Bronson Creek to Kaiser Woods Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Hansen Ridge Park Trailhead
- End Point: Evelyn and Fresia Trailhead
- Hike Type: In and out with short loops
- Distance: 5.5 miles
- Elevation gain: 230 feet
- High Point: 420 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: On sunny days
Contents |
Description
New sections of the Westside Linear Trail, a paved route in a north-south powerline corridor, have recently been completed north of Highway 26 in the Bethany area. This walk takes you from Hansen Ridge Park and a raised boardwalk above Bronson Creek north to farm fields in west Multnomah County. While you’re often close to rapidly expanding new developments, the linear corridor offers a hint of the rural life that once prevailed here. A couple of short diversions in the Kaiser Woods are recommended.
Take the path leading off 147th to the right of the play area, and curve past some pines to a trail junction. Bear right, and follow the trail east, where it becomes a raised boardwalk in the Westside Linear Park above a wetland of cattails and green water parsley. First, go right to follow the raised walkway as it passes above the extensive marshlands on Bronson Creek. If you have binoculars, scan the wetlands for ducks (especially mallards), egrets, herons, blackbirds, and migrants in the spring and fall. It’s a short distance south to the current (2021) terminus of this section of the Westside Linear Trail at Kaiser Road.
Turn around, and now head north and uphill on the trail to pass over a bridge spanning a tributary of Bronson Creek with fenced back yards on both sides of the powerline corridor. Cross 147th Avenue, and look for two stately incense cedars framing an access path to Werner Lane on the left. After crossing first Laidlaw Road and then Lilium Drive, you’ll begin to gradually drop and cross Wendy Lane. From this street, hike up to a four-way junction with the Rock Creek Trail at the southeast corner of the Kaiser Woods Natural Area.
For a diversion, turn left on the Rock Creek Trail and cross NW Kyle Place to follow wooded Springville Creek and reach Kaiser Road. Then, turn north on Kaiser Road, and cross both Snow Lily Drive and Twinflower Drive before taking a paved trail into the Kaiser Woods Natural Area. Pass above a couple of ponds, the second one in a wetland of ash, willow, red osier dogwood, and alder. After it crosses Goldenweed Drive, the trail passes below a play area and reaches the Westside Linear Trail again. Head north from here, with rank upon rank of Washington County suburban mansions to the left and the farm fields of Multnomah County spreading below the Tualatin Hills to the right. Cutout profiles of coyotes and bald eagles are placed to scare away ravenous geese.
When you reach Springville Road, head left a few yards to cross the county line and then cross Springville to follow the county border north along Shackleford Road, with a fence to the right protecting a private farm road. Pass a new playground and a couple more blocks of brand new homes to reach the north end of the Westside Linear Trail at the corner of Fresia Avenue and Evelyn Street.
On the walk back along the linear trail, when you reach the two huge water tanks on the low ridge, turn right into the small patch of forest at the Kaiser Woods Natural Area and hike a gravel trail around its perimeter. (First bear right, and then stay left at all the other junctions.) You’ll start out in an ash swale and then walk in a typical cedar, Douglas-fir, maple woodland with salal, sword fern, and Oregon grape in the understory.
When you get back to the Westside Linear Trail, turn south and hike back to the junction on the raised boardwalk. Back in Hansen Ridge Park, be sure to stop and read the sign which offers some local dairy farm history. The 1919 Hansen farmhouse is across Kaiser Road. A paved path takes you to a cul-de-sac on NW Eugene Way from which you can better view the building.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Open sunrise to sunset
- Play structures, picnic table at Hansen Ridge Park
- Share trails with bicycles
Maps
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Bronson Creek to Kaiser Woods Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Bronson Creek to Kaiser Woods Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- none
More Links
- Hansen Ridge Park (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Westside Linear Park (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Westside Trail Segment 18 (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Rock Creek Greenway (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Kaiser Woods Natural Area (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Kaiser Woods Park (Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District)
- Hansen Ridge Park (Our Big Little Adventures)
- “New section of the Westside Linear Trail completed” (Cedar Mill News)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)