Revision as of 20:52, 21 March 2018

Cackling geese on Hermanson Pond (bobcat)

Trail under the ash trees, Mill Creek Greenway (bobcat)

The 1785 Locomotive, Woodburn (bobcat)

The loop described in yellow (not a GPS track) (bobcat) Courtesy: Google Maps

• Start point: Cottonwood Trailhead
• End Point: Molalla River Bluff
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop with spur
• Distance: 2.5 miles
• Elevation gain: 95 feet
• High Point: 120 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Description

This 567-acre state park near the Canby Ferry protects riparian forest at the confluence of the Willamette, Molalla, and Pudding Rivers. The deciduous woodland is dominated by cottonwood, willow, Oregon ash, and big-leaf maple with native hazel, snowberry, and red osier dogwood in the understory. Unfortunately, invasives like Armenian blackberry, Japanese knotweed, and reed canarygrass have taken over much of the area. Control is difficult because the cyclical river floods simply exacerbate the situation by opening up areas for invasion. The east end of the park is former agricultural land and is now home to a popular off-leash area as well as two picnic areas. A pleasant loop can be followed by walking above the Willamette and then descending to the forested bottomland near its confluence with the Molalla. You can only reach the confluence during a couple dry months at the end of summer, but the main trail does take you to a bluff over the Molalla River about ¼ mile south of the confluence.

Walk down towards the Willamette past the Cottonwood Picnic Area, and pick up the Riverside Trail at a hiker sign. This gravel trail heads above the river bank. On the right is a narrow corridor of cottonwood, maple, and Douglas-fir, while on your left is a grassy expanse. Pass through a fence. The riverside thicket to your right is a dense tangle of blackberry, wild rose, Scots broom, and tansy ragwort. Run the gauntlet of a blackberry thicket, and soon reach a riparian woodland of cottonwood, ash, and maple. At a picnic table and trail junction, go right.

The trail descends an old road bed under overhanging hazels. At a junction in the bottomland, keep right on the main track in an area that is seasonally flooded. Pass through thickets of red osier dogwood, snowberry, trailing blackberry, thimbleberry, and stinging nettle. A spur right leads to the willow-lined shore of the Willamette, from which you’ll see the private residences on the opposite shore. Cross a footbridge over a creek. This marks the main channel of the Molalla River before the 1960s: The river’s mouth is now a little farther north. Just past a very large cottonwood, there’s an unmarked junction.

Going right will take you to the Willamette-Molalla confluence about ¼ mile away, but this can usually only be done in the driest months of the year. The Peninsula Trail drops into a gully, and then tracks through dense reed canarygrass to a backwater channel. If the channel is dry, you can cross it to continue on the rough trail through willows to a cobbled strand at the meeting of the two rivers.

Back at the main trail, which may be your only option much of year, take a right, and continue to another large cottonwood and a bluff top view over the Molalla River about ¼ mile from its mouth. A user trail keeps on from here, but steadily deteriorates, so it is not recommended. If you take it, you reach the river bluff again several times, but don’t stand too close to the edge because it regularly collapses. Continuing on this route, you’ll encounter numerous confusing deer trails and will have to do battle with blackberries, nettles, Japanese knotweed, and toppled willows. Note that this route will not return you in a loop to the rest of the trail system, so you will have to burrow back the way you came.

Back at the picnic table junction, the loop trail continues past a blackberry thicket and then turns around the edge over a large meadow colonized by Queen Anne’s lace. To the right is a farmer’s field with irrigation wheels. Pass through a fence overgrown by blackberry and hawthorn and enter the off-leash area. Walk straight up over a rise, and then drop to the Pond Loop Trail.

Make a right here on a wide trail that encircles a series of ponds at the base of an old bluff. This is another former river channel that has filled in. Cottonwoods rustle above the dark waters of the ponds, red osier dogwood fills in the gaps, and exotic pines line the trail on the right. Reach a paved path, where you can go right to cross a lawn above the park shed and park host’s trailer. Keep straight at another junction to hike across a lush lawn shaded by tall Douglas-firs. There’s a restroom building to your right. You’ll see a large bridge that crosses a pond at the Fir Grove Picnic Area. Go left after crossing the bridge, and continue back along the north shore of the ponds. You’ll pass a viewing platform overlooking a mat of water lilies. Keep straight at the next junction, and then go right on a path that takes you back to the Cottonwood Trailhead.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Park open 7:00 a.m. to dusk
• Dogs on leash except in off-leash area
• Restrooms, picnic areas
• Trails in the bottomland near the confluence can be flooded during the wet season.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Molalla River State Park printable trail map (Oregon State Library)

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Molalla River State Park Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Molalla River State Park Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Wild in the Willamette edited by Lorraine Anderson with Abby Phillips Metzger
• Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
• The Willamette River Field Guide by Travis Williams

More Links

• Molalla River State Park (Oregon State Parks)
• Molalla River State Park (Outdoor Project)
• Vegetation Inventory and Mapping of Molalla River State Park (Pacific Biodiversity Institute)
• Molalla River State Park Master Plan – 1977 (Oregon State Parks)

Page Contributors

• bobcat (creator)