Hopkins Forest Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Hopkins Demonstration Forest Trailhead
- End point: Molalla Log House
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 4.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 715 feet
- High point: 740 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
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Description
These 140 acres were formerly a logged-over tree farm in the Little Buckner Creek drainage owned by Howard and Margaret Hopkins of Milwaukie. When Howard Hopkins passed away in 1989, Margaret searched for a way to keep the property out of developers' hands, and in 1990 the non-profit Forests Forever, Inc. was formed. The acreage is managed according to conservation, sustainable forestry research, and public education goals. Maintenance roads and loop trails run through various plots of forest, including a natural riparian corridor along the creek. Interpretive signs tell about different forestry practices, including even age and uneven age plantings, thinning, pruning, and cultivation of pole trees. The directions below follow the outermost perimeter of the property.
At the top of the parking area, there’s a maintenance shed and the Clatskanie Mountain Fire Tower (the lookout is only open for guided tours) with its restored cab. The tower was erected in the northern Coast Range in 1954, and then moved to the Magness Memorial Tree Farm in 1984. A few years ago, it was transferred to the Hopkins Demonstration Forest. At the south end of the parking area is Everett Hall, a meetings and events facility.
Begin your hike at the kiosk near the flagpole. You can pick up maps here, and learn about some of the activities at the Demonstration Forest. Below you is a stand of Douglas-firs being carefully prepared for harvest as telephone poles. Walk down Grouse Hollow Road past restrooms, a picnic area, and the Poppino Family Pavilion. Pass through a green gate and the junction with the Hopkins Trail, your return route. Then make a left on Post Road. Here there’s a younger plantation of Douglas-firs. Continue past the junction with the Hardwood Trail, a short connector to the Red Alder Trail. Post Road descends past a shake shelter to the brushy, maple shaded area above Little Buckner Creek. Ignore an unmarked path leading to the creek, and take the East Loop Watershed Trail leading left.
Descend a set of steps, and cross the creek on a footbridge. Cedars, Douglas-firs, and mossy maples overhang the stream. Hike along the creek, and cross a short boardwalk. At the junction with the Little Buckner Creek Trail, go left and hike up into a clearcut recently planted with new saplings. These are shielded with plastic tree guard mesh to protect them from rapacious mountain beavers, also known as boomers. The trail soon descends the hillside and crosses a footbridge over the creek to join Up Creek Road. Make a left here, and pass a closed trail that leads across a corner of the neighbor’s property.
Come to the junction with the Middle Loop Watershed Trail, but stay right on Up Creek Road to reach a kiosk that tells about riparian zones. Hike little farther up the road, and see two ponds to your left. Continuing on the road, there is a restroom up to your right and the restored and relocated Molalla Log House to your left. A gravel path takes you around the mysterious log house, which may be over 200 years in age. Four interpretive panels speculate on the provenance of this old cabin and describe the process of reconstruction. From here, you can make a loop around the lower of the two ponds and rejoin Up Creek Road to descend the way you came up. This is a good area to scan for woodpeckers and hawks gliding overhead.
Return to the Middle Loop Watershed Trail, and descend, bearing right at the junction with the closed trail. Little Buckner Creek splashes below, and a spur leads left to an overlook. Soon you’ll come to the junction with Down Creek Road, where you can make a left, now the West Loop Watershed Trail. Pass under tall cottonwoods as well as alders. cedars. and maples. A railed walkway takes you across a steep slope. At the junction with the Uneven Age Trail, go left to descend to a junction with a skid road. Keep right on a grassy “haul road” to hike up through blackberry-choked undergrowth. This area of the property is a plantation of various species and ages of conifers. Pass an overgrown shake shelter, cross a small stream, and reach a gate and parking area at the west end of Grouse Hollow Road. A kiosk explains even and uneven age forestry practices.
A little farther on, go left on gravel Low Gear Road, and pass up through a 1977 Douglas-fir plantation. Notice all the madrones among the Douglas-firs on this slope. Pass the junction with the Shortcut Trail and then another shake shelter. Drop down a slope to the junction with the Hopkins Trail, and make a left. Follow this trail through a mossy boulder field; in 2024, an area next to the trail was cordoned off to tap the sap from big-leaf maples. Then you'll hike above an amphitheater. You'll reach the Cedar Grove Shelter at a picnic area. There’s a hand pump here that delivers pure spring water. Below, next to the restroom above the Molalla Log House, is a “sports arena” for logging games. Head up to the left, and make two switchbacks to arrive at Grouse Hollow Road and Hopkins Hall.
Just above Hopkins Hall is a picnic area. Find the trail leading north out of here through the split-rail fence. Pass around a small sawmill, and then descend and traverse under mature Douglas-firs on the Red Alder Trail. Make two quick switchbacks, and keep left at the junction with the Hardwood Trail. Make a couple more switchbacks, and hike up near a clearcut on another property. Cross a gully, and enter an alder plantation. Switchback two more times, and cross the entrance road. Ascend under Douglas-for and western red-cedar to come out near the maintenance shed, fire tower, and parking area.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Open 7 days a week: hours vary seasonally
- Fire tower tours: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Saturdays, May - September
- Information kiosks, brochures, restrooms, picnic tables, interpretive signs, historic cabin
- Logging activity may restrict trail access at certain times
Maps
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Hopkins Forest Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Hopkins Forest Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Take a Walk: Portland by Brian Barker
More Links
- Hopkins Demonstration Forest (Forests Forever)
- Hopkins Demonstration Forest (Oregon State University Extension)
- Hopkins Demonstration Forest Education Plan (Oregon State University Extension)
- A Walk in the woods (Oregon Forest Resources Institute)
- Where to Walk: Hopkins Farm Demonstration Forest (Clackamas County)
- Clatskanie Mountain Lookout Site (Former Fire Lookout Sites Register)
- “Hopkins Forest, outside Beavercreek, welcomes visitors; new Forest Hall nearly complete” (Oregon Live)
- "Re-stacking the Molalla Log House" (KGW)
- Historic Molalla Log House finds new home at Hopkins Demonstration Forest (OSU Extension Service)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)