Willow Creek-Waterhouse Trail Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Willow Creek Trailhead
- End Point: Apollo Ridge Park and Merlo Road MAX Station
- Hike Type: In and out
- Distance: 5.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 170 feet
- High Point: 225 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Sometimes
Contents |
Description
Yes, Beaverton actually has beavers and at least a couple of them have made Willow Creek their home. The Willow Creek Nature Park and Greenway is a short riparian trail and boardwalk that includes the tall trees of Moshofsky Woods. Unless you are with small kids, this walk (1.6 miles in and out) may not be enough, so on the way back take a stroll down the Waterhouse Trail, which leads another 1.8 miles to the Merlo Road MAX Station and an entrance to the Tualatin Hills Nature Park. While the Waterhouse Trail is on grassy expanses under power lines with a few busy roads to cross, you'll also pass a pond and Waterhouse Lake. Eventually, the Waterhouse Trail will become part of the Westside Trail system, planned to connect Bethany in the north with the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge in the south.
From the trailhead, join the Willow Creek Trail on a boardwalk. Red osier dogwood, big-leaf maples, Oregon ash, cottonwoods, oaks and willows form the thickets around the creek, which is on your right. Pass access points leading to suburban streets on the left, but keep to the boardwalk. At a couple of viewing platforms, you can look at the creek itself as it flows quietly through a dense stand of reed canary grass. Head away from the creek to a soccer field under powerlines and the Willow Creek-Waterhouse Trail Junction.
Keep right here and resume the boardwalk. Enter a copse of large Douglas-firs and grand firs on a paved path through Moshofsky Woods. Resume the boardwalk, and head along the creek thickets. A bridge crosses the creek to the right. Keep left on the paved path and enter Winthrop Bike Park. You may see evidence of beaver activity along the creek here. The paved trail leads up to 173rd Avenue and a view over the wetland of Apollo Ridge Park, a small protected wetland with no trails.
Return to the junction with the Waterhouse Trail. Going right, pass by the soccer field and then a port-a-potty to cross Mission Oaks Drive and head up a slope in Waterhouse Powerline Park. The paved trail leads under powerlines across grassy fields to cross Blueridge Drive. Descend past a large suburban development, keeping straight to cross Waterhouse Creek. Here trails lead east to 167th Avenue and west along Jenne Lake (This is lake is part of a private development and is screened from the public path by a hedge). On the Waterhouse Trail, continue uphill to pass an RV storage yard on the right before crossing wide Walker Avenue. The trail winds up under powerlines to cross Estuary Street and pass a pond on the right rimmed by willows and bulrushes. The resident mallards may come scudding to the shore to beg. At a junction, keep right as the path crosses a grassy sward past a planting of plums. Recross Estuary Street and continue on a grassy expanse. Where the trail splits again, go right to cross Baseline Road. Now you have a large field your left. Cross Jenkins Road and then swerve east to parallel Jenkins Road past a power substation. The trail then veers right to head south along 158th Avenue (Merlo Road) before crossing it to come to the Merlo Road MAX Station.
If you've had enough for the day, return the way you came. Otherwise, you can cross the tracks to pick up the Oak Trail and enjoy the Tualatin Hills Nature Park Loop Hike.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Keep dogs on leash
- Share trail with cyclists
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Nature and Trails Map (Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District)
- Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District: Trails
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Willow Creek-Waterhouse Trail Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Willow Creek-Waterhouse Trail Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Exploring the Tualatin River Basin by Tualatin Riverkeepers
- "Off-Street Paved Bike Paths in Oregon by Rick Bronson
More Links
- Willow Creek Greenway (Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District)
- Willow Creek Greenway (The Intertwine)
- Willow Creek Nature Park - Beaverton, Oregon (Todd Clark)
- Moshofsky Woods Natural Area (Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District)
- Apollo Ridge Park (The Intertwine)
- Waterhouse Linear Park (Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District)
- Beaverton Off The Beaten Path (Virtual Tourist)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)