Revision as of 22:43, 27 May 2016

View to the Oregon side of the Gorge, Sams-Walker (bobcat)

Invasive brownray knapweed (Centaurea jacea), Sams-Walker (bobcat)

Grace's Meadow, Sams-Walker (bobcat)

The loop and shore walk at St. Cloud (bobcat) Courtesy: Google Maps

• Start point: St. Cloud Trailhead
• End point: Columbia River Shore
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 1.0 miles
• High Point: 50 feet
• Elevation gain: 25 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

The St. Cloud Trail #4410 is a very short universal access loop of less than half a mile that meanders around an old apple orchard and picnic area. You can also explore the Columbia River shore here to add to your walk. When water levels are low in summer and fall, you may meander east on the exposed flats and enjoy the late summer riparian bloom. Blackberries are also ripe then! The orchard is the site of the St. Cloud Ranch, which was a summer estate for the Vial family from 1909 to the 1950s. The Forest Service purchased the land here in 1990; part of the former estate is an extensive protected wetland. Since the Northwest Forest Pass is required just to park here, you will find it little used much of the time.

There’s a restroom and information sign at the west end of the parking lot. From the trailhead, you can drop into the old apple orchard of Spitzenburg and Newtown-Pippin varieties. Warning signs tell you not to eat the apples since they are infested with maggots. Skirt the east side of the orchard area, passing hawthorns and a blackberry patch, and then take a path down through false indigo and willow scrub to the river bank. Coreopsis and sneezeweed are bloom here in late summer/early fall. There’s a trail that leads east across Gable Creek and through the sedge to reach a wide mudflat, which has good footing in the summer and fall. Sneezeweed blooms against the willow thickets. You can hop across Indian Mary Creek, where wapato, a Native American staple, blooms in late summer, and head along the mudflat. You might see hundreds of mussel shells here. At some point, you’ll reach the boundary with the Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Turn back at that point, since the refuge is out-of-bounds to the general public. Multnomah Falls is visible across the river and to the west as are the top of Archer Mountain and the summit of Aldrich Butte.

On the return, you'll that the beach going west is considerably more narrow and rocky, so resume the St. Cloud Loop through the orchard and return to your vehicle.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Green Trails Maps: Bridal Veil, OR #428
• Green Trails Maps: Columbia River Gorge - West #428S
• Geo-Graphics: Trails of the Columbia Gorge
• USDA Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management: Columbia River Gorge

Regulations, facilities, etc

• Northwest Forest Pass required at the trailhead
• Dogs on leash
• Vault toilet
• Picnic area
• Interpretive signs

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for St. Cloud Loop Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for St. Cloud Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Day Hike! Columbia Gorge by Seabury Blair, Jr.

More Links

• St. Cloud Trail #4410 (USFS)
• St. Cloud Day Use/Picnic Area (USFS)
• St. Cloud (Washington Trails Association)
• St. Cloud Loop (Friends of the Columbia Gorge)
• "St. Cloud Wayside, Washington" (The Columbia River: A Photographic Journey)
• St. Cloud Ranch (GoSkagit)
• Hike of the Week: St Cloud Trail (Portland Monthly)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)