Clackamette Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Clackamette Park Trailhead
- End point: Charles Ames Memorial Park Trailhead
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 4.8 miles
- Elevation gain: 90 feet
- High point: 55 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: On summer weekends
- Clackamette Loop Accessibility Information
Contents |
Description
This loop at the confluence of the Clackamas and Willamette Rivers takes you on both sides of the Clackamas, passing the old gravel mine at Clackamette Cove and a disused landfill soon to be revitalized with condos and river-view apartments. You'll cross the Clackamas via an old road bridge and loop back long the bluff in Gladstone. The walk is hemmed in by the loud and busy arteries of McLoughlin Boulevard and I-205, but waterfowl can be observed on the Cove and you can look for sea lions in the Willamette. Riverside cottonwoods shade a lot of this route and the area is very popular on warm, sunny days.
Walk from the parking lot to the Clackamas River, where there is often a large flock of gulls, ducks and geese begging for food. You can see downstream to the mouth of the Clackamas, lined by rustling cottonwoods, with Gladstone's Dahl Beach on the opposite bank. Then go right to walk under the Dr. John McLoughlin Memorial Bridge, and turn right on a dirt road. On your left is the odd, defunct River Resources Museum, once a water treatment facility for the City of Gladstone, and then illegally occupied as a home/"museum" for 23 years. As you walk down the blackberry-lined gravel track, Clackamette Cove, an old sand/gravel mining pit is to the left. Try to count the great blue herons posing silently around its shores. When you reach Main Street at a chain gate, turn left. There is a wide gravel verge but no sidewalk on this street. No Trespassing signs, courtesy of the Oregon City Urban Renewal District, tell you to keep out of the property to your left.
After a few minutes, you'll pick up the paved Clackamas River Trail leading off to the left below a parking area. There are picnic tables and benches along the way as this trail leads above the cottonwood-lined cove with a Scots broom-dotted wasteland to the right. (This area has been under negotiation for development as an urban renewal project for many years now; the COVID epidemic injected more complications into the plan.) In addition to Scots broom, blackberry, teasel, young cottonwoods and tansy sprout on this blighted flat, some of this formerly the Rossman Landfill, which obliterated a wetland. An osprey nest sits atop a tall pole. The trail reaches the Clackamas River and heads east. To the left, the narrow, Douglas-fir wooded Mike Koski Peninsula leads to the mouth of Clackamette Cove. Gladstone homes line the opposite shore on Clackamas Boulevard. You'll pass a fenced wastewater treatment plant for Gladstone and Oregon City on the right. A narrow concrete path leads down to the cobbled river edge. You can loop back to the main trail, which has turned from tarmac to concrete, on use trails. (This loop may be under water during the winter/spring.) Back on the main trail, pass a huge cottonwood, and then walk under a multi-trunked, octopus-like grand fir.
Come to the River Access Park Trailhead, and go left for 200 yards to reach the Old 82nd Drive Bridge, now open only to pedestrians and bicycles. Look upstream to the rocky shore of the Clackamas and the noisy I-205 Bridge. The rocky area on the Gladstone side is High Rocks Park, an extremely popular swimming hole in the summer when the waters are placid but still deep. (Before the 82nd Drive Bridge was screened off, the bridge itself was the jump off spot for local daredevils; now reports of summer casualties at High Rocks frequently pop up in the local news.)
On the opposite bank, reach Gladstone's Cross Park, named after Judge Harvey Cross, the founder of Gladstone. Take the trail leading down the bluff, and then go right past picnic tables under the cottonwoods and reach the end of the riverside trail where it switchbacks up twice to a parking area and restroom. Continue walking along Clackamas Boulevard to reach Chief Charles Ames Memorial Park, named after a former Gladstone Fire Chief. A paved trail leads along the bluff past the end of the Trolley Trail and a gated pump station perched above the Clackamas River. Continue walking along Clackamas Boulevard, which has no sidewalk. On the north side of the street, marked by plaques, is the Pow-Wow Tree, a 250-year-old big-leaf maple. The tree has been recognized as a meeting place for the Clackamas Indians; it also stood over the first Oregon State Fair in 1861.
When you reach Arlington Drive, go left and take the sidewalk. Past ATI Physical Therapy, take a paved path with a Walgreens to your right. Past the Walgreens, cut across to busy McLoughlin Boulevard, and follow the sidewalk south to cross the Clackamas River using the Dr. John McLoughlin Memorial Bridge. After crossing the bridge, you'll have to stay on the fenced sidewalk another 500 yards or so until you get to the crosswalk at a traffic light at the intersection with the Oregon City Shopping Center and Dunes Drive.
Take the crosswalk to the corner of Dunes Drive and McLoughlin. Here, near a McDonald's, is a small plaza with historical panels about the George Abernethy (I-205) Bridge, riverside industry, and historical floods. Then walk the block down to Clackamette Drive and turn left to continue past a Best Western to Jon Storm Park, which has a picnic shelter, restrooms, interpretive panels, and a transient dock. The park abuts the pillars of the noisy George Abernethy Memorial Bridge, which carries I-205 across the Willamette here. Both at Jon Storm Park and at the the next dock, the Sportscraft Marina just beyond the I-205 Bridge, you may see basking sea lions on a sunny day. Turn around at the docks, or if you want to continue your hike, take the path up from the Sportscraft Marina parking area to the sidewalk on McLoughin Boulevard. Walk to the Oregon City Bridge and then head in to the Municipal Elevator to begin the McLoughlin Promenade Hike.
Walking back along Clackamette Drive, find the 8-foot-wide paved path leading off the sidewalk opposite the Best Western. You can keep to the path or walk closer to the river across a grassy expanse shaded by cottonwoods. You'll pass Clackamette Park's RV camping area and reach another lawn dotted with picnic tables and cottonwoods. Keep the Willamette River on your left as you continue out to the end of a short, brushy spit at the mouth of the Clackamas River. Then walk up the Clackamas shoreline to reach the main parking area and your car.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Parks closed 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
- Restrooms and picnic tables at Clackamette Park, Cross Park, Chief Charles Ames Park, and Jon Storm Park.
- Share paved trails with bicycles
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Clackamette Park (City of Oregon City)
- Clackamette Cove Trail & River Access Trail (City of Oregon City)
- Jon Storm Park (City of Oregon City)
- Oregon City Parks Tour Story Map (City of Oregon City)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Clackamette Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Clackamette Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Oregon Townscape Walks by Tyler Burgess (partial)
- Oregon Nature Weekends by Jim Yuskavitch
More Links
- Clackamette Park (City of Oregon City)
- Clackamette Cove Trail & River Access Trail (City of Oregon City)
- Jon Storm Park (City of Oregon City)
- Cross Park (City of Gladstone)
- High Rocks, Cross Park (Outdoor Project)
- History of Gladstone (Gladstone Historical Society)
- "After 23 years of free rent, Gladstone evicts tenant from oddball property" (Oregon Live)
- "Clackamette Cove waterfront project moving forward in Oregon City" (Milwaukie Review)
- Whitewater in Oregon City? It Happens Twice a Day (Willamette Week)
- Urban Renewal Plan Report (City of Oregon City)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)