Millers Woods Hike (7 Miles Outside McMinnville, Oregon)

[MultnomahVet]

Made our way out to Millers Woods Near McMinnville this morning. No one has done a write up on this particular area and it seems that most hiking is off the radar around here so, I felt that I wood help others to find and explore some of the great areas for hiking that actually exist in the Southern/Central Willamette Valley.

When we got to Millers Woods Preserve we found plenty of parking and a nice informative trail head information area. It's 3 dollars to park and explore for the day but it's worth every dime.

Parking Lot at the Trail head:
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There is a very nice overview map of the entire 130 acre property, but also, just to the lower right hand side of the main map is a dispenser of lamented trail maps for use while your there (something we did not realize until the end of our exploration

Millers Woods Overview Map:
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The trail head is marked with the names of the two main trails for the preserve. either choose the perimeter trail for a wonderful 2-3 mile hike around the preserve. Or, you can choose the nature trail for a shorter informative hike that the whole family can enjoy. there is also the maintenance road trail which seems to be all over the area and allows you to really personalize the experience of which route to where within the preserve.

Trail head marker:
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We chose to take the perimeter trail and at first found it quite difficult to follow for the simple reason that the trail markers are only color coded and do not contain the names of the trails. The overlapping of the maintenance trails also led to a bit of initial directional confusion

Re-Checking our way:
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We finally made it out in the right direction (after doing a grand tour of the parking lot and a small part of the perimeter trail) and entered into a wonderful meadow surround by forest.

Entering the Meadow:
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Wonderful Sunny Meadow:
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We hiked along the trail through the meadow and in about 1/2 mile made into into the forest. the trail through the forest is an easy system of shallow switch-backs within a wonderful forest of mixed old growth and 3rd growth trees. My wife decided to pose with one of the older members of the club as seen below:

My Wife and the Old Growth Tree:
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During the hike, we noticed that the area has A-LOT of deer. In fact, during the way in we were privy to the sight of 3 deer who immediately jumped the roadside fence with only the buck looking back by the time my wife was able to snap a photo seen here:

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We also found tons of these easily identifiable hoof prints throughout the hike and also, that of what we believe to have been a bear identified by us from its foot prints, and a large pile of bear droppings in the woods along the trail

Deer Tracks:
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Forest Animal Interchange:
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Bear Tracks?:
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Bear Poop:
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We finally emerged back out into the beautiful sunlit meadow and made our way down the hillside to our right to explore the sound of rushing water nearby. My wife discovered a small single-track type wood bridge over a small cascading creek (not sure which creek it was yet) however we decided that since we had our little boy with us, and lunch time was coming quick, that this would be a good point to turn back and make our way back up to the car.

Back into the Meadow:
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The Trail:
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The Bridge:
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The Meandering unknown Creek:
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Along the Way back to the car, we discovered a wonderful little pond nestled in the meadow with cats-tails

The Pond:
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My Wife Enjoying the Sunlight:
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We finally made it back to the car and said our farewells to this beautiful gem on the doorstep of the city

A Meadow View:
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Another View of the Meadow:
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Trail Into The Woods:
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Another Trail View
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Sun Through the Oak:
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[AlexanderSupertramp]

I've never heard of this place. It looks like a fun trail, thanks for the heads up!

[kelkev]

I did this one back in the winter of 2010. Neat walk close to home for me, as a McMinnville resident. Here's a link to my trip report last year.

http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... ller+woods

[LaurenPL]

This place is a gem of realness. My daughter is going to Linfield College and gets away to here often. Her cross country team enjoys practice here. I am glad she took us here when we visited.