Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Hazelia Field Trailhead
- End point: Cooks Butte
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 5.7 miles
- Elevation gain: 385 feet
- High point: 718 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Sometimes
Contents |
Description
The Hazelia area in the southern reaches of Lake Oswego, between Cooks Butte and Wilson Creek just north of the Tualatin River, was first settled by Oregon Trail emigrants in the 1850s. In July 2017, the Hazelia Agri-Cultural Heritage Trail was dedicated after interpretive signs highlighting the area's history had been set up at various points along the existing trail system. This walk encompasses several parks and greenspaces, as well as suburban streets, to make a loop. Begin by parking at Hazelia Field and then walk around to Luscher Farm to admire the gardens: all of this was once part of a large dairy farm. Take the Rosemont Trail past more signs illustrating the local heritage, and then head up the slopes of Cooks Butte, a Boring volcano, passing the 20-acre parcel called Stevens Meadow. Cooks Butte has several trails looping through its mixed forest. Complete the loop by descending the slopes of the Butte on neighborhood streets past Lakeridge High School.
From your parking spot at Hazelia Field, head back to the entrance on Stafford Road, and go left on the paved trail. To the left is an off-leash area, and then you will pass the Guardian of the Lake, a scrap metal sculpture of a dog. Walk by a smaller parking area and a kiosk explaining the history of the area. After this, you'll see the vegetable plots of Luscher Farm. To the right, Cooks Butte rises. The trail makes a sharp left at the junction with Rosemont Road. Soon, you are walking on a short boardwalk to pass a basalt column memorial bench to reach the driveway for Luscher Farm. Walk in here under broad oaks, and go left past the front porch of the farmhouse to visit the colorful Rogerson Clematis Garden. Behind the garden, there's a greenhouse with clematis cultivars for sale. Walk between the greenhouse and a chicken run to pass the barn and arrive at the community garden and Organic Demonstration Garden. Many colorful blooms, especially dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers, brighten the plots in summer. Scarecrows exhibiting a variety of sartorial tastes are posed throughout the plots. Walk north through the garden, and turn right past a shed to pass into a field. Go left to reach another field and a mowed running/obstacle course. You can walk past a mud pit and then continue to the north end of the field before bearing right and heading south along the hawthorn hedge. Cross into the field below, and then make a turn to the left to enter another hawthorn-bordered plot. Pass a shed as you hike down past blackberries and hawthorns. There's a private home to the right before you reach the paved Rosemont Trail.
Go left on the trail to cross Wilson Creek and then the driveway of a country spread. The trail loops up under oaks and maples. An interpretive sign tells about the Hinatsus, immigrant farmers from Japan. Pass the Luscher Farm Trailhead to reach a circular space where another sign explains the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the history of the Whitten family in the area. From here, you can wind down on a gravel path to continue on the Rosemont Trail as it runs next to Rosemont Road all the way to West Linn, but most walkers will want to turn back when they reach the Luscher Farm Trailhead.
Returning west on the paved path, come to a loop built into the trail (You can go left or right), and read a sign telling about the Atfalati Kalapuyans and Clackamas bands that once inhabited this fertile lowland. Pass a walnut tree and then a basalt column inscribed with a poem, “The Well Rising” by William Stafford. Walk by the driveway for Firlane Farm, and come to the entrance to the Luscher Homestead. Continue west to the junction of Rosemont and Stafford Road.
Go right at the roundabout to cross Stafford Road, and then head left to cross Atherton Drive, which heads uphill toward Cooks Butte. Enter Atherton Heights. To the left is the Shipley-Cook Farmstead and vineyard. The 1862 barn, one of the oldest buildings still standing in the Willamette Valley, was partially restored in 2016. Some of the trees planted by Adam Shipley in the 1860s still shade the area. Cross Pecan Creek on a paved trail before heading up to the parking area for Stevens Meadow. The meadow, which slopes downhill to the creek, has a circular trail around it. It was donated to Lake Oswego in 2003 by the Stevens family, who had used it for pasturing their cows and sheep. You can walk to the left down towards the blackberry-choked creek below the locust trees of the vineyard and then south to a horse pasture and barn and along a line of poplars and then back up to the parking area. Note that dogs are not permitted in Stevens Meadow.
From Stevens Meadows, pick up the paved trail to Cooks Butte. Walk below a row of brand-new mansions and past huge cherry trees and locusts to the entrance to the park. Douglas-firs, big-leaf maples, holly, sword fern, cascara, and hazel dominate here. There is a network of trails. Keep right on the main trail, and make a couple of switchbacks up the hill. The forest becomes primarily big-leaf maple. Another switchback to the right leads to a junction, where you keep left. Inside-out flower, sword fern, thimbleberry, and solomon-plume form an understory under Douglas-fir and maple. Reach a clearing at the top with a bench. The view east is partially blocked by a row of conifers screening a large home. Continue across the clearing, which is rimmed by apple, cherry, Douglas-fir and maple, to join a service road. Here, go right past a water tank and head downhill to Palisades Crest Drive. Walk down the drive past large houses and get views of Bull Mountain, the West Hills, and the Coast Range. At a junction, walk right on Hillside Drive. Keep to this road as it curves down to Overlook Drive. Cross Overlook and keep right on it, using the sidewalk on its north side. Keep on Overlook at the junction with Meadowlark Lane, walk past Lakeridge High School and some tennis courts, and then cross Stafford Road to enter the Hazelia Field parking area.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash; there are two dedicated off-leash areas at Hazelia Field
- No dogs allowed at Stevens Meadows
- Hazelia Field often busy on Saturdays (and parking lot can be full then)
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- City of Lake Oswego Trails and Pathways (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
- Cooks Butte Trail Plan (City of Lake Oswego)
- Stafford Basin Trail (City of Lake Oswego)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Discovering Portland Parks by Owen Wozniak
- Take a Walk: Portland by Brian Barker
- Urban Trails: Portland by Eli Boschetto (Cooks Butte)
- Canine Oregon: Where to Play and Stay With Your Dog by Lizann Dunegan
- The Dog Lover's Companion to Oregon by Val Mallinson
More Links
- Hazelia Field at Luscher Farm (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
- Luscher Farm (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
- "Rosemont Trail is finally complete, but bike ban on new section leaves cyclists disappointed" (Oregon Live)
- "Lake Oswego adopts plan preserving Luscher Farm area's rural feel" (Oregon Live)
- Friends of Luscher Farm
- Hazelia Agri-Cultural Heritage Trail Dedication (Clackamas County Arts Alliance)
- Stevens Meadows (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
- Cooks Butte Park (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
- Rosemont Trail Lake Oswego (K-9 Companion PDX)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)