A cloudy forecast with a chance for showers and a weekday off during the school year provided the perfect combination to visit Henry Haag Lake. The man made lake is located in the eastern foothills of the Coastal Range near Forest Grove and would be our 92nd featured hike from Sullivan’s Oregon Coast & Coast Range guidebook. The lake tends to be crowded during the summer and on weekends from Spring to Fall. Additionally the trail around the lake reportedly gets very slick and muddy during the wet seasons so a mid-September visit seemed like a good time to minimize encountering those conditions.
After paying the $7 day use fee for Scoggins Valley Park we drove across Scoggins Dam and parked at the Elks Picnic Area Trailhead.
There are several trailheads around the lake but we chose this one due to it being close to the park entrance and giving us an opportunity to start with the walk across the dam which we preferred to get out of the way early.
It was an overcast morning but it was free of precipitation as we began our dam walk.
It turned out to be a fairly entertaining half mile as we were treated to several bird sightings including at least one osprey diving for fish, a kingfisher noisily flying around, and a great blue heron standing on the rocks.
The osprey flying over the water (All my zoomed in tries were super blurry.)
The kingfisher (also fairly blurry)
The heron
We had been following a path on the opposite side of the guardrail from the road but had to step over it to go around a fence at the end of the dam to reach a trail marked by a post.
The trail around Haag Lake is broken up by several road walks and parking lot crossings, but when it was trail it was often surrounded by nice forest. For example beyond the dam the trail spent just over a tenth of a mile in the forest before popping out on a road to a boat ramp and the Dam Overlook.
The trail resumed at another post (the signage was very good all the way around the lake as long you ignore all the unmarked side trails down to the lake shore.
For the next 1.2 miles the trail stayed in the forest before arriving at the Eagle Point Recreation Area.
One of the side trails heading down to the left to the lake.
The cloud cover was breaking already breaking up as we arrived at Eagle Point.
After passing by an alien snag we once again entered the forest.
The trail bowed out and around an arm of the lake. It took a little over two miles to hike around this arm.
In the middle of the stretch was a brief stint on Scoggins Valley Road where a sign for Cedar Grove marked an abandoned section of trail.
The current trail was a few hundred feet further along the road.
Scrub jay
This pattern was repeated four more times over the next 7 miles around arms at Tanner, Wall, Scoggins, and Sain Creeks. The scenery changed consistently with signs of former farmland amid the creeks and stretches of forest.
Spider in the forest.
Starting around the Tanner Creek arm.
An egret and a heron.
Apples
Deer across Scoggins Valley Road
Canada geese
Herons and geese at Wall Creek.
Road walk over Scoggins Creek.
Scoggins Creek
Scoggins Creek
Coming up to the fishing pier and Recreation Area C.
Pacific University building.
Sain Creek Recreation Area
Sain Creek
After rounding the Sain Creek arm we entered the “dangerous” disc golf course.
One of the disc golf holes.
Poison oak
After passing a grassy hillside the trail entered the nicest section of forest of the day.
About a quarter mile from the Elks Picnic Area and our car we passed the Rainbow View parking area where we had one more good look at Henry Haag Lake before finishing with a road walk back to our car.
Geese and seagulls on an island.
Road walks are always hard on the feet so when we were finally done with what our GPS said was a 14 mile loop ours were really sore. The hard pavement hadn’t been the only hard surface as the trail was often also very hard. The clay that can be so slick and muddy when wet also gets very hard and packed when it’s dry. Despite the sore feet (and what seemed like unending uphill climbs, although it was only about 500′ of total elevation gain) it did turn out to be a great time for the hike. We didn’t run into anyone else using the trail all day. There were a number of folks fishing, boating and hanging out at the parking areas but that was it. With the numerous parking areas it would be easy to break this up into shorter hikes over several trips.
Happy Trails!
