Revision as of 15:47, 17 July 2018

Split-rail fence on Trail 6, River View Natural Area (bobcat)

Enchanter's nightshade (Circaea alpina), River View Natural Area (bobcat)

Ivy-draped Douglas-fir, Trail 6, River View Natural Area (bobcat)

Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), River View Natural Area (bobcat)

The perimeter loop around the River View Natural Area (not a GPS track) (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo

• Start point: Brugger Street Trailhead
• End point: Highway 43/Riverside Drive
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 2.0 miles
• Elevation gain: 430 feet
• High Point: 470 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

A network of social trails, now numbered with laminated signs, criss-crosses this densely wooded slope acquired by Portland Parks and Recreation from the River View Cemetery in 2011. There is no “river view”, the name coming from the cemetery, which sold the land anticipating a drop in demand for burial space. The area was logged in the 1880s and then again in the 1950s, and the routes follow old logging roads as well as loops and steep descents created in the past couple of decades by mountain bikers. You’ll cross heavily eroded gullies, and invasive species are very evident, especially at the upper (western) end of the property. Lower down, ivy has been pulled and severed where it grew 50 feet or more up trees, and native plants have reestablished themselves. A plan has been put in place to establish a perimeter trail system and decommission some of the paths that run through the center of the natural area. For the time being, both mountain bikes and dogs are controversially banned from the park in order to allow recovery to take place.

Be aware that you cannot park along Palatine Hill Road. Park along the sides of nearby Brugger Street or Corbett Lane. Summer and fall hikers should wear protective clothing as there are blackberries overhanging the trail on the return part of the loop.

Enter the natural area at Brugger Street and Palatine Hill Road. You’ll pass an impressive grand fir on your way to a six-way junction. Trail 3B, your return trail, comes in from the right. Trails 1, 7, and 6 drop down the slope ahead of you. For a loop around the perimeter, take Trail 4 on your left. Hike under a canopy of big-leaf maples through an understory of weedy species, especially ivy, creeping buttercup, large-leaf avens, and nipplewort. Keep on the main trail, and then stay right at a closed trail that leads into the cemetery; at some point, Trail 4 will have passed onto River View Cemetery property. Descend a ridge through a carpet of ivy, and then curve back in to cross a big gully on an old logging track. Note the large cedar stumps here and the swaths of native candy flower next to the trail.

Go left at a junction to steeply descend another ridge on Trail 6 in a mixed forest of cottonwood, maple, Douglas-fir, and cedar. The ivy has been pulled in this area, and the native plants are returning, but the trees are still festooned with dead ivy vines. Pass through a thimbleberry thicket, and cross a small gully to reach the junction with Trail 8. Keep left to stay on Trail 6, and hike along a bench on an old logging track. Pass a section of split-rail fencing, and then switchback down four times. Large Douglas-firs here are dripping with severed ivy vines. Macadam Avenue rushes noisily below as you make a swooping loop to arrive at a junction near the road. The City of Portland has calculated it would cost about 3 ½ million dollars to put in a pedestrian overpass here to connect with Powers Marine Park on the Willamette River.

Go right at this junction to take Trail 3, and cross a severely eroded creek bed to hike up through a blackberry thicket. Continue straight up a steep-sided ridge before the trail levels at a split-rail fence. Keep right at an unmarked junction, and rise to the parking area near the Fir Acres Theater at Lewis & Clark College. Hike up to your right along the edge of the Lewis & Clark property, passing another parking area and the Griswold Stadium. Trail 3B resumes off to your right shortly before the entrance at Palatine Hill Road and opposite the Upper Level Parking Lot. Pass under a rooty cottonwood, and then hike above an ash wetland and spring, keeping right to arrive at the main junction. Go left here out to Brugger Street and your vehicle.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• No dogs
• Bicycles not permitted

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• River View Natural Area Social Trails (Portland Parks & Recreation)
• River View Natural Area (Friends of River View Natural Area)
• River View Natural Area: Proposed Trail Plan (Portland Parks & Recreation)
• River View Natural Area Management Plan, Appendices A, B, & C (Portland Parks & Recreation)

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for River View Loop Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for River View Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Take a Walk: Portland by Brian Barker (proposed trial system shown)

More Links

• River View Natural Area (Portland Parks & Recreation)
• River View Natural Area Management Plan, October 2015 (Portland Parks & Recreation)
• Friends of River View Natural Area
• River View Natural Area (Outdoor Project)
• “Mountain bikers test new trail riding ban at River View Natural Area” (KATU)
• “Mountain bikers protest River View Natural Area off-road cycling ban” (Oregon Live)
• “Whose park is it anyway?” (Portland Tribune)
• River View Natural Area (Broken & Coastal)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)