The trails in the Howard Buford Recreation Area, which is Lane County’s largest park, are numbered. I began at the North Trailhead and took Trail #3 and then Trail #1 to the summit. Here there’s a bas relief pedestal that memorializes Jed Kesey, son of noted Oregon author Ken Kesey, who died in 1984 in a car accident at the age of 20 while on the University of Oregon wrestling team. To the south are the farms and homes of Pleasant Valley, where Ken Kesey lived. On a clear day (not the day I was there), you should be able to see Diamond Peak. Spencer Butte dominates the western skyline.
To make a loop, I descended on Trail #6, and then connected to Trail #3. The latter is a running rivulet fueled by various hillside seeps that trickle down through the oak woods and camas meadows. I connected with Quarry Road (Trail #5) at Buckthorn Creek. Last year this trail, once a mud sucking quagmire, was surfaced with firm gravel. I passed a couple of extensive camas/buttercup meadows and hiked above a former channel of the Coast Fork.
At a gate, I entered the Mount Pisgah Arboretum, a 209 acre preserve dedicated to educating about native plants. Few of these are labeled, but I took a loop using the network of Arboretum trails that visited a wetland, the banks of the Coast Fork, an oak savanna, and a maple/conifer woodland. Then I headed back to the North Trailhead via paths on the west slope.
