View to Peak 6905 from the trail (bobcat)

View from the trail looking towards the John Day River valley (Cheryl Hill)

Mountain lady's slippers (Cypripedium montanum), Cedar Grove Botanical Area (bobcat)

The trail down to the headwaters of Buck Cabin Creek (bobcat) Courtesy: Gaia GPS

• Start point: Cedar Grove Trailhead
• Ending point: Buck Cabin Creek Footbridge
• Hike type: Lollipop loop
• Distance: 1.7 miles
• Elevation gain: 550 feet
• High point: 5,886 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: Summer and fall
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

This short hike passes through a small stand of Alaska yellow cedar. The tree is found from Alaska down through the Oregon Cascades, but this isolated stand in the Aldrich Mountains is a remnant from a time after the end of the last Ice Age when the climate here was wetter and cooler. In 2006, during the Shake Table Complex Fires, firefighters set a back burn that went out of control and incinerated much of the 26-acre grove, leaving only about two acres untouched. Thousands of cedar seedlings have sprouted since then, however.

Cross the road, and head up the trail, officially designated a National Recreation Trail. After a short hike through a ponderosa pine parkland that blooms with lupine, larkspur, waterleaf, and arnica in the spring, you will reach a wire fence. Unhook the gate, and relatch it behind you.

Pass a painted wooden sign, and start descending. (Yes, you lose elevation on the way in and regain it on the way back to your car.) The trail descends in a shady Douglas-fir/grand fir woodland before switchbacking down twice. At 0.6 miles, you will pass through a meadow where wildflowers, including balsamroot, paintbrush, and larkspur, bloom in early summer. You will also encounter the first of a series of interpretive signs about local flora and fauna. On a slope facing north, mountain mahogany trees also appear, and you'll get views to nearby Fields Peak and the John Day River valley. In late spring/early summer, look for mountain lady's slipper orchids blooming by the side of the trail.

At 0.8 miles, you’ll reach a junction about 40 yards from Buck Cabin Creek where you will go straight to enter the official botanical area. There are only a handful of rather scrawny Alaska yellow-cedars in the grove here. The dead cedars along the creek, identified by their stringy bark, were not killed by the fire but were probably weakened by a drying climate and then invaded by pests. You will notice that other conifers along the creek, such as the Douglas-firs, are in good health, another indication that the struggling cedars are out of their element here. The trail recrosses the creek on a footbridge next to a rather thin but living cedar and then ascends a dry hillside back to the junction. Turn left to head back up the slope and return to your vehicle.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• None

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Cedar Grove Botanical Area Hike

• Aldrich Mountains 6-22-23
• Adventures in Ochoco and Malheur NFs, 6.10 to 6.14 2011

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Cedar Grove Botanical Area Hike

Guidebooks that cover this destination

• Hiking Oregon by Donna Lynn Ikenberry

More Links

• Cedar Grove Botanical Area (USFS)
• Cedar Grove Trail #203A (USFS)
• Cedar Grove Botanical Area (Just Peachy)
• Wildflowers of the Cedar Grove National Scenic Trail #203A (Flora Northwest)
• "In Oregon, a mysterious tree grove conjures a colder time" (High Country News)

Page Contributors

• justpeachy (creator)