Difference between revisions of "Ridgeline Trail Hike"
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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* Hike Type: In and out | * Hike Type: In and out | ||
{{Distance|7.9 miles}} | {{Distance|7.9 miles}} | ||
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* High Point: 1235 feet | * High Point: 1235 feet | ||
{{Difficulty|Moderate}} | {{Difficulty|Moderate}} | ||
Revision as of 20:21, 12 January 2018
- Start point: Willamette Street Trailhead
- End Point: Mount Baldy
- Trail Log:
- Hike Type: In and out
- Distance: 7.9 miles
- Elevation gain: 1110 feet
- High Point: 1235 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes, in shorter segments
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
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Contents |
Description
Eugene’s National Recreation Trail, the Ridgeline Trail system, includes the city’s highest point, Spencer Butte. However, the most connected part of the network runs from Blanton Ridge to Mount Baldy. The Ridgeline system is a work in progress as other scattered greenspaces may be connected in the future. This description picks up at the Willamette Street Trailhead and continues through mostly viewless forest until you get vistas from the grassy summit of Mount Baldy, the second highest point in these south hills. This is secondary forest, but a few gnarly old Douglas-firs remain in addition to some Willamette Valley ponderosa pines, madrones, and white oaks on Mount Baldy. You’ll be hiking around the headwaters of Spencer, Amazon, and Wild Hog Creeks, and an optional extension to the top of Spencer Butte, an extra 2.6 miles round-trip, is possible.
Take the gravel trail past the kiosk, and hike across an oak savanna. Pass under powerlines as you walk between two Willamette Valley ponderosas. The trail enters an old orchard, and then threads along the verge of an oak wood. You’ll reach a small ponderosa plantation overgrown with blackberry before you enter a mixed forest at a large Douglas-fir. Rise to a crest, where a large ponderosa pine stands alongside the trail. Note a few madrones in the forest as you pass a spur out to Owl Road. The trail then passes through a white oak/Douglas-fir wood carpeted with invasive false-brome grass. Make three switchbacks up a sword fern slope, where you’ll find fawn lilies blooming in the spring. Traverse through vine maple, Oregon grape, and inside-out flower, passing under Douglas-firs and big-leaf maples dangling fronds of licorice fern. Cross a small footbridge, and come to the Ridgeline-Spencer Butte Tie Trail Junction. It’s 1.3 miles from here to the summit of Spencer Butte if you want to make the diversion.
Continuing on the Ridgeline Trail, descend and switchback past a spur leading out to a street. Switchback again, and traverse a slope of sword fern and blackberry. Drop into a ample-shaded depression, and then hike along a slope of madrones and ponderosa pines. Cross a pair of footbridges, and soon reach Fox Hollow Road. Hike uphill 40 yards, and cross the road to reach the Fox Hollow Trailhead.
Three trails converge at this trailhead in wooded Hult City Park. The trail to the left leads out a mile to the Martin Street Trailhead. The trail to the right (hiker only) heads up the ridgeline, while the one in the middle is a gentler grade for both hikers and bikers. Take the trail to the right for the Dillard West Trailhead, and keep up in a forest of younger Douglas-firs and madrones. Continue along the ridge crest, and pass under mossy vine maples until you reach a junction for the Dillard West Trailhead. Keep left here, and drop down the hillside to switchback among a tangle of blackberries. At the next junction, go right, and descend steeply to a junction with a Yield sign. Make a right here to descend the slope before making a level traverse. Just before a large, gnarly Douglas-fir, you can look downhill and see a sign denoting “Ed’s Trail,” a now-decommissioned unofficial route that came up from Amazon Creek. Rise past a maintenance access trail, and hike alongside a powerline corridor, which you’ll soon cross. Head up the slope to cross Dillard Road and come to the Dillard East Trailhead.
Take the gravel trail up the slope of Mount Baldy, keeping left at the loop junction and switchbacking twice under oaks and Douglas-firs. A short “view loop” leads left for a vista over the city of Eugene. Meet the ridgeline, and hike under Douglas-firs, getting views across the Wild Hog Creek valley. The trail arrives at the grassy summit of Mount Baldy. Pass a bench with a vista towards the Willamette River and Springfield. Come to a junction, and bear right to make a loop. The trail traverses the open slope past oaks and madrones above a couple new homes. Switchback twice, and cross the powerline corridor before switchbacking two more times to reach the Dillard East Trailhead.
On the return, there’s one more loop option. When you reach the junction with the Yield sign, keep right here and at the next junction to traverse a slope that holds the headwaters of Amazon Creek. Gradually rise in mixed maple/Douglas-fir forest to reach the Fox Hollow Trailhead.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Share trail from Fox Hollow Trailhead to Mount Baldy with bikes
- Trail open 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Port-a-potties, information kiosks at some trailheads
- Do NOT leave belongings in your vehicle
- Maps available at trailheads
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Ridgeline Trail Map (Eugene Outdoors)
- Eugene Parks & Open Space: Ridgeline Trail Map
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Ridgeline Trail Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Ridgeline Trail Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades by William L. Sullivan
- Trail Running: Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Canine Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- The Dog Lover’s Companion to Oregon by Val Mallinson
More Links
- Ridgeline Trail System (City of Eugene)
- Ridgeline Trail, Oregon (National Recreation Trails)
- South Hills Ridgeline Trail (All Trails)
- Ridgeline Trail: Willamette to Fox Hollow (Hiking Project)
- Ridgeline Trail Part 2 (Hike Oregon)
- Ridgeline Trail System: Fox Hollow Trailhead (Outdoor Project)
- “Spencer Butte, Ridgeline Trails favorite for urban hikes” (Oregon Live)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)