
Checkerbloom
Tolmie’s mariposa lilies
Morgan Lake with a bit of Moffitti Marsh to the left.
Columbine
Iris
Robin
Sparrows
Gold crowned sparrow
The grass was low enough that the lake was fairly visible. Later in Spring you’re lucky to see any water from the trail.
Not a great picture due to the distance and light, but there are a couple of ruddy ducks to the left hanging out with some ring-necked ducks.
Mallards
American coot
Gadwalls
Buffleheads
Common yellowthroat
Looking for a bittern.
American bittern. I could only see the bittern from a very short section of trail and as soon as I lost a little elevation it disappeared from sight. It never flew off, but I couldn’t see it even knowing where it was.
Following the trail next to Smithfield Road.
Lots of red-winged blackbirds near the trailhead.
Finch
Heading back toward Baskett Butte and Moffitti Marsh.
Northern flicker
Moffitti Marsh
American wigeons
Female common yellowthroat
Spotted towhee
I watched a crow chase off a hawk that had apparently gotten too close.
The official trail heads up the hill to the left. I veered right just beyond the trail sign pointing toward Moffitti Marsh.
Lilac
Parvipes Marsh ahead to the right.
The tractor turned right and drove over a dike at the end of Parvipes Marsh to a field on the other side.
Deer farther up the hillside.
This appears to be balsamroot. There were just a couple of patches on the SW side of the butte.
Cottonwood Pond
Buttercups and miniature lupine
Meadow checker-mallow
Lomatium and plectritis
South Slough Pond
I was a bit surprised to find a bench along this route given it isn’t shown as an official trail.
Grass pea
More checkerbloom
Golden paintbrush
If I hadn’t been looking for the tread I don’t think I would have noticed it.
Lupine
Another Tolmie’s mariposa lily
Western meadowlark
The overlook ahead.
The obligatory photo from the overlook.
Lots of patches of plectritis on the butte.
Ground squirrel
Swallow
Baskett Butte from the Cottonwood Pond parking area.
Mallards
Northern pintails
Northern shovelers
Lesser scaup. They look a lot like ring-necked ducks only without the ring.
Ring-necked ducks
Nap Time.
wanderingyuncks 