Seals in Nehalem Bay
Tree frog – Patterson Mountain
Garter snake on Patterson Mountain
Crab spider – Lookout Creek Trail
Beetle – Carpenter Mountain
Pale crescent near Macks Canyon
Gopher snake near Macks Canyon
Beetles on thistle near Mack’s Canyon
Caterpillar along the Black Butte Trail
Green tailed towhee on Black Butte
Rock pigeon – Deschutes River
Merganser family – Deschutes River
Dragon Fly – Deschutes River
Sagebrush Lizard – Deschutes River
Pronghorn – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Yellow headed blackbird – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Horned grebes – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Great horned owl – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Lewis’s woodpecker – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
White faced ibis – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Yellow warbler – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Western meadowlark – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Bullock’s oriole – Malheur Wildlife Refuge
Rabbit – Jordan Craters
Marmot – Jordan Craters
Chukar – Leslie Gulch
Cricket – Leslie Gulch
Viceroy- Leslie Gulch
Swallow tail – Leslie Gulch
Cicada – Leslie Gulch
Burrowing owl near Leslie Gulch
Dragon fly – Three Forks
Fritillary butterfly – Three Forks
Pheasant – Pillars of Rome
Side blotched lizard – Chalk Basin
Collard lizard – Chalk Basin
Sandhill Cranes near Steens Mountain
jack rabbit – Borax Hot Springs
Desert horned lizard – Alvord Desert
Long nosed leopard lizard – Alvord Desert
Western Fence Lizard – Pike Creek
Swallow tail – Myrtle Creek
Sheridan’s hairstreak – Myrtle Creek
Orange-tip butterfly – Myrtle Creek
Western kingbird – Cove Palisades State Park
Cascade toad – Browder Ridge
Gray jay – Browder Ridge
Rufous hummingbird – Horsepasture Mountain
Grouse – Horsepasture Mountain
Wren – French Creek Ridge
Checkerspot butterfly – French Creek Ridge
Chipmunk near Hidden Forest Cave
Pygmy short horned lizard near Pictograph Cave
Caterpillars – Strawberry Mountain Wilderness
Trout – Little Strawberry Lake
Doe – Slide Lake
Megarhyssa nortoni
Great blue heron – Newport Bay
Sharp-tailed snake – Newport Bay
Osprey – South Beach
Pika – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness
Northern goshawk – Elkhorns
Red tailed hawk – Elkhorns
Mountain goats – Elkhorns
Mountain Goat – Elkhorns
Golden mantled ground squirrel – Elkhorns
Mourning cloak – Elkhorns
Beetle – Summit Lake
Bumble bee – Crawfish Lake
Finch – Crawfish Lake
Bald Eagle – Waldo Lake
Hairy woodpecker – Rigdon Lakes
Blue copper – Rockpile Lake
Tortoiseshell butterfly – Carl Lake
Varied thrush – Carl Lake
Frogs – Table Lake
Clarks nutcracker – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness
Ouzel – Pamelia Lake
Junco – Pamelia Lake
Frog – Taylor Lake
Sanderlings – John Dellenback Beach
Douglas squirrel – John Dellenback Dunes Trail
Great egret – Mud Lake
Wilson’s snipe – Mud Lake
Elk on the way to Barklow Mt.
Starfish – Bandon, Oregon
Crab – Bandon, Oregon
Anemones – Bandon, Oregon
Turkey Vulture – Bandon, Oregon
Seagull and a marbled godwit in the Coquile River
Black turnstones – North Jetty, Bandon, Oregon
Brown pelicans – Bullards Beach State Park
Mink – Sprague River
White pelicans – Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Snowy egret – Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Stellar’s jay – Fish Lake
Muskrat – Lake of the Woods
Dragon fly – Lake of the Woods
Canada geese – Lake of the Woods
Caterpillar – Lake of the Woods
Cormorants – Link River
American coots – Link River
Mallards – Pond near Lake Ewauna
Northern shoveler – Pond near Lake Ewauna
Northern flicker – Link River Trail
Scrub jay – Link River Trail
Western grebe – Link River
Hooded mergansers – Link River
Buffleheads – Siltcoos Lake
Rough skinned newt – Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
Sparrow – Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
Anna’s hummingbird – Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
Ring-necked ducks – Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
Spotted towhee – Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
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