Revision as of 15:14, 26 May 2017

Rosemont Trail at Luscher Farm (bobcat)

Clustered wild rose (Rosa pisocarpa), Stevens Meadows (bobcat)

• Start point: Hazelia Field Trailhead
• End Point: Cooks Butte
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 4.4 miles (includes 0.6 mile loop around Stevens Meadows)
• Elevation gain: 315 feet
• High Point: 718 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: Sometimes

Description

In the southern reaches of Lake Oswego, this walk encompasses several parks and greenspaces as well as suburban streets to make a loop. Begin by parking at the newly-constructed Hazelia Field and then walk around to Luscher Farm to admire the gardens: all of this was once part of a large dairy farm. 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. Note that the local historical society has plans to install interpretive signs in this area.

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 a smaller parking area and a kiosk explaining the history of the area. After this, pass 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 and then up to the driveway for Luscher Farm. You can walk in here under broad oaks and past the farmhouse, outbuildings and barn to a community garden and Organic Demonstration Garden. Many bright blooms, especially dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers, brighten the plots in summer. The clematis collection is outstanding. Continuing back on the paved path, there’s a meadow to the left and then you cross the driveway for Firlane Farm. Pass a basalt column inscribed with a poem, “The Well Rising,” by William Stafford. The trail reaches a paved circle in a field. A brand new paved section of the Stafford Basin Trail winds under walnut, plum, and apple trees and crosses Wilson Creek. Eventually this section will be continued on a wide paved path next to Rosemont Road all the way to West Linn.

Return to the junction of Rosemont and Stafford Road and cross Stafford at the roundabout to Atherton Drive, which heads uphill toward Cooks Butte. Enter Atherton Heights. To the left are a barn and vineyard. Cross Pecan Creek on a paved trail and head 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 (The 1862 barn, currently under restoration, is part of the 100-year-old Shipley/Cook farm). Dogs are not permitted in the meadow itself.

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, bigleaf maples, holly, sword fern, cascara, and hazel dominate here. There is a network of trails. Keep straight 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, pass some tennis courts, and then cross Stafford Road and 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

• A Bunch of Boring Volcanoes

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• 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
• 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)