Fernhill Wetlands Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Fernhill Wetlands Trailhead
- End Point: Cattail Marsh
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 2.3 miles
- Elevation gain: 40 feet
- High Point: 170 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Description
Fernhill Wetlands, a mecca for local birders, has been undergoing a transformation in recent years that will take decades to mature. Formerly a set of rather bleak, steep-sided wastewater treatment ponds and farm fields on 750 acres, this area south of Forest Grove has been transformed into a series of more natural looking cells that not only use nature’s processes for filtering wastewater but also provide a much more welcoming habitat for waterfowl. Mudflats have been created, water plants such as cattails and native wapato have been extensively planted, and 180 snags have been posted across the shallows.
The maintenance road around Fernhill Lake is universal access. Note that the site may be closed during times of high floodwater, when the Tualatin River backs up into these wetlands.
Walk past the restroom and covered picnic area to take a gravel path leading left through a landscaped corridor of plantings, including shore pine, ponderosa pine, snowberry, Oregon grape, and red osier dogwood. To your left is an area of treatment ponds being converted to a rocky filtration wetland. To the right, you can get vistas over Fernhill Marsh to the forested northern slopes of Fern Hill, the eastern end of the Chehalem Hills. Reach a trail junction: Keeping straight will take you over two scenic 40-foot bridges constructed of Douglas-fir that arch over the outlet pipes from the upper-level treatment cells. Going left at the junction takes you in a short loop around the Water Garden and a cattail pond. A multi-trunked alder stands sentinel here. At the back of the pond, the shore is lined with plantings of Pacific madrone and spiraea. Walk past a trail that leads to the center of the Water Garden, and reach the main loop trail at a shed-like structure, an “outdoor classroom,” above the shore of Fernhill Lake.
Go left at the shed, and immediately come to the Dabblers Marsh Trail leading left on a wood chip tread through a thicket of red osier dogwood under a stand of cottonwoods. Pass a bench at the shore of a pond that hosts families of mallards, and cross a small platform constructed by Eagle Scouts. In the dead of winter, note the brilliant red twigs of the dogwood and the bright yellow of willow. Reach a farm road, and walk right for 80 yards. The Dabblers Marsh Trail resumes on your right (Note that it is a dead end), but on a narrow, muddy tread that funnels through young alders, dogwood, and mossy hazel arches. Look for nutria tunnels though the thickets. You’ll reach an Oregon ash and cottonwood-shaded backwater which hosts an old beaver dam, and here the trail peters out. Especially in the spring and fall, the thickets here host numerous species of perching birds such as sparrows, warblers, towhees, chickadees, and goldfinches.
Return all the way to the main loop at the shed, and keep left. You’ll pass a small kiosk offering some bird IDs and a painted panel created by the Forest Grove Community School. From the elevated vantage point on this levee, scan the waters of Fernhill Lake mitigation ponds to the right for bird life. Reach a viewing gazebo that offers a vista over the more natural looking Barney Wetlands to the south, where the Tualatin River loops behind a cottonwood/ash swale. Look east to try a get a glimpse of Mount Hood on the horizon. From mid-fall to mid-spring, waterfowl most likely to be seen include pintails, buffleheads, ring-necked ducks, mallards, gadwalls, lesser scaups, green-winged teals, ruddy ducks, wood ducks, shovelers, American wigeons, and tundra swans. Try to distinguish between the Canada geese and cackling geese (The latter is much smaller). Coots, great egrets, and great blue herons are seen here year-round. High in a cottonwood to the south, a massive bald eagle nest is silhouetted against the sky when branches are bare in the winter.
The walk continues on the gravel maintenance road around the Fernhill Lake levee. To your left, there’s an ash, willow, and dogwood swamp. The track jinks left, then right to continue between Cattail Marsh and Fernhill Lake. The cattails conceal the bustling activity of marsh wrens, coots, and red-winged blackbirds. The mudflats along the lake shores play host to migratory shorebirds from mid-spring to fall: look for yellowlegs, dunlins, and various species of sandpipers. At another gazebo, go right along a wide ditch that separates the levee from Highway 47. To your right, Fernhill Marsh has been divided into cells that filter wastewater; upright snags and plantings of cattails enhance habitat for resident and migratory waterfowl. A gravel path leads to the right past a bench and tall snags towards the picnic shelter and parking area.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- No pets
- Open dawn to dusk
- Restrooms, covered picnic area
Maps
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Fernhill Wetlands Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Fernhill Wetlands Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Exploring the Tualatin River Basin by Tualatin Riverkeepers
- Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine edited by Michael C. Houck and M.J. Cody
More Links
- Fernhill Wetlands (Clean Water Services)
- The Friends of Fernhill Wetlands
- Fernhill Wetlands (City of Forest Grove)
- Fernhill Wetlands (Tualatin Valley)
- Fernhill Wetlands (Audubon Society of Portland)
- Fernhill Wetlands – Dabbler’s Marsh (Oregon Fish & Wildlife)
- Fernhill South Wetlands Natural Treatment System (Biohabitats)
- Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon (Birdwatching Daily)
- “Fernhill Wetlands, Oregon” (Northwest Birding)
- “Fernhill Wetlands trails reopen to the public after construction” (Oregon Live)
- "Trails, parking lot reopen at Fernhill Wetlands" (News Times)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